Architects beginning to think big

It's time to return to the Parker Morris standards, repealed 30 years ago, says Roberts-Hughes. Formulated in 1961, this diktat laid down new minimum standards for public housing in terms of space, heating and other factors – reflecting the white-hot optimism of the times.

"Thirty years since the Parker Morris standards were removed, there has been one major change to homes," says Roberts-Hughes. "They have shrunk." And we have grown out of them, with children staying at home for longer, smaller spaces accommodating more people, and a bizarre service industry of ring-road sheds to store possessions.

The reasons for the shrinking of the British home are manifold, according to a report from the Policy Exchange think tank.

"The rise in land prices, and the consequent high cost of housing, choke off the demand for larger houses, at all income levels, which would otherwise occur as incomes increase," it says. In short, "Because housing has become more expensive, people are forced to buy less."

Not a happy scenario, then. But this autumn, attention has turned back to space standards, and how they may be enhanced. The London Development Agency has published the new London Housing Design Guide, setting out Mayor of London Boris Johnson's aspirations. The new guidelines, dubbed the "Parker Boris" standards, in reference to their historic antecedents, have kicked off with the Olympic housing masterplan being cut from 10,000 homes to 8,000, with a greater preponderance of larger family houses. "Parker Morris plus 10 per cent" is the new mantra: a corrective to "Rabbit hutch Britain" – as last year's Cabe report dubbed our small dwellings. That report attached special "name and shame" stigma to Barratt Homes's "Manhattan pods" in Harlow, Essex. They boast 365 sq ft of space, with living rooms measuring 3.6m by 3m. And now the new Parker Boris standards, which have been adopted by the Homes and Communities Agency, set the minimum size for a one-bed flat in affordable housing at 550 sq ft. Two bedroom flats must be no smaller than 770 sq ft.

The House Building Federation, representing private housebuilders, though argues that private housing should be treated differently.

"We don't think [space standards] are suitable or applicable to private housing," says a spokesman. "The end user and the market define the size of the home. Housebuilders provide dwellings that people can afford." And Grant Shapps, Minister for Housing and Local Government, said in a speech this week that he wants to reduce the "burden of regulation" to drive down unnecessary costs house builders.

The Lifetime Homes Standard, devised in 1991 and updated this year, was supposed to pick up where Parker Morris left off, and includes recommendations on space. But the perfect property storm of expensive land and a booming buy-to-let investment market appears to have left smallness the industry standard across the country – a situation that appears unlikely to change.

There is a similar trend in the US, but interestingly – and in line with the American spirit of turning a problem into an opportunity – small houses have become something of a cult for the Toyota Prius-owning classes.

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