A Lawful Development Certificate was then sought to demonstrate realistic fall-back positions to extend the existing building before a fresh planning application was prepared and submitted for the new replacement homes.

Each home has approximately 125sqm of floor space including three double bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open plan kitchen / diner with two further reception room spaces and a utility room. Careful design planning from the outset ensured efficient and maximum use of the rooms to the first floor. Generous driveways and landscaped gardens wrap the pair of detached homes with large areas laid to lawn.

The site was to be ‘created’ by removing a section of a locally listed flint and brick wall and excavating the 4m height of earth behind this wall to form a site level with the road. A new brick faced retaining wall to the rear of the site (and forming the rear walls of the houses) would ensure that the earth behind was kept in place.

Clearly, this site would present many design challenges.

The solution was a pair of small semi-detached cottages designed to ensure daylight to the principal rooms could be achieved from the front and side elevations as there was no opportunity for natural light from the back. Two double bedrooms, each with ensuite bathrooms and an open plan ground floor make these properties perfect for shared young professionals looking to get on to the housing ladder.

A small courtyard garden provides amenity space for each plot and parking for one car was provided with visibility down the one-way road achieved by setting the front elevation back from the road which also served as access from the parking space to the front of the properties.

The buildings were designed as traditional brick and flint buildings with clay tile gabled roofs and chimneys to reflect the materials of the existing wall and a number of existing buildings in the nearby Conservation Area.

For more projects for developers please follow this link.

Read the Government’s announcement in full here.

Today the findings of the RIBA’s Future Homes Commission’s independent inquiry into the quality of newly built housing has been published. ‘Building the Homes and Communities Britain Needs’ calls for a revolution in the scale, quality and funding of home-building in order to meet the housing needs of our growing and changing population.

The key recommendations of the Report are:

•  A three-fold increase in the number of new homes being built every year

•  A new, independently managed £10 billion Local Housing Development Fund

•  A greater focus on design in all new homes

•  A more consumer-oriented housing market

•  A lead role for local government

Whether the Report will do any good remains, of course, to be seen! Commissioning expensive Reports is all well and good BUT only if people actually read them, understand them and ACT on the recommendations…

There are some very interesting statistics in the Report including a Poll that suggested only 1 in 4 people would consider buying a new home built within the last 10 years as the public perception is that Housebuilders are making rooms too small, lacking natural light and privacy from the neighbours.

Housebuilders need to read this and look at the evidence building up against the dull, cramped, dark boxes they insist on building…

Planning Authorities need to read this and look at the need for permitting development in sustainable locations and of good quality design…

Financial Backers need to read this and look at the evidence for returns on investment…

A Pre-Planning Application was been submitted today to London Borough of Bromley on behalf of developer Tkei Homes Ltd for 3 new 3,250sqft detached homes with integral garages. Sited adjacent to a Conservation Area the homes have been designed to draw on some of the predominant architectural features of the surrounding area; steeply pitched roof, tall gable ends, octagonal bay windows and decorative features. A Full Planning application is expected to be submitted within the next few months.

Under the National Planning Policy Framework, issued in April 2012, local authorities are required to work out future housing needs in their area, and then allocate sufficient land to meet it – the aim of the government being to remove obstacles to the building of new houses, and to speed up planning decisions.

According to the BBC article Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the HBF, said: “The increase is good news and hopefully a reflection of the positive planning principles of the new system. It is just one quarterly increase and we are still well short of the number needed but we hope it starts a trend that will continue in 2013. The new system must provide enough viable land to build the number of homes the country needs. Continuing the current low level of house-building is storing up huge social and economic problems for the years ahead and the shortfall must be addressed.”

Whether this trend will continue and we will finally see an longer term upswing in both granting of planning permission and, just as importantly, the translation of permissions in to actual built housing remains to be seen. Without increased supply then demand will continue unabated forcing prices still higher and driving more people out of the housing market.

It is simple economics – limited supply for a highly desired commodity leads to higher prices.