18 | AUGUST 2020
News
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
A WINDOW INTO THE
TINY HOUSE MOVEMENT
There is no doubt that the UK faces a housing crisis. But, at the same
time, we are also confronted with an environmental crisis and one of
homelessness. Here, Nick Cowley, managing director of PVCu windows
and doors manufacturer Euramax, explains how the Tiny Homes
Movement could be part of the response to all three problems.
Surely, solving the housing and
homelessness crises is simple? We just
build more homes. And the construction
industry’s answer to the climate crisis
is simple as well; we just build fewer
homes.
Of course, it is not that simple, and it
still would not be if those two solutions
were not diametrically opposed. Building
more homes comes with problems of its
own; planning permission, local opposition
to building projects and the shortage
of affordable and available land.
There are also the skills and materials
shortages to consider, as well as the
relative lack of small builders in the UK,
compared to fifteen years ago before the
financial crisis of the late noughties and
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, we must address the
fundamental economics of housebuilding;
it has to represent a worthwhile business
model and, if you build and release for
sale a lot of houses at once, the value of
each one decreases, making the project
less economically sustainable.
Tiny houses: UK viable?
The Tiny Homes Movement has existed
for some time, with early estimates dating
it as far back as 1997, when the British
born, and American based architect Sarah
Susanka published her book The Not So
Big House. In it, she argues that cosy,
intimate, warm and, crucially, small spaces
can be more pleasant to live in than expansive,
spacious, and rambling ones.
There is a very clear and strong argument
here, which could help create a
counter thesis to the idea
that it’s not possible to
solve the housing shortage
and homelessness
issues while also creating a
cleaner, more environmentally
viable construction
industry.
Tiny houses are easy to build
and, while they are currently the
domain of highly specialist eco-builders,
they could use modular, mass manufacturing
techniques to deliver sustainable
homes at a very low price.
They are also simple to plan and deliver,
easy to move if there is a change in geographical
requirement and use less energy
to manufacture, build, maintain and live in
than contemporary affordable housing. It’s
a win-win, right?
‘
High specification
does not have to
add to building cost
because the entire
window unit can
be built off site
’
Tiny changes, big results
There is one potential catch. It is essential
that tiny homes are presented as exactly
that; they cannot simply be an excuse to
make affordable homes on existing plots
untenably small. In 2019, the Government
proposed mandatory design regulations
on storage space to help counter this
problem.
Speaking at the Chartered Institute of
Housing’s conference, Theresa May, the
former Prime Minister, said, “I cannot
accept a system in which owners and tenants
are forced to accept tiny homes with
inadequate storage.
“Where developers feel the need to fill
show homes with deceptively small furniture
and where the lack of universal standards
encourages a race to the bottom.”
Her concerns are valid, and the proposed
regulations have been welcomed by
most of the property developers, architects,
and home builders that I work with
at Euramax. Furthermore, they have not
dimmed the nascent sense of excitement
around the tiny homes movement’s problem-solving
potential.