'Dog kennel' flats in Barnet will be 40% smaller than Travelodge room

[LondonManc]

I don't usually see a house wall like that with ventilation holes.

Must be a new design

It's the only way suity could get his wifi working in the garden.

[BlasterBates]

Post Brexit Prefab Britain

[MrMarkyMark]

It's the only way suity could get his wifi working in the garden.

Looking at his latest SQL Server "efforts" I'm surprised his WiFi works at all

[LondonManc]

Post Brexit Prefab Britain

As long as they're asbestos free, they're a viable alternative. Obviously they'll infringe a refugee's human rights though.

[SueEllen]

Ever been in a recently new built home? Cardboard walls, low ceilings, Rubbish materials used, etc etc

You have clearly only been in the cr*p ones built by the big building companies.I've been in different ones.

Generally smaller developments of 2-4 houses built by a small developer are a much better quality than the likes of the multiple properties built by the big builders.

However this isn't always as some of the developments not far from me prove...

[vetran]

used to be a wooden frame home builder called Gateway over Guildford way. They had a huge site & CNC routers 30 years ago. (Punch card driven).

They went bust but must have created lots of homes they were always busy.

Plenty of homes in the south are prefab partially wooden. In fact many of the oldest are made like that.

We had a house where half the walls were wooden frames, very easy to modify.

Properly maintained they are very good.

The dislike of prefabs no fire proof material is available prefabs make sense.

Assuming 9000 bricks in a house. Brickie with labourer laying 500 day (allow for other issues I know they can lay 800 a day) cost per day £350 (Brickie) £6,300 Labourer £150 £2,700, brick 40p £3,600 so total £12,600 chuck in Sand cement & project management say £15k.

So it takes a month to build the walls then we have to start doing floors, services & finishes.

If you spent the same on a prefab built in a factory you could have it up in a day.

[Martin@AS Financial]

"Hundreds of tiny studio flats, many smaller than a budget hotel room, are to be squeezed into an eleven-story block in north London as its developer takes advantage of the government’s relaxation of planning regulations.

Plans for Barnet House, used by the London borough of Barnet’s housing department, reveal that 96% of the 254 proposed flats will be smaller than the national minimum space standards of 37 sq metres (44 sq yards) for a single person.

The tiniest homes will be 16 sq metres – 40% smaller than the average Travelodge room. They are legal because of government deregulation designed to promote the conversion of underused office space to help meet housebuilding targets.

In the surrounding area, studio flats of a similar scale to most planned at Barnet House sell for around £180,000 and rent for around £800 per month.

Office buildings in Croydon have also been converted into studios with floor areas of as little as 15 sq metres under the Tory deregulation. Housing experts have attacked the relaxation of planning regulations as a “race to the bottom”, but ministers insist the measure is helping to deliver vital new housing, and point out that more than 10,000 new homes were created from office buildings last year."

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/society/...ravelodge-room

From a mortgage point of view, when it comes to studios most lenders require a minimum of 30 sq metres. If the developer intends to sell on the open market, their clients may struggle to get the finance.

[SueEllen]

From a mortgage point of view, when it comes to studios most lenders require a minimum of 30 sq metres. If the developer intends to sell on the open market, their clients may struggle to get the finance.

Investment properties for overseas buyers.

[Martin@AS Financial]

Investment properties for overseas buyers.

Would need to be cash as I can't see the offshore banks being all that keen to lend. My feeling is that they will be rented out via the local housing asociation or used as emergency temporary accomodation to help people get back on their feet.

[SueEllen]

Would need to be cash as I can't see the offshore banks being all that keen to lend. My feeling is that they will be rented out via the local housing asociation or used as emergency temporary accomodation to help people get back on their feet.

They are too small for housing association properties. Housing associations have space standards. For example I've been in housing association properties that have storage cupboards there as the private flats don't.

Emergency accommodation for people yep, I agree with that.

I'm surprised they didn't just build student accommodation - then again can't think of any universities or colleges that are in Croydon.