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A flat with bespoke kitchen but no windows, anyone?

The nu-troglodytes are coming. Daylight is definitely going to be a scarce resource round here though isn't it, let alone views of the sky. I love my windows. They open all the way and are made of wood and everything. Luxury.
 
acrelanegv1.jpg


A former office block in Acre Lane gained permission to be converted into eight self-contained flats. Developers Build Consultants began work in September 2014.

Under new regulations, landlords who own office space are able to convert it to housing without planning permission from the council.

Set across the first and second floors, the block of flats contains two one bedroom apartments and six two bedroom properties.

But some of the homes do not feature any windows – instead being fitted with “light wells”.

The light wells, vertical shafts roofed with glass, allow in natural light, but there are no windows on any of the interior walls.
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It's greed leading the stupid.
 
Mr Smin said:
Office to residential conversion= fewer regs.
Probably most useful as parking for some oligarch's money.
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That's not true. Office to residential is only a planning consideration. Still needs to meet same building regs.
 
You still get daylight through skylights. I've been in flats where the windows give great views of nextdoor's brickwork - this doesn't seem any worse to me. Be interested to look round to see what they're actually like
 
Sounds grim to me. I remember a landlord on the BBC documentary, Secret History of Our Streets, pulling off a similar trick, on Caledonian rd.

He filled his bunkers with Australian backpackers
 
bimble said:
Are there rules about how much daylight a citizen is legally entitled to get?
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In planning, sort of. Lambeth last year adopted the BRE guidelines on daylight and sunlight in the Local Plan so that they are mandatory (although it would appear that some of their officers don't understand this). But this is permitted development (office to residential conversion) so planning have literally no control over it.

Building regs I'm not so sure about. It takes more of an energy angle. I've always fallen foul of build regs Part L by wanting to put in too much window (in principle you're allowed about 25% of floor space max because windows are the least energy efficient element of the building envelope). But they also aim to ensure enough daylight to minimise energy consumption from lights.

But there is also the question of escape to consider. I guess they must have met the regs somehow...
 
Rushy said:
I'd be interested to see how it meets building regs.
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This kind of info is available online afaiaa...I had to consult it a few years ago because the bullshit HA decided to fit a kitchen door that opened onto the cooker, meaning you couldn't use the cooker if the door was open :facepalm:

They tried to argue I was wrong and didn't understand complicated building regulations. :rolleyes: I wasn't wrong and the 5 flats that had this absurd and dangerous design 'fault' got it rectified within weeks of me threatening to shop them and writing an initial complaint to the Housing Ombudsman.

Funny that.
 
I was horrified reading that until I realised my flat (which was refurbed in 1995) had no window in the kitchen until a previous tenant opened up the wall between kitchen and lounge.So it must have been legal then,bathroom still has no window.
 
I'd be interested to see how the light wells work. There will be natural light, just not from an external window. It won't be like those horrific flats from the Secret Life Of The Streets doc, I don't think...or maybe it will, it's hard to tell.
 
More detailed plans can be found here:

http://mr0.homeflow.co.uk/files/property_asset/image/3044/0007/84998_305_s_DOC_00.pdf

The 1st floor flats have lightwells reaching up to windows at 2nd floor level, and the 2nd floor flats have Velux rooflights over each room.

The building regs are mainly interested in ventilation (as well as thermal performance) when it comes to windows. It looks like they can comply as the windows at the top of the lightwells from the 1st floor can be opened from below, and so can Velux rooflights.

It would probably be a bit miserable living in a flat where you can't look out a window, but I don't immediately see anything particularly problematic as far as building regs are concerned.
 
teuchter said:
More detailed plans can be found here:

http://mr0.homeflow.co.uk/files/property_asset/image/3044/0007/84998_305_s_DOC_00.pdf

The 1st floor flats have lightwells reaching up to windows at 2nd floor level, and the 2nd floor flats have Velux rooflights over each room.

The building regs are mainly interested in ventilation (as well as thermal performance) when it comes to windows. It looks like they can comply as the windows at the top of the lightwells from the 1st floor can be opened from below, and so can Velux rooflights.

It would probably be a bit miserable living in a flat where you can't look out a window, but I don't immediately see anything particularly problematic as far as building regs are concerned.
Click to expand...

Looks no different window-wise than a standard basement flat in a Victorian terrace.
 
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