Quantifying the extent of space shortages: English dwellings

Figures & data

Table 1 Comparison of selected European dwelling sizes

	All dwellings			Newly built dwellings
	Floor space (m^2)	Number of rooms	Room size (m^2)	Floor space (m^2)	Number of rooms	Room size (m^2)
UK	85.0	5.2	16.3	76.0	4.8	15.8
Italy	90.3	4.1	22	81.5	3.8	21.4
Portugal	83.0	4.3	19.3	82.2	4.7	17.5
Sweden	89.8	4.3	20.9	83.0	4.0	20.8
Finland	76.5	3.6	21.3	87.1	4.0	21.8
Ireland	88.3	5.3	16.7	87.7	5.2	16.9
Austria	90.6	3.4	26.6	96.0	3.7	25.9
Spain	85.3	4.8	17.8	96.6	5.1	18.9
Luxemburg	125.0	5.5	22.7	104.1	5.1	20.4
Germany	86.7	4.4	19.7	109.2	5.1	21.4
France	88.0	3.9	22.6	112.8	4.2	26.9
Netherlands	98.0	4.2	23.3	115.5	4.1	28.2
Belgium	86.3	4.3	20.1	119.0	5.8	20.5
Greece	79.6	3.8	20.9	126.4	3.2	39.5
Denmark	108.9	3.7	29.4	137.0	3.5	39.1

Source: Evans and Hartwich (2005)

Table 2 Comparison of the Greater London Authority (GLA), Parker Morris space standards

Number of stories	Number of bedrooms	Number of people	GLA 2010		Parker Morris 1961
			m^2	m^2/person	m^2	m^2/person
1	1	2	50	25	–	–
1	2	3	61	20	44.6	15
1	2	4	70	18	56.7	14
1	3	4	74	18	69.7	17
1	3	5	86	17	79.0	16
1	3	6	95	16	86.4	14
1	4	5	90	18	75.3	15
1	4	6	99	17	83.6	14
2	2	4	83	21	71.5	18
2	3	4	87	22	74.3	19
2	3	5	96	19	81.8	16
2	4	5	100	20	84.5	17
2	4	6	107	18	92.0	15
3	3	5	102	20	–	–
3	4	5	106	21	98.4	20
3	4	6	113	19	102.1	17

Sources: GLA (2010) and Morris (1961).

Table 3 Greater London Authority (GLA) internal space standard and equations approximating to the standard

Number of stories	Number of bedrooms	Number of people	Percentage of the English Housing Survey (EHS)	GLA standard area (m^2)	Equation (1)		Equation (2)
					Area (m^2)	Difference (m^2)	Area (m^2)	Difference (m^2)
1	1	2	2.3	50	50.0	0.0	50.0	0.0
1	2	3	1.7	61	63.3	2.3	66.3	5.3
1	2	4	0.8	70	72.5	2.5	66.3	−3.7
1	3	4	0.6	74	76.5	2.5	82.6	8.6
1	3	5	0.2	86	85.8	−0.3	82.6	−3.4
1	3	6	0	95	95.0	0.0	82.6	−12.4
1	4	5	1.3	90	89.8	−0.3	98.9	8.9
1	4	6	0.5	99	99.0	0.0	98.9	−0.1
2	2	4	1.1	83	80.6	−2.4	76.0	−7.0
2	3	4	6.5	87	84.6	−2.4	92.3	5.3
2	3	5	2.1	96	93.9	−2.1	92.3	−3.7
2	4	5	0.9	100	97.9	−2.1	108.6	8.6
2	4	6	0.3	107	107.1	0.1	108.6	−1.6
3	3	5	0.2	102	102.0	0.0	102.0	0.0
3	4	5	0.3	106	106.0	0.0	118.3	12.3
3	4	6	0.2	113	115.2	2.2	118.3	−5.3
Average	–			88.7	88.3	1.2	90.3	5.4
Total			19

Figure 1 Comparison of Greater London Authority (GLA) Standard, Equations (1) and (2)

Table 4 Variables of the English Housing Survey (EHS) 2010 used in this research

Variable	Table	Description
Variables taken directly from the EHS
hhsizex	Interview___Derived	Number of persons in the household
hhtype	Interview___Derived	Type of family living in the household
tenex	Interview___Derived	Tenure of residents
housebenx	Interview___Derived	Does the household claim Housing Benefit?
Storeyx	Physical___Derived	Number of floors in the building
dwtype8x	Physical___Derived	Dwelling building type
dwage9x	Physical___Derived	Dwelling age
NRmsEHS	Rooms	Number of bedrooms – used after Q2 2009
NRms1	Rooms	Number of bedrooms – used before Q2 2009
GrossArea	Dimensions	Total internal floor area
Floorgar	Dimensions	Total area of garages
Floorbal	Dimensions	Total area of balconies
Variables calculated from the EHS
GLA		Minimum floor area based on Equation (1)
GLA2		Minimum floor area based on Equation (2)
FloorArea		GrossArea – [Floorgar] – [Floorbal]
DiffP		FloorArea/GLA as a percentage
DiffP2		FloorArea/GLA2 as a percentage
Bedrooms		NRmsEHS or NRms1 as applicable
Occupancy		hhsizex/Bedrooms
Floors		For flats = 1; otherwise Storeyx

Figure 2 Comparison between two different equations for calculating the internal space standard

Figure 3 Housing in the English Housing Survey (EHS) size and occupancy rates – Equation (2)

Figure 4 Housing in the English Housing Survey (EHS) by house type

Figure 5 Housing in the English Housing Survey (EHS) by age

Figure 6 Housing in English Housing Survey (EHS) by household composition

Figure 7 Occupation and size of households receiving Housing Benefit – Equation (2)

Figure 8 Occupation and size of households deemed to have a spare bedroom – Equation (2)

Evans, A. W., & Hartwich, O. M. (2005). Unaffordable housing: Fables and myths (First., p. 41). London: Policy Exchange.

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GLA. (2010). London housing design guide. Retrieved from http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/mayor/publications/housing/london-housing-design-guide

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Morris, P. (1961). Homes for today & tomorrow (Third., p. 92). London: Ministry of Housing and Local Government.

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