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Should the UK domestic dwelling have a plant room

Sergio Fernandez

Should it be made mandatory for a UK new build domestic dwelling to have a plant room factored in at the design stage?  Something like 1 meter by 2 meter as the minimum requirement.  This could be a BS (British Standard) or a Building Control or CDM (Construction Design Management)

The Plant Room/Services room could be used to house some of the following
Boiler Gas/Electric/Hydrogen
CU/DB (Consumer Unit/Distribution Unit)
Power inverter and batteries
This is not an exhaustive list but it sets the idea or concept


The space could then be suitably heated and ventilated and fire resistant including interlink smoke/heat alarms



As always please be polite and respectful in this purely academic debate.







Come on everybody let’s help inspire the future.

Parents

  • I think that this thread is highlighting a number of problems with the structure of UK housebuilding.  There are too many, too small, too inefficient houses badly designed and built.

    If you look to the continent the smaller properties are apartment blocks that can be more thermally efficient due to less surface area for a given volume and can have better infrastructure systems. Plant rooms will be normal. Single houses will generally be quite large and will also have sufficient space for plant rooms.

    Our 80m2 two bedroom apartment has two external walls and costs around £700 a year for heating. It is on a district heating system burning genuine wood waste from the local forestry a woodworking industries.

    The downside of apartment block is that solar PV on the roof and heat pump systems are more complicated to install and may not be large enough to supply the needs of all the apartments.

Reply

  • I think that this thread is highlighting a number of problems with the structure of UK housebuilding.  There are too many, too small, too inefficient houses badly designed and built.

    If you look to the continent the smaller properties are apartment blocks that can be more thermally efficient due to less surface area for a given volume and can have better infrastructure systems. Plant rooms will be normal. Single houses will generally be quite large and will also have sufficient space for plant rooms.

    Our 80m2 two bedroom apartment has two external walls and costs around £700 a year for heating. It is on a district heating system burning genuine wood waste from the local forestry a woodworking industries.

    The downside of apartment block is that solar PV on the roof and heat pump systems are more complicated to install and may not be large enough to supply the needs of all the apartments.

Children
  • in reply to Roger B
    Roger B said:
    I think that this thread is highlighting a number of problems with the structure of UK housebuilding.  There are too many, too small, too inefficient houses badly designed and built.

    From an engineering perspective, I cannot disagree. However in UK, apartment blocks = council flats.

    Whilst Grenfell did not help, there are plenty of expensive-looking apartment blocks sandwiched between the railway line to Waterloo and the Thames, so it depends upon where you live.

  • in reply to Chris Pearson

    Unfortunately  expensive looking does not always mean well engineered Slight frown

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