Q Why build Lifetime Homes when we now have Part M? (Answer 1)

A Part M of the Building Regulations relates to accessibility. Little has been enacted to improve usability of the dwelling here in the UK. This is in contrast with our Continental and North American neighbours.

Housing there is considered a lifetime investment. The design, therefore, incorporates features which allows for flexible living over the lifetime of the occupants and the dwelling; in addition to the normal ground and first floors, virtually all houses are provided with full basement, accessible, useable roof voids, and concrete intermittent floors.

Basements and roof voids may be fully furnished and divided or left to be fitted out as and when needed or finances arise. The use of concrete intermittent floors permits non-loadbearing walls to be moved for ultimate flexibility, as well as providing good sound attenuation between different occupants.

A common scenario in Germany is: a young couple build a house; the ground and first floor is used “conventionally” as the family grows; in order to supplement their income to finance their mortgage, the basement, or part thereof, is let out as a self-contained flat. As the family grows up, teenagers may move up into the (now finished) attic rooms, which can also be effectively self-contained. Grandparents now becoming more dependent, and requiring less space, may often move into the basement flat.

As occupants increase with age the whole cycle begins again - grandparents die, parents move into the grandparents quarters and the children move into parents’ space etc… adapting the dwelling as necessary.

A flexible attitude to design works in other countries - it would work here.