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‘Foolish’ regulations encouraging builders to put smaller windows on homes being looked at by new government
The new government is considering whether to scrap health and safety regulations that are seeing homebuilders shrink the size of windows, or put bars on them, to stop people falling out, the Money blog can reveal.
The rules, introduced in December 2021 by the Conservative government, are in the first instance designed to guard against “unwanted solar gains” – or, to put it another way, homes becoming too hot as the climate warms.
This, critics say, is resulting in builders installing smaller windows on new builds.
But they also require builders to account for safety – and so upstairs windows in new-build homes must now be at least 1.1 metres (3.6ft) from the floor.
Former minister Michael Gove launched a review of the rules – with the consultation concluding before the Tories lost power in July.
The new government has yet to make a decision.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government told the Money blog: “We have closed a call for evidence on building regulations and are considering the responses before we make our decision.”
Earlier this year, Nicholas Boys Smith, chairman of the Create Street thinktank on urban design, told the Telegraph the “foolish” regulations have “incentivised the building of extremely small windows”.
“People are not able to look out of their windows if they are sitting down,” he said.
“This means, in a normal-sized suburban house, first-floor rooms are darker and less pleasant.
“It’s making it nearly impossible to create houses that fit in with their 20th century, Edwardian, Georgian or Victorian predecessors. The majority of England’s most beloved buildings would violate these regulations.”