ARCHITECT’SVI EW
Futureproofing your home’s design
Matt Loader, co-founder of Loader Monteith Architects, shares how to design an adaptable home for future upgrades and renovations
HEADSHOT: GORDON BURNISTON
What is a futureproof design and why might you want this for your home?
Futureproofing your house comes down to wanting your home to be capable of accommodating change. That might be a shift in your personal circumstances, such as your needs as you age, or a transition in external circumstances, such as the climate. Adaptability allows a building to be flexible for those things we may not necessarily know about that could be around the corner.
How can you design a house layout to ensure it’s flexible for different stages of life?
UK-wide and particularly in Scotland, Building Regulations dictate that, where possible, layouts of new homes should be planned so the ground floor level includes a bathroom, a kitchen, a living room and a room that can be used for sleeping in. This effectively allows you to stay in your home if your mobility changes; for instance, if you find going up and down stairs more challenging the older you get. That’s a fundamental design element we see on most of our projects, not only because there is a regulatory requirement for it, but because it makes sense to ensure that when you’re spending money on a property, you get to enjoy it for as long as possible. Often people find that an asset when you’re in middle age becomes somewhat of a liability as you get older. Large houses can be a lot to maintain and once children leave home, having lot of rooms that aren’t used as often will be expensive to heat, for example. A house is a huge investment, and a lot of people’s cash will be tied up in their property. So, we also look at futureproofing a building by considering how it could be subdivided so that you could remain in part of your property in perpetuity, but the other section could eventually become a separate dwelling. This tends to require a reasonably big house so it’s not always right for every site, but it is an interesting design technique we’ve looked at on a few projects to allow that asset to be released and reduce the financial load.