4 ms·
Necessary footnote: the age of the average dwelling in the UK is 75 years. (I live in a ~200 year old apartment. It's not particularly unusual in being of that
by cstross 7y ago
Necessary footnote: the age of the average dwelling in the UK is 75 years. (I live in a ~200 year old apartment. It's not particularly unusual in being of that age.)
- m-i-l 7y agoYes, its all well and good looking at things like a Passivhaus for a new build, but in places like the UK there are very few opportunities for new builds, given homes have historically been built to last for decades or centuries rather than be torn down and rebuilt every few years. As a result, 76% of UK housing stock is more than 40 years old and 20% is more than 100 years old[0]. Even after the mass destruction of housing during the Second World War, some of the prefabs (built quickly and only supposed to last 10 years[1]) are still in use over 70 years later (in some cases ironically now listed buildings[2]). [0] https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/English_housing_stock_age https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/English_housing_st... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefabs_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefabs_in_the_United_Kingdom [2] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/mar/17/historic-prefabs-saved-from-bulldozer https://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/mar/17/historic-pre...
- cstross 7y agoAlso: AIUI there's no VAT due on new build properties on green field sites (of which there are very few),but redeveloping brown-field sites attracts VAT charged at 20%. Which is frank insanity in terms of public policy on a small, crowded island, but ...