Kaisha Hance in the basement flat she shares with her two children in Croydon. “It feels almost like prison - it really does,” she says. Two hundred fifty miles away in Croydon, Kaisha Hance glances up towards the blur of legs drifting past the grimy, barred window at the far end of the narrow basement room she shares with her two young sons in the centre of Croydon. “Developers are trying to cram people into small, dark places, which is symptomatic of a much wider failure to provide the kind of decent housing that we need.” “All sorts of unsuitable buildings including basements are being converted into housing right now,” he says. Some of these are in basements, where natural light cannot penetrate and the outside world is rarely glimpsed.Įllis from the TCPA warns that we are currently building the slums of tomorrow. A sample of more than 550 developments analysed by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) last year found 70% did not meet space standards.
These flats are just some of the estimated 65,000 new dwellings that have been created by turning offices into residential accommodation since 2013. One of the studio apartments in Reliance House, Liverpool. We can’t comment on that,” said a spokesperson for the company. Legacie Developments said it would not be commenting on the claims by the TCPA. Hugh Ellis, head of policy at the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), says the window-free flats in Reliance House should never have been built: “Dwellings of any kind without natural light should not be allowed under any circumstances.” However smart these flats are, they are likely to increase the risk of isolation and depression.”įor experienced planners, windowless flats are anathema. “Having a view out – a visual connection with the outside world – is also really important. “I haven’t met anyone who thinks that a home without daylight is acceptable – we all know that it’s essential to our health and wellbeing,” says Park. However smart these flats are, they are likely to increase the risk of isolation and depression Julia Park, Levitt Bernstein architects Sunlight is also known to boost vitamin D, which helps prevent bone loss and reduces the likelihood of various diseases. The government’s housing health rating system, which determines the standards demanded by housing officers, warns inadequate natural light poses a threat to physical and mental health. Lack of natural light can have serious implications for those living below ground. “I can’t imagine that any planning authority would allow either a conversion or a new home to go ahead without a window to each habitable room or at least a roof light.” “Daylight and space are the two most obvious victims of permitted development rights,” she says. Julia Park, head of housing research at architects Levitt Bernstein, says developers are taking advantage of the lack of controls to build flats in basements for which they would not have received permission in the past. Five of the basement flats have no windows. Reliance House, Liverpool, a £24m project. These changes were brought in by ministers to boost housing numbers in 2013 but are now subject to a government review amid concerns they have led to a flurry of poor-quality office to residential conversions across the country.
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Instead it was fast-tracked under controversial reforms, which allow developers to use so-called “permitted development rights” to convert offices to flats without full planning permission.
Liverpool’s planners were unable to consider the lack of natural light as the project did not go through the usual approval process for new dwellings in the north-west city. The plans from the developer, Legacie Developments, however reveal that many of those living below ground in the £24m project will have to survive with little or no natural light.
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But the website does not mention that five of the flats in the basement have no windows, while two more only have high level windows at street level. The swanky apartments are furnished with wooden floors and sleek built-in storage (a one-bedroom flat is on the market for £114,950). The slick marketing website for Reliance House boasts a timeless building near Liverpool’s vibrant waterfront “reimagined for modern living”.
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