Gareth Lomax, Director at Ardent Lift Consultancy, looks at the new easing of ‘Airspace development’ restrictions.

This month’s Flat Living article relates to changes to the UK planning system which will provide new regulations to give greater freedom for buildings and land in town centres to change use without planning permission and create new homes from the regeneration of vacant and redundant buildings.

These changes are planned to come into effect by September through changes to the law. Developers will still need to adhere to high standards and regulations, just without the unnecessary red tape.

A large part of these changes will enable property owners to build additional space above their properties via a fast track approval process, subject to neighbour consultation. This could offer residents within blocks with flat roofs the opportunity to redevelop their building (extending by two floors) to provide additional homes, whilst potentially making a profit from the whole process.

The Evening Standard ran an interesting article on the matter, whereby they detailed approximately 41,000 new homes could be created in Zones 1 and 2 alone.

So far so good…

However, there will need to be considerations from a services perspective (structure, water, electricity, drainage, etc.) which will have a bearing on both the cost and design of the additions to the property.

Of course, lift service is another matter which will require serious consideration when providing homes two floors higher than those existing within the property.

Will the new residents want to walk up two flights of stairs (if there is already lift service in the property) or more, to get to the front door of their new penthouse?

If the answer is no, then lift service to the top two floors will need consideration as part of the scheme. 

There are two scenarios which will face the property owner in this instance:

– Lift service already exists in the property and therefore there will be a need to extend the service beyond that already in place

– There is no lift within the building, so a suitable space for lift service should be found

If Lift Service Already Exists…

In this scenario, there are some benefits inasmuch that there is already a lift shaft within the property, meaning the footprint allocated for the lift installation has already been established.

There may be restrictions in shaft sizes (particularly in pre-1990’s properties); however, the lift shaft is likely to be such that it can be utilised for the new lift installation (or shaft extension), subject to the existing lift equipment installed.

Some lift systems will lend themselves to extension i.e. if the lift is of a quality that retaining components from the original installation is a cost-effective solution. This should always be determined on a case by case basis.

Often the roof has been home to the lift machine room (in top driven installations), so continuation of the lift shaft within this area is relatively straightforward; however, whether the extension works planning will permit a lift machine room being installed above the roofline of the property will need to be reviewed.

In these circumstances MRL (machine room less) lift equipment will often be better suited to the new lift shaft extension, as it will not require a machine space above the shaft. It will require circa 4 metre shaft height from the top floor landing level; however, this is considerably less than a full motor room in that area.

There Is No Lift Within The Property…

This offers more of a challenge if lift service is required, as there is the need to allocate a lift shaft somewhere within the property (the footprint of the lift shaft is typically 2m x 2m) which could impact on common parts within the property.

The alternative solution in this scenario is an external lift shaft, which can add step free access to a building where before there was none. 

This option offers the chance to be creative with design.

There would be potential to match the external brickwork of the property, have a clad finish to make a feature of the lift shaft, or even a glazed lift shaft (utilising scenic glass lift doors) which could open up the building’s common parts with the effect of a lightwell.

These options come at a cost of course, however, when planning to put new apartments above the existing building, having a good level of lift service could be key in obtaining the best price for the properties located on the upper floors.

When is a lift survey not a lift survey?

.. when it’s a FEASIBILITY STUDY!

When planning works of this nature, or even just considering whether your block could have a lift installed if there isn’t one in place, a Feasibility Study is a useful tool.

We undertake Feasibility Studies on existing lifts (when looking to extend or adapt a property), but also attend buildings where there are no lifts installed and the client is simply trying to understand whether a lift could be installed (and what sort of costs they could be in for).