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From The Times

February 29, 2008

New homes 'must last a lifetime'

Every new house built from 2013 must compy with 16 "lifetime homes standards"

Lucy Alexander

The nature of British housing is changing. We already know that, of the 3 million new homes the Government has pledged to build by 2020, those built from 2016 onwards will be “carbon neutral”. On Monday, the Housing Minister, Caroline Flint, added a new rule: every new house built from 2013 must comply with 16 “lifetime homes standards”, designed to allow the elderly to stay in their homes for life by adapting them to their changing needs. All new public housing must comply by 2010.

Government statistics show that by 2026, older people will account for 48 per cent of the increase in the number of households. There will be 2.4 million more elderly households than there are today.

The lifetime homes standards include wider doors for wheelchairs, higher wall sockets, space for a stairlift and hoist from bedroom to bathroom and an accessible downstairs lavatory. New houses will not all have to be designed in the style of a disabled toilet - they will merely have to be flexible enough to be easily adapted should the need arise.

Ms Flint makes clear that, while these standards will be mandatory for all new housing by 2013, she hopes “that the market will respond itself to the demand for sustainable homes. After all, consumers will pay more for adaptable homes.” Other new initiatives include a new handyman service and a national housing advice service for older people.

The Shadow Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, has welcomed the proposals, though with reservations about the short notice for developers. Objections come, predictably, from a retirement village builder, Audley, which warns that it is irresponsible to encourage older people to hang on to their family houses when they could be living in a lovely “retirement community”, and from the Home Builders Federation, which threatened to pass the extra cost on to first-time buyers. Ms Flint has promised to work with the Home Builders Federation “to see how expensive it really is”.

How about "lash a lifetime:" meaning tha tthe new homes must be built to to a standard wherby they do not fall down after twenty years? I have lived in homes varying from mediaeval to 1980s and the former was a lot more robust than the latter...

Grumpy, London,

Good one, Ben - It's nice to hear from the one person in the universe who is never going to get old or be disabled!

Lifetime Homes are spacious, look fantastic and meet the needs of everyone. Do you really need steps, narrow doorways, awkward corners in your property? Most of us will be delighted with Caroline Flint's announcement and the new standards.

Conrad Hodgkinson, Sheffield, UK

So EVERY home in the UK must now cater for a tiny percentage of the population who are disabled. If every minority had their say in how all homes should be built we'd get none.

Ben, london, UK

Congratulations to Caroline Flint for the most sensible, considerate and imaginative ideas! Might even tempt me to vote Labour.
Not everyone wants to live in a retirement community, usually miles from shops or anywhere else. I would love to move to 2 bedroom house or flat in town centre, but it's almost impossible to find one suitable for anyone who cannot manage stairs and needs a lavatory downstairs as well as upstairs.
If you can find a block of flats with a lift, most are open-plan kitchen to living area with no possibility of adapting, have 3 ensuite bathrooms, but no utility room., or they have sprial stair cases. These new (expensive) flats are usually totally unsuitable for an ageing person, let alone a disabled person (or even a young mother with toddlers). If these stupid builders would design something more suitable for elderly, they would soon sell them.
Younger people, you may also get old, injured, disabled or have an elderly relative to house one day!

Cassie, Hampshire,

GIven the squeeze on the housing stock, surely it would be better not to design family homes that were appropriate for the elderly. This would encourage older couples and single older people to move out of family size homes into smaller units and free up family homes for families. This would also give a market for the many 2 bedroom flats that are being built.

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New homes 'must last a lifetime'

Every new house built from 2013 must compy with 16 "lifetime homes standards"

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