As the credit crunch begins to impact the UK housing market, the reality of the situation remains that, with the population growing 0.5% per year since 2001(1), more houses are required. However, of the 24 million dwellings that make up the housing stock in England, over 40% do not meet the Decent Homes Standard(2). So, equally important to increasing supply, is the need to improve the quality of existing accommodation.
Significant progress towards delivering on Government targets could simply be made by bringing empty and poor-quality homes back into use. According to the Empty Homes Agency(3), 322,000 properties stand empty in England alone – that is enough homes to house 853,000 people. The barrier to opening up access to this vital resource however, is familiar – lack of incentives and general misconceptions about the associated costs of refurbishment and repair.
Despite Government policy setting targets to increase housing supply, there are currently no national targets to bring empty property back into use. In fact, because of unequal levels of VAT between new build (zero-rated) and refurbishment (17.5%) for the developer, all incentives point to demolition and rebuild rather than reinvigoration. The attitude that building a new house is cheaper than refurbishing an older property also prevails.
Contrary to this, research undertaken by English Heritage(4) revealed that the cost of repairing a typical Victorian terraced house is between 40 and 60% cheaper than replacing it with a new home. Repairing the UK’s traditional building stock has the potential to restore a town’s character and revive in people a sense of community and belonging.
Historic buildings, in particular, can make a town distinctive, providing a unique selling point for encouraging both new business and visitors to an area to help boost a local economy. In addition, bringing current existing buildings back into use slows down unsightly urban sprawl and reduces the pressure to open up Greenfield sites for development.
Furthermore, with increasing emphasis on developing technology and solutions to reduce the impact of construction on the environment, comes another incentive for developers to re-use existing buildings.
A recent study carried out by The Empty Homes Agency, has revealed that six times more CO2 is produced when building a new house than refurbishing an old one. In addition, the UK construction industry produces more than 100 million tonnes of waste each year and with landfill tax increasing annually by £3 per tonne until 2013, saving waste will become increasingly attractive.
The good news is that the expertise and specialist products to repair older, more traditional buildings already exist so progress can be made immediately.
Catnic is a clear example of a forwardthinking company that offers both standard and bespoke products for either new build or refurbishment projects.
Lintels are a fundamental aspect of maintaining any buildings character and the Catnic team’s vast technical knowledge means it can tailor services to individual projects. The special lintel range caters for classic features including the venetian arch and bay window as well as more unique designs such as the ace of clubs arch – helping architects to see their creative vision made real, whilst also guaranteeing building performance.
The recent £3m refurbishment of an existing retail market in Newton Abbott, Devon, stands testament to what can be achieved in this field. Key to the design brief was ensuring that any building work restored the original character of the existing building. This required the specification of custom-designed, bespoke lintels that would complement the architecture of the local area.
Providing comprehensive technical support, Catnic’s experienced engineers worked with the developer to create bespoke solutions that catered for the non-standard requirements of this development.
It is clear that only by mixing approaches, making the best of use of what already exists as well as sourcing a new supply, will the construction industry be able to meet the housing demands of the times.
1: Office for National Statistics, 2007. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.aspwww.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp? ID=6
2: The Decent Homes Implementation Plan, ODPM, July 2002 (the figures relate to 1 April, 2001)
3: The Empty Homes Agency, 2007 http://www.emptyhomes.com/aboutus/whatwe do/campaign_agenda.html
4: Statistics from RICS’ Building Cost Information Service www.bcis.co.uk
