I recently discovered that there are not many people who know what a self-build plot was. I would not know either if it was not for attending the Grand Design Birmingham in October and watching Kevin Cloud’s shows.
I grew up in Croatia, during the socialist regime. Croatia and former Yugoslavia was perhaps unique from other contemporary socialist and communist countries of Europe, which were also part of the Russian block. Former Yugoslavia was not, in that people owned their own homes. Not only that majority of people build their own homes. This tradition continues to present day.
According to the article by Richard Bacon, the Self-building and Renovations publication of the Grand Design, in Austria 80% of new properties are developed in this way. Further in most of the developed countries a substantial number of homes are a self-build.
I was therefore a bit surprised that here in the UK building your own home is so rare that it is part of the TV show. A self-build is associated with a modern, uniquely designed dwellings. It therefore comes as no surprise that Graven Hill featured in the Grand Design TV series, The Street, is becoming a tourists’ attraction. A celebration of a creative, innovative mind.
Graven Hill in particular is designed as a community built project were people look out for each other. It is also a commercial project too.
Beautify designed homes are not just nice to look at. They are designed around the needs and character of the homeowner or family who is going to inhabit that space. It is no surprise that one resident who took part in the Grand Design Birmingham show stated that he built a house to live in with his disabled wife reporting improvement in her health. It is a well-accepted fact that the space we live in affects our wellbeing so the home owner’s statement was not unusual.
In addition to beautiful designs pleasing to the eye, building your own home is considered a cost effective. There are options the homeowner can choose from. They can use high quality material and fittings which may be more expensive making it still cheaper than buying a commercial property built using lower quality material.
Self-build in the UK seems to be linked to high quality and innovative designs. I am more familiar with builds of an ordinarily dwellings. It is perhaps this kind of self-build that needs to be encouraged more. It is only in the last few years that the legal framework was put in place referred as The Right to Build thanks to the Conservative Member of Parliament Richard Bacon until recently and the PPC, former chairman of the all-party Parliamentary Group on Self-Build, Custom and Community House building and place making.
The law says everyone has right to sign up to a self-build register which every local council must keep. In turn the council must than ensure that within three to four years the sufficient suitable building plots are permissioned to match the number on the register.
Section 2(1) of the Self-build and custom Housebuilding Act 2015 places a duty on relevant bodies to have regard to each self-build and custom housebuilding register including Part 2 of the register (where a register is in two parts) that relates to their area when carrying out their planning, housing, land disposal and registration functions
The following guidance suggest ways in which the duty may be demonstrated in carrying out each function:
(ii) Housing: Local Housing authorities who are under the duty to have regard to register that relates to their areas should consider the evidence of demand for self-build and custom housebuilding from the registrars when carrying out their housing functions. This includes when preparing their local housing strategies and in developing plans for new housing on land owned by the local housing authority.”
(IV) Registration states “should consider the demand for self-build and custom house building.”
Based on my conversation with political activists they are either not aware what a self-build plot is or they were on the register for many years without any feedback from the local authority of the prospect of been allocated a plot. Although this may be a less known option but the local authorities clearly have duty to take the demand into consideration when planning for the housing and development.
However, there is a catch22 situation here, if public does not know about this legislation they will not be registering their interest. Consequently, as they will not register their interest, there will not be demand for the self-build plot. As above the council has duty to look at the demand based on the register, which in this instance would not be great since not widely publicised by the local authorities. Consequently, the legislation whilst well intended on its own may not very effective.
The local authorities by failing to promote this scheme are missing out on a potential option to ease out the housing shortage. The popularity of this scheme could also erode the monopoly of the property developers, and potentially encourage them to behaviour more honourably when it comes to buying lands and holding on to it without building on it, which seems to be an issue.
There is another side to this story, the local authority receives funds from the property developers to be used by the council to develop the area’s infrastructure etc. Therefore, the Council is evidently incentivised to sell the land to large development corporations, instead of promoting the self-build plots and projects.
Potential self-builders can search for their very own plots. Consequently, in the current issue of Grand Design magazine the process of finding and checking a potential plot is explained with the guidelines what to look for and where to search. The process, however, seems quite laborious and significant number of people may find it too complicated to follow.
Affordable homes in the Capital:
However, self-build should not be substitute for the Mayor’s failure to build affordable housing in the capital. According to the Evening Standards, 15/11/2019. Mayor of London have started to build less than 5,000 affordable homes in six months, from April. This means further 12,126 would have to be started if he is to hit his minimum target of 17,000 for 2019/20 year. His record on affordable housing is really pitiful and he is highly unlikely to meet this minimum target.
The mayor appears to want to pass the buck by setting up Community Led Housing London www.communityledhousing.london. The Community Group is set up to guide, mentor and support community groups in delivery self-build affordable homes.
This scheme appears to be promoting community led Housing Associations. There are already Housing Association that were set up as a community affordable housing so Mayor is simply re-inventing the wheel and passing the buck down the road.
Cowboy builders:
There is another issue associated with self-build and renovation work highlighted at the Grand Design Birmingham, cowboy builders. According to the Federation of Master Builders’ (FMB) recent survey one in 3 homeowners is so fearful of hiring a cowboy builder that they do not commission any work. A typical project costs £40,000.00. They calculated that the fear of dodgy builders costs the economy £10bn a year.
The Federation proposes a licence system for the builders. This would be widely welcomed, since currently anyone can set themselves up as a builder irrelevant of any experience or knowledge. I think if all builders are also required to register with the Federation (www.fmb.co.uk) this would provide a peace of mind to the homeowner since the fmb checks the trades including a financial check.
There are potentially other benefits of the homebuilding and renovations. A home improvement sometimes may lead to a home extension which potentially could offer a home to a lodger or a tenant, again easing a housing crisis.
Promoting the healthy economy starts at home.
Vesna Cvetek
18 November 2019
Green Queen 