Space invasion

Home buyers demand flexible space over traditional rooms

Galliford Try reports that a shifting dynamic among today's home buyers has led to the blurring of room boundaries and a demand for “flexible” space.

Forward thinking housebuilder Galliford Try Homes is increasingly offering “flexi-space” rooms in homes across its housebuilding divisions to meet the changing needs of its discerning buyers.

These living spaces are designed to be multi-functional and their usage evolves in line with the homeowner's own life pattern within the home.

Non-designated ground floor rooms include dining rooms and studies which can become playrooms, granny annexes, gyms or even private cinemas. Townhouses on three levels and those with bonus rooms on the top floor lend themselves to “independent living” within a household - creating areas such as a refuge for teenage children or games room.

Chris Coates, Managing Director for Galliford Try Homes, comments:

“Customers often wish to stay in a home for some time and will have many different needs spanning a number of years. During these years, studies will become playrooms and then revert back again, an au pair's room might become a granny annex, and so on - flexibility is paramount. 

At the same time people are increasingly choosing to combine cooking and dining to free-up space for leisure pursuits within the home such as games rooms and gyms. The dining room has not been dispensed with just displaced for the time being.

“Today's homebuyer is demanding a more relaxed and flexible lifestyle, keeping the home free from the restrictions of traditionally defined room boundaries.”

Many homes at the group's Water Colour development in Surrey, offer flexible living space, including a selection of three-storey homes with top-floor ‘maxi-space'.

Residents have utilised these spaces for a range of purposes including additional bedrooms and second living areas. These homes also offer expansive open plan ground floors that can be used for comfortable family living and formal dining.

Homes at Water Colour in Redhill, Surrey, range from two bedroom apartments to five bedroom family homes. Three-storey detached homes with flexible living throughout and views overlooking an expansive lagoon and nature reserve start at £634,99.

Contact Linden Homes on 08452 606 606 or visit Linden Homes at www.lindenhomes.co.uk.

Elsewhere, Stamford Homes is offering the reverse in three-storey living with lower level garden rooms at its development, Charnwood Mews in Anstey, Leicestershire.

From the outside these homes have the appearance of two-storey cottages but have the addition of a carefully designed basement below street level. This room includes the home's kitchen and a flexible open space that buyers are using as extra living rooms, conservatories and studies.

Three-story homes with lower level garden rooms are available at Charnwood Mews priced between £174,995 and £184,995. For further information contact the sales and marketing suite on 01162 341929 or visit www.stamford-homes.co.uk