What is the lifetime homes standard?

In the 1980s, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation became particularly concerned about the quality of British housing and in particular, how inaccessible and inconvenient many houses were for large segments of the population – from those with young children through to frail older people and those with temporary or permanent disabilities.  

The lifetime homes concept was developed in 1991 and encompasses 16 design features that ensure a new house or flat will meet the needs of most households. The emphasis is on accessibility and design features that make the home flexible enough to meet whatever comes along in life. The overall aim of The Lifetime Homes Standard is to make homes suitable for people at all stages of their lives. 

If you are proposing to modernise your home, it is worth giving some thought now to incorporating the Lifetime Homes Standard within you refurbishment scheme. 

How much does it cost to incorporate the LHS into my renovation scheme? 

Many of the standards can be absorbed into you renovation scheme at little or no cost. In fact three quarters of Lifetime Homes standards are readily achieved as part of a fairly standard refurbishment programme. 

Lifetime Homes incorporate 16 design standards which, when incorporated within your refurbishment proposals fall into three cost categories;

No-cost improvements

Such as changes to the positioning of electrical sockets, switches and radiator controls if they are being replaced as part of the renovations.

Low-cost improvements

Improvements that cost only a little extra (£25-100) and can include, as part of the refurbishment scheme, including additional hand rails, widening doorways, external lighting, widened and levelled paths. These access items can be incorporated with only a little extra consideration. 

Higher-cost improvements

Fewer items come into this category of relatively high cost (over £100) but this could include rearrangement of internal walls and services to form a new ground floor WC and / or shower and enlargement of the upstairs bathroom with widened doors if not already considered within the improvement scheme.

What are the design standards of lifetime homes?

•  where there is car parking adjacent to the home, it should be capable of enlargement to attain 3300mm width
• the distance from the car parking space to the home should be kept to a minimum and should be level or gently sloping
• the approach to all entrances should be level or gently sloping
• all entrances should be illuminated and have level access over the threshold and a covered main entrance
• where homes are reached by a lift, it should be wheelchair accessible
• the width of doorways and hallways should conform to the specifications below: 

• there should be space for tuning a wheelchair in dining areas and living rooms and adequate circulation space for wheelchair users everywhere
• the living room should be at entrance level
• in houses of two or more storeys, there should be space on the entrance level that could be used as a convenient bed space
• there should be; a) A wheelchair accessible entrance level WC with b) Drainage provision enabling a shower to be fitted in the future
• the design should provide for a reasonable route for a potential hoist from a main bedroom to the bathroom
• the bathroom should be designed to incorporate ease of access to the bath, WC and wash basin
• living room window glazing should begin at 800mm or lower and windows should be easy to open / operate
• switches, sockets, ventilation and service controls should be at a height usable by all (i.e. between 450 and 1200mm from the floor).