It was confirmed at the recent Housing Standards Review briefing that the government would consider implementing further standards or regulations in the future if the review process identifies the need. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) head of Housing Standards Review and Code for Sustainable Homes, Simon Brown, announced the possible introduction of standards when speaking at the briefing, which was organised by DCLG, the Housing Forum, architects Levitt Bernstein and PRP. Confirming that no other regulations or standards would be proposed at the present time he said:
“We’re leaving the door open for the future. There is work currently being taken on overheating for example. We won’t see anything this side of the election but a new government could move into new territory here.”
Director of design at Taylor Wimpey Nick Rogers said that he was “really happy” with the new optional national space standard that local authorities can choose to apply from October 2015, because:
“The standard gives me a remit to re-examine smaller (two- and three-bedroom) houses. It will put us in competition with the second hand market and create a level planning field to move up at the smaller end of the market.”
However, smaller homes will increase in size and cost more to build, he admitted, with the homes being around 18 inches wider.
“On terraced housing in an inner city location, you could lose one house out of 75-100.”