The purr-fect fit

The website is called www.swingacat.info. From its name, you might guess that it is one of those sites designed to give consumers information in a fun, games-style way. But behind the website is research into space standards that is informing the way consumers and the industry perceive homes.

The website teaches the general public about something that has long been second nature to homebuyers in the USA and much of Europe: the meaning of square footage, or floor space. British buyers have traditionally focused on number of bedrooms when looking for a home, something that has left them lacking the basic facts to make informed choices, says David Birkbeck, chief executive of Design for Homes, which along with housing association Sunderland Housing Group has developed the website.

Birkbeck adds: “There is nothing that tells consumers the type of dimensions that they should be looking for in a home. It allows buyers to compare different homes and to see what square footage is enough. Consumers are not stupid; they just don’t have the information.”

The website provides that information and guidance, and allows buyers to roll their mouse over a graph and assess whether a home is: comfortable (ie: has good space standards), cosy (average space standards) or cramped (poor). A cartoon cat sitting beside the chart purrs or is squeezed up in pain, depending on the rating, to drive home the point.

The chart is based on research into living space carried out for the Greater London Authority 18 months ago. Birkbeck explains:

There is no correlation between the size of a property and its density

David Birkbeck, Design for Homes

“It is based on the Parker Morris standard’s idea of dimensioning rooms according to what you would have in them. It actually works out to provide bigger rooms than Parker Morris demanded 30 years ago, because people have more kit in their homes now, such as household appliances and computers.”

Birkbeck says this approach to assessing space is not just useful to consumers: “It allows you to see the rate of site coverage, and it would be more appropriate for planning committees to take that into account than units and bedrooms. Planning committees don’t know whether homes are big or small, and there is no correlation between size of property and density. This would be a more scientific approach.”

The website’s arrival could be timely as concerns have for some time been mounting about the space standards of new homes.

The RICS’ last five-year review of homes found that they were certainly becoming more condensed. Birkbeck points out: “A lot of the ensuite bathrooms being provided in new homes are being carved out of the original floorplate of the bedroom. It is important to be able to assess these things.”

English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation are already using the methodology behind the charts, says Birkbeck. The corporation will give extra points under its allocations process to housing associations providing homes with space standards that are above average.