Consumer attitudes to innovative housing design

It is now widely accepted that we are simply not building enough new houses.Recent house price increases result directly from a shortage of homes. Buildingnew houses is the only significant way that we have of meeting increases in thedemand for homes. Both government reports and academic research identify theshortage of development land as the main cause of the shortage of homes.Greenfield development is both politically unpopular and ultimately unsustainable.The current emphasis is on redeveloping existing sites and using thedevelopment land that is available more efficiently.Although population growth accounts for some of the increase in demand forhomes the reduction in the average occupancy of our homes has a far moresignificant impact. The way that we use our homes has changed significantlyover the last 30 years. In the same period the type of homes that we build haschanged little.House builders are frequently criticised for using outmoded technologies to buildhomes with traditional designs. Some commentators argue that these homes nolonger suit the way that we live. They consider the highly segregated internallayouts of new homes to be particularly wasteful of scarce development land. Intheir defence home builders argue that they are simply supplying the homes thattheir customers want. They do not believe that the market exists for designs withmore flexible, open plan internal layouts. Research into customer preferences inthe housing market is limited and what does exist is contradictory.This research aimed to contribute to this debate. It used small scale, semistructuredinterviews to investigate the preferences of potential purchasers ofnew homes. Although relying on a small sample the research suggests that theremay be a significant link between the homes that people purchase and the typesof homes that they remember as a child. This link might help to explain theapparent preference of home buyers for houses with segregated internal spaces.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Master's Level (Level 7)

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Head, J

Language dc:language

en

Identifier

oai:salford-repository.worktribe.com:1339230

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:salford-repository.worktribe.com:1339230