On 25 February 2008, the UK government announced plans to ensure that all new homes are built to Lifetime Homes standards by 2013. [1] Some local planning guidelines require or recommend that the Lifetime Homes standard be adopted in new developments. In Wales and Northern Ireland, new publicly funded housing must meet the Lifetime Homes standard. The Lifetime Homes Standard is a set of sixteen design criteria designed to make homes lighter and at minimal cost for lifetime use. The concept was originally developed in 1991 by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Habinteg Housing Association. The London plan included requirements for London developers to build homes to Lifetime Home standards from 2004 to 2016. Following the government`s 2015 housing standards review, the lifetime home standards were replaced by the voluntary construction law standard M4(2) entitled “Accessible and Adaptable Housing.” In 2016, the London Plan was revised to reflect these new standards, and the current London Plan policy requires that 90% of all new construction in London meet this standard, while the remaining 10% is wheelchair housing. A revised version of the Lifetime Homes Standard was published on July 5, 2010 in response to a consultation launched to achieve a higher level of practicality for volume developers to meet the requirements of the Code for Sustainable Homes. The revisions will also facilitate the adoption of lifetime home design as a prerequisite for all future publicly funded housing projects.
Part M of building codes includes requirements that go in a similar direction to lifetime home standards, but generally do not go as far. What steps are you taking to ensure that a sufficient proportion of new homes built in London are homes for life? As a result, the Sustainable Housing Code can no longer be a requirement of planning conditions, and when a local planning authority adopts a policy to improve accessibility or adaptability, it should only do so by referring to requirement M4(2) and/or M4(3) of the optional requirements of building codes. In February 2008, the UK government announced its intention to ensure that all new homes are built to Lifetime Homes standards by 2013 (see Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods A National Strategy for Housing in an Ageing Society) and, in November 2010, changes were made to the Code for Sustainable Homes that include revisions to the Lifetime Homes standard. The Foundation for Lifetime Homes and Neighborhoods suggests that “lifelong homes make life as easy as possible for as long as possible because they are carefully designed. They offer accessible and adaptable accommodation for everyone, from young families to seniors to people with temporary or permanent physical disabilities. The inclusion of lifetime home design in the overall housing stock is expected to allow older persons to stay longer in their own dwellings over time, reduce the need to adapt housing, and provide greater choice for persons with disabilities who cannot live independently due to a lack of adequate housing. The Government points out that the large number of competing standards can be confusing and that “the standards all come from documents prepared by non-governmental groups who believe that current national policies, guidelines or regulations are in some respects imperfect and need to be supplemented. They are rarely subject to a cost-benefit analysis when they are developed, unlike government guidelines or regulations. The requirement for the Lifetime Housing Standard in the London Plan will be replaced by the new voluntary building code requirement M4(2). It then sets out 16 accessibility and inclusive design criteria to meet the needs of residents and the community: However, as part of the government`s “Red Tape Challenge” for housing and construction, the consolidated standards were transformed into a national framework focused on building codes. The Sustainable Housing Code (Level 6) includes the Standard for Homes for Life.
Lifetime Homes is managed and technically supported by Habinteg, who took over responsibility from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2008. The Lifetime Homes standard was developed in 1991 by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Lifetime Homes Group. The standard is now promoted by the Foundation for Lifetime Homes and Neighbourhoods, established in 2010, which includes Age UK, the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) and Habinteg, a housing association originally founded by Scope. Administrative and technical support for Lifetime Homes is provided by Habinteg, who has assumed this responsibility for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. This standard or measurement article is a heel. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. The revisions are the result of the work of the Lifelong Homes Technical Advisory Group, which represents a cross-section of practitioners involved in housing planning, housing design, access advice and the provision of accommodations. The Lifetime Homes concept is based on five fundamental principles: .