New Build House
The UK has a great palette of existing properties for sale that can satisfy most household needs by carrying out some or no alterations. However, many see this as a compromise and would rather let their creativity free and start fresh by building an entirely new home from scratch.
The Benefits
Looking past the complicated administrative procedures, a new house can be sustainable, cost efficient, and most importantly – unique and personal.
Planning
Context is the major factor determining the planning considerations for new houses and alterations - the less context there is, the more possibilities that open up.
On large plots, where distances between houses are great, there is not much restraint to what can be achieved in a new house design – of course it will have to be designed in accordance with the relevant planning guidance, but context would be virtually non-existent.
On the other end of the spectrum are densely built city houses, with considerably smaller plots. The possibilities would be much more limited, and sometimes even exercising permitted development rights could be challenging.
If within a heavily residential area, the house will likely need to reflect the general properties of the neighbouring houses – for example, if all the houses in the area are detached, planners would look more favourably at a detached proposal rather than a semi-detached. As a rule of thumb, the easiest way to obtain planning permission for a new house is to directly replicate principles and elements from the surrounding buildings.
New house proposals require more input at the planning stage and are likely to attract more planning conditions, as opposed to proposals for alterations to existing homes – this can include topographical surveys, biodiversity surveys, transport statements etc.
With the ongoing effort to limit carbon emissions and other greenhouse gasses, a new house will be subject to strict requirements for energy performance and water efficiency. These requirements are greatly relaxed when it comes to alterations to existing buildings.
For those looking to build a conventional house, demolishing an existing house in its entirety in order to build a new one is more often than not the more costly and impractical option. Retaining even one external wall could greatly reduce construction and administrative costs.
A proposal for a new house will be required to include a landscaping design at the planning stage. This can usually be a schematic proposal, outlining soft and hard landscape areas, trees, shrubs etc.
Further Considerations
When building a new home on empty land, allowances should be made for connecting it to the necessary services. This should be coordinated with the relevant service providers to ensure that the house has access to sufficient water supply, electricity supply etc. Pipes connecting to the public sewer need to run at a minimum fall – if this cannot be achieved, alternative solutions, like pump systems, should be allowed for.
Each council has minimum requirements for parking spaces, depending on the size /occupancy of the house. Parking arrangements should also be in accordance with turning paths.
Not all land can be developed into a home as there might be an area designation or planning obstructions. Sometimes an area would be designated by planners to accommodate agricultural use only, therefore residential development would not be allowed. It might also be the case that any type of development on the land would negatively impact an existing neighbouring properties.
Recent New Build Projects
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