Seven ways to meet changing needs

What would you say is Britain’s most successful house design ever? I don’t mean an individual design – rather a style that has remained perennially popular. The English country cottage? The traditional Scottish long-house? The 1930s mock-Tudor semi?

My vote, for what it’s worth, goes to the Victorian terrace. It may lack the classical elegance of its Georgian and Regency predecessors, and the basic two-up, two-down, back-to-back may be a bit too basic for most modern requirements. But the version I know best – and lived in for 10 years – has proved remarkably adaptable.

Like thousands of others strung across British cities, it provided high-density but space-efficient accommodation. The slimness of the design was offset by generously high ceilings and ample daylight from tall windows at back and front.

Mine consisted of two downstairs receptions, a rear extension originally housing a kitchen and scullery, and three bedrooms upstairs. The largest spanned the house at the front with a medium-sized one just behind it. The smallest occupied the extension. A modern bathroom was shoehorned into one side of the landing.

Upgrading the house was relatively straightforward. Removing a partition wall combined the downstairs receptions while the ground-floor extension became a kitchen/diner. The attic, which was as high ceilinged as the rest of the house, was eventually converted into a fourth bedroom and an office.

We never got round to today’s most popular improvement: expanding into the yard beside the rear extension. But we did add double-glazing to the north-facing front, and secondary glazing to the rear.

My point? The Victorian terrace is such a successful design because it is unusually future-proof.

Why is that important? Well, future-proofing has always been part of housebuilding or purchase: the extra bedroom that might become a child’s room or home office, the integral garage that’s a potential granny annexe. But in today’s housing market thinking ahead is arguably more important than ever for at least two good reasons.

First, stagnating house prices and punitive stamp duty rates have made it increasingly difficult for existing homeowners to move. Second, we now have a ‘lost generation’ of would-be first-time buyers, who can no longer afford to enter the market, but still need somewhere to live.

It’s logical, then, that the houses that are built are as adaptable – future-proof – as possible, partly to accommodate increasing numbers of multi-generational households, but also to retain their value in a changing and uncertain market.

So how do you best future-proof your self build? This has previously been a concern primarily of downsizers looking for a forever home, with all that implies. Their needs have influenced Part M of the Building Regulations, including requirements to provide a WC on the ground floor, halls and doorways wide enough for a wheelchair, and level thresholds.

All these, of course, are equally helpful for a buggy user.

Future-proofing design principles

1.Design for low maintenance. Brick and stone exteriors top the list for durability with minimal maintenance while retaining their good looks; similarly clay tile and slate roofs.

2.Design for flexible space. Open-plan ground floors work well for young families and the elderly by eliminating awkward corridors and doorways and clearing sight lines. But they also allow partitioned areas to be added later: for example, to create a downstairs bedroom or home office. In the same way, attic trusses or panellised roofs leave the loft space useable for accommodation.

3.Design for services. Siting bathrooms over kitchens, family bathrooms next to en suites confines drainage, water and major electrical cabling to a specific area of the house, simplifying maintenance, repair and eventual replacement.

4.Design for low energy. Resist rising prices by minimising your energy requirements. Insulate thoroughly, maximise airtightness and ventilate efficiently, ideally via a whole house mechanical heat recovery and ventilation system. Check out the Passivhaus building standard which guarantees a constant temperature throughout the year, constant fresh air and ultra-low fuel bills – for as little as a 10 per cent increase in conventional build costs.

5.Design for flexible use. A house may be occupied initially by a family but later perhaps by a couple or single person, leaving an upper or lower storey free for returning offspring, an income-boosting lodger or even the sale of a leasehold. Converting a property into two or even three units is much easier if, for example, the staircase is sited against an exterior wall, making it easier to isolate, and the lobby or landing is large enough to incorporate an entrance door on each floor.

6.Design a smart home. Running cabling throughout the house doesn’t just allow you to access the internet, landlines, TV and audio wherever you want. It promises remote or automatic control of your heating, lighting, security and energy sources as well as the ability to monitor the health of occupants. It also involves an awful lot of cabling – typically running from each connection to a central hub – so installing at first fix is the easiest, cheapest, least disruptive approach.

7.Design to be green. Using sustainable sources of energy, such as heat pumps and photovoltaic panels, whose electricity can be stored in battery systems like Tesla’s Powerwall, reduces reliance on conventional fuels, attracts government grants such as the Renewable Heat Incentive and may even help in obtaining planning permission. But don’t dismiss the idea of a central heating boiler yet. A Leedsbased study has claimed that the UK’s existing natural gas networks could be converted to hydrogen at little extra cost.

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