Self-build Bacon brings home self-build recommendations

By NATHAN BOOTH

A RECENT REPORT BY MP RICHARD

Bacon may make all the difference in getting a clear voice on the subject of self-build heard in the halls of Westminster. With the ongoing housing crisis in the UK and the simple fact that not enough houses are being built to meet demand, the Bacon Review hopes to galvanise opinion and move the selfbuild sector into increased activity. This could deliver between 30,000 and 40,000 self-build homes annually.

Creative overdrive

Mr Bacon is keen to raise the profile of custom and self-building, focusing on efficiency and attractiveness. Earlier this year, the prime minister asked him to undertake a review of the current state of play of self-build, and to make a series of recommendations on his findings. The 114-page review has now been completed and published, and it makes encouraging reading both for anyone looking at embarking on a selfbuild project and self-build specialists. It addresses a wide range of subjects and looks at how self-build can be promoted as a viable option for anyone to undertake.

The report, called House: How Putting Customers in Charge Can Change Everything, notes that ‘Instead of beauty and a natural order, we see a sterile sameness almost everywhere we look…We are failing to create the listed buildings of tomorrow.’

While houses are being built by developers to meet the current huge demand, it is at the cost of the distinctiveness that a self-build scheme brings to the appearance of a completely new construction project. The review lays out six main recommendations for growing and strengthening the self-build sector, which would make it much simpler and more straightforward for people to build their own homes, in their own style, in their own way.

Recommendations for self-building

In his review, Bacon makes six key recommendations, which map out a clear way forward for the sector.

1. Greater role for Homes England

The report recommends a new ‘Custom and Self-Build Housing Delivery Unit’ to be formed within Homes England, to enable the creation of serviced building plots on small and large sites. It will also support the delivery of custom and self-build housing at greater volume across the country.

2. Raise awareness of the right to build

The Government, working through Homes England and in partnership with the custom and self-build industry, should create a custom and self-build housing ‘Show Park’.

It should also strengthen existing legislation, to ensure the wider publicity of ‘Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Registers’, and the sharing of key data between landowners and people on these registers.