Will Covid-19 alter the way we build our homes?

As I write, the media is full of speculation on how the pandemic will change the world. Will we become kinder, greener, more digital? Will we abandon mass commuting for regular working at home? Will rural locations become more popular, and more expensive, as a result? Will Covid-19 even alter the way we design and build new homes?

There may be a clue to the latter in the past, because this won’t be the first time disease has radically altered the way we design and build. 

When the Swiss architect Le Corbusier built his first pared-down modernist house in the late 1920s, his inspiration seemed to be the new building material of reinforced concrete. It enabled him to create a large rectangular design without internal, load-bearing walls and a flat roof strong enough to support a garden. Open-plan, brilliant white interiors were filled with light from long, horizontal windows. It’s a design style that’s still called ‘modern’ today.

But, as architectural historian Paul Overy has pointed out, Le Corbusier and other modernist architects were hugely influenced by the design of the sanatoriums of their time.

Le Corbusier was influenced by sanatoriums

Built long before antibiotics to treat tuberculosis and other chronic diseases, they relied instead on fresh air, abundant sunlight and simple, white-painted, clutter-free environments where dirt and germs had nowhere to hide.

It may be a while before we find out if Covid-19 has a similar effect on architecture. But there are already some changes that seem sensible in a world where pandemics no longer happen elsewhere.

Here, then, are six, hopefully useful, suggestions for your post-Covid self build... 

1. Open-plan layouts have been hugely popular for the last decade. Combining kitchen, dining and living areas, often with wall-wide bifold doors opening onto a patio, they provide excellent light-filled family and entertainment spaces. 

Lockdown, however, has revealed some inherent flaws, particularly for those working from home, home schooling children or, worse, trying to do both at once. Home schooling may be short-lived, but home working, for at least part of the week, looks set to become established. Consider, then, making one bedroom a potential home office by providing enough power points to support a computer, monitor, printer, desk lamp and shredder as well as USB points to recharge mobiles, tablets and laptops (power points are now available with two or three in-built USB connectors). 

Think, too, about including internet cabling – known as CAT5, 6, or 7 – in your home wiring. Wireless connections are usually fine, but a physical connection can provide more protection from interference and greater speed and reliability.

Alternatively, configure your open-plan layout to include a semi-private working space, from which you can still monitor activities in the main area. A deep alcove, sliding partitions or, in one example I saw recently, ceiling-high open shelves can create small but effective office areas. 

2. En suite master bedrooms are also high on wish lists, particularly for larger households. If your budget allows, it may be a wise precaution to install a second en suite bedroom, chiefly as guest accommodation but also to cater more easily for self-isolation if lockdown returns.

3. Working from home can also affect your choice of heating system. Conventional radiator-based systems are good at heating a house quickly, ideal if you and your family are out for most of the day. 

To achieve that rapid rise in temperature, however, a boiler needs to heat the water in the system to between 60^oC and 80^oC. But, once the heating is off, the radiators will usually be cold again within an hour or so.

An underfloor heating system turns entire floors into giant radiators. Because the heated area is so large, water temperatures of between 35^oC and 55^oC can provide the same output as a radiator system, cutting fuel costs. 

Once warm, underfloor heating takes much longer to cool down, and also needs relatively less energy to return to a comfortable temperature – perfect for a home that’s occupied for most of the day. 

4. Part M of the Building Regulations already demands that the entrance floor of a new home includes a WC with a hand basin. But to ensure easy hand washing on arrival it’s sensible to site the WC next to the entrance lobby. If a rear or side entrance also gives access to the outside world, consider opening it into a utility room, complete with washing facilities, as a backup lobby.

5. To guard against future lockdowns, give some thought to food storage. A larger fridge isn’t necessarily the answer, though a chest freezer is the cheapest form of long-term frozen store. A traditional walk-in pantry with open shelves, a cool shelf made of stone or concrete and ventilation direct to the outside provides easily viewable storage for dry goods and many of the vegetables and fruit that would otherwise take up fridge space. Site it on a north-facing wall for the best cooling effect, but make sure the door is well-insulated.  

6. Consider off-site forms of construction. Government guidelines for Covid-safe construction don’t sit well with traditional brick and block building methods, where trades intermingle and social distancing is impossible with the central gang of two bricklayers and a hod carrier. Prefabrication, however, takes place in a factory where working conditions are much easier to control. The cost will be higher but time savings can be made and the quality and accuracy of your build is likely to be enhanced.

August 2020