City Hall pare down building regulations to ease pressure on housebuilders
The capital's housing shortage has worsened in recent years, in part due to the increased burden on developers of rising interest rates and rocketing material and labour costs.
City Hall are making incremental changes to drive down construction costs in a desperate bid to boost housebuilding in London, the deputy mayor for housing has confirmed.
The planned prohibition against single aspect homes, one of the key reasons for London's acute overheating risk, has been dropped and replaced with other measures.
The capital’s housing shortage has worsened in recent years, partly due to an increased burden on developers, who have seen rising interest rates, as well as rocketing material and labour costs.
It has meant London has fallen well short of both affordable and general housebuilding targets, with officials recently admitting that ministers are unlikely to see their 88,000 annual target reached anytime in the next decade without significant investment.
In recent months, it has also emerged that major developers such as Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley Group are scaling back or halting new housing projects in London.
The mayor of London has, in partnership with the government, taken steps towards reversing the decline, namely through reducing the regulatory burden on developers in order to increase the financial viability of building new properties.
This has included a reduction in the affordability quota from 35% to 20% for a time limited period, as well as halving the length of the new London Plan, which is the spatial strategy guiding boroughs and developers in the capital.
Deputy mayor for housing Tom Copley has now revealed further examples of City Hall tinkering with regulations to make life easier for developers.
Speaking to a fringe event at the Labour Party’s annual conference last month, he said officials had taken a “hard look” at driving down construction costs wherever possible.
This includes reducing cycle parking provisions in certain parts of London. Developers were previously forced to construct expensive facilities in dense areas of the city, often resulting in pricey basement parking which was left mostly empty.
The new London Plan takes a more granular approach, only requiring extensive provision where cycling is more popular – and even then, it takes into account the increased use of dockless hire bikes, which make up around a tenth of London’s 1.5m daily cycling journeys.
Required ceiling heights also dropped from 2.5 metres to 2.4 metres, which Mr Copley said was a “small but practical way to help reduce the cost of development”.
Extreme heat protections against single aspect homes watered down
There were also concerns around rules banning single-aspect dwelling – flats with windows on only one exterior wall. The prohibition has now been lifted, with the expectation that developers demonstrate adequate passive ventilation, daylight, and mitigation against overheating.
“We’re not saying that dual aspect isn’t important – in a world of increasing overheating, it is important – but we’ve asked boroughs to take a more flexible and and pragmatic approach,” Copley explained.
The UK Green Building Council found that one of the key reasons for London's acute overheating risk is the city's disproportionately high number of single aspect homes.
Overall, Copley said, City Hall will continue to look at minor ways they can ease pressure on developers without “going too far” and trading off safety.
The draft London Plan is still subject to change, having just completed its public consultation. It will face further examination and approval from the Housing Secretary before being signed off and adopted in 2028.
Reporting from Local Democracy Reporter Kumail Jaffer with additions on extreme heat risk from Dorothy Stein.
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