New Build Houses - Size and Density

Mallotum_X

the_flying_pig wrote: »

front gardens are just about the worst waste of space ever.

Depends on your point of view. I'm in a 1930s house with about 9 feet at the front and 130+ at the back, love having the big back garden and we do use it all, but to hav more at the front to screen off the world and noise a bit more would be lovely, and I'd certainly swap some of the back for it.

Couldn't live on a new build estate personally, being overlooked and on top of each other.

zagubov

It's remarkable how these other countries in Northern Europe give you much much more floorspace per person compared with the UK.

Our houses are like rabbithutches divided into shoeboxes but we celebrate the number of tiny divisions the houses are made of as if that compensates for the lack of any room to swing the presumably claustrophobic cat.:D

And as I've pointed out before Germany, Belgium and Netherlands don't look at all more crowded than here- quite the reverse it feels, with endless fields wide motorways everywhere, lots of low-rise housing -no skyscrapers, and in the case of at least Gemrany, endless forests

fairleads

noh wrote: »

The density of housing on a development is dictated by the local authourity not the builders.

Yes, but only w.r. to a reasonable maximum density.

fairleads

gfplux wrote: »

So perhaps when buying or selling property in future you should insist on knowing the floor and plot size.

Its should be a prospective purchasers first question

buglawton

MacMickster wrote: »

We need substantially more properties in the UK.

We can achieve this by building smaller, higher density properties on brownfield sites, or by building on far more greenfield land.

Take your pick.

Germany solves it by building developments of 4 storey blocks of high quality flats. Building regs ensure decent room sizes and cellar storage space plus under building cycle and car park in dense locations.

LydiaJ

Mallotum_X wrote: »

Depends on your point of view. I'm in a 1930s house with about 9 feet at the front and 130+ at the back, love having the big back garden and we do use it all, but to hav more at the front to screen off the world and noise a bit more would be lovely, and I'd certainly swap some of the back for it.

Couldn't live on a new build estate personally, being overlooked and on top of each other.

Fair enough if you've got 130ft or more at the back. But there are houses near me with about 15ft at the back and 30ft at the front, and that really is a stupid use of the space IMO.

becominganobsessivesaver

Just joining the debate, me and OH grew up in very old rural properties and now we've decided for a newish build near newcastle city centre. When we were looking I found the homes built in the early 2000s quite poky, but the one we've bought (on an ongoing site which started in 2006) has tons of space, and a very practical family layout. The house we bought is style 2 rather than 3 on the link, but the main difference is we have a study area rather than the extra bath upstairs!
Round by us terraces don't have gardens and we weren't really taken by the older semi options.
http://www.bellway.co.uk/new-homes/north-east/hadrian-village/cranbourne-3-4-det

gfplux

There is the very, very importants point that the UK is a very small crowded island with more and more people squeezing into the South East.
From Wikipedia the density of population per square mile.
England 1054
France 301
Germany 593
Italy 522
Spain 231
Luxembourg 501
Just imagine sitting on a bus, train or tube at rush hour with half or less people missing. How nice is that?
Europe is much less crowded with wide open spaces. There might also be building regulations that encourage larger living spaces. That I have no idea about.
Luxembourg where I live is no different to the rest of Europe except it is expensive like London is.
Houses here range from about 1600 sq feet to over 4000 sq feet. These will also have basements.
We live in a 10 year old semi detached house of 2700 sq feet living space plus a basement of 1000 sq feet. This is a normal house in a normal area on the outskirts of the City. Before that we lived in a flat of 1100 sq feet plus balcony (3 beds) which also had large garage and a big store room. The building also had a drying room to hang cloths. This also was a very normal flat.
Having lived in London for many years I am we'll aware how different this is to the UK. Frankly you have no idea what this space means in terms of lifestyle and overall contentment.

wymondham

excellent point gfplux. We only have finite space, but those in power don't seem to have grasped this, or how this impacts on 'normal' people.

People need their space...

buglawton

The British voter has not grasped the link between government policy and affordability of living space.