For Professionals
Q1
Why build Lifetime Homes when we now have Part M?
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, where housing 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 the UK, Lifetime Homes criteria go further than Part M - which is about accessibility to and into the entrance level of the property. Lifetime Homes criteria also make the property adaptable for differing households' accessibility needs, with potential for improved access to storeys above the entrance level and key facilities. These features will differentiate them from the housing stock built to Part M. They will provide the people who live in them with many advantages, and will give private builders of new homes a marketing edge in relation to the second-hand stock with which they compete.
Because Lifetime Homes will be suitable for older people and for the vast majority of disabled people as well as non-disabled people, they will have a wider market of potential buyers and residents, probably increasing their value and the ease with which they can be sold.