SLAM was fed up with all the shoebox-size, one-bed flats built by developers to combat the housing crisis.

“It’s all very well buying these to get your foot on the property ladder, but what happens when you need more room?” These shoe-box flats require you to uproot your family and move out, this is in conflict with the vision the Government has for not just providing but maintaining sustainable communities.

Given the choice, a large proportion of first-time buyers when starting a family would prefer to live in a house with a private garden, not an apartment suited to the requirements of bachelor living. First-time buyers with families prefer to be in a community of their choice, in a community they can remain in.

This often results from the necessary needs that a first-time buyer family has for growth, a child-friendly green space, a requirement for a space they can adapt to form an extra bedroom or study, a welcoming well-designed front door – connected to a direct safe access from a well lit street, parking provision, plenty of storage within the dwelling and a generous sense of space.

The challenge we set ourselves as designers was how to combine these essential ingredients with all the compliance targets set by the Government with regard to lifetime homes, scheme development standards of the housing corporation, new building technologies and the issue of high land values to create a house that you would genuinely be proud to live in as a family.

Our response was to produce the Vertical Adaptive House, a design for a stylish, one-bedroom house module. The uniqueness of the design is the flexibility and space efficiency of the house unit. The house unit requires little land – only 28m² – and is built 90% offsite, which reduces waste and controls quality and building costs.

The two-up, two-down terrace façade allows it to blend into a typical street, the living space and bedroom benefit from generous internal ceiling heights, the three-storey stack of service spaces at the back of the house are given the minimum ceiling requirements for maximum space use, making the overall design extremely space efficient.

With little fuss, the one-bedroom can be transformed into a two-bedroom by building into the roof space. In its one bedroom state it accommodates two people over 48m², in its two-bedroom state it accommodates a family of four persons at 73m², the additional bedroom would be given the choice of en-suite bathroom facilities, additional storage or an extra study. The design can also be adapted to include a through-lift to provide vertical access for a wheelchair user.

Not only is the dwelling unit affordable, manufactured to the requirements of the council of mortgage lenders, it is also speedily erected – a volumetric dwelling could be deployed fully-fitted out on-site within two hours and externally finished over a week.

The house design does not rely on the production capabilities of one particular off-site manufacturer. The simplicity of the design means that it could be built by any one off-site manufacturer or traditional contractors involved in bidding for Council or Housing Association work, provided they can satisfy the requirements of the brief and specification.

The house design could be deployed as an infill on smaller plots, as a single aspect terraced on narrower continuous plots or back-to-back terraced on larger plots. Two-dwelling units could even be combined side-by-side to form larger four-bed terrace family dwellings with private gardens, making the possibilities for deployment on sites and flexibility endless.

The small footprint means that the house design could be applied to small scrappy pieces of land, old garage plots in and around cities, as well as larger plots very efficiently.

SLAM is in discussion with one Council where it has been asked to look at how best to utilise small scrappy plots that the Council owns with the specific purpose of utilising the vertical adaptive house design.

Typically on a 400m² plot of land, a variation of the house design can produce development schemes with internal facing courtyards in excess of 16 dwelling units, proving that high density does not have to necessarily mean apartments.

SLAM would be delighted for a big developer to build them on a grander scale. People should have the choice of where they live and in what type of property. With a little lateral thinking, this can be achieved.

The future of the UK housing market should be to look at strategies for freeing up more land provision not just from larger land banks but from the potential offered by smaller plots. SLAM has in the past identified plots in very prime areas, these plots, because of their nature, scale – small and often used for something else – are often overlooked.

There needs to be more innovative schemes that engage all, including local communities in the identification and development of derelict plots and an active fast-track planning process for the development of derelict or disused plots.

Also the housebuilding industry – in particular developers - need to respond differently to first-time buyer families than they currently do to first-time buyer individuals or individual key workers. Spatial adaptability could be a realistic, affordable way a first-time buyer family could go about acquiring a two-bedroom or even four-bedroom. Costs could be spread out across the life-time of a dwelling, without the need to uproot a family from the local community.

To find out more details about the SLAM design proposal visit www.slarchitecturemobile.co.uk/projects_verticalhouse

To find out more about SLAM visit www.slarchitecturemobile.co.uk

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