With the current increasing environmental and economic strain of resource procurement combined with rapidly changing lifestyles, many dwellings have a less than designed for occupancy rate, they are much larger than they need to be.

Later marriages, childless and single offspring families, increasing divorce rates and longer life expectancies have resulted in many single or dual occupant households.  With the domestic building stock principally designed for four or more people and little variation from the norm available, this results in a vast waste of resources.  For most domestic and even larger scale construction during the latter half of the Twentieth century longevity was not an issue, and so the existing building stock will require massive replacement over the next few decades. 

The variety and forms of new dwellings should reflect the changing social patterns and environmental imperatives of our era.  Smaller houses of higher quality and broader diversity provide the opportunity to dramatically reduce resource consumption both in capital development and ongoing maintenance.  They can also enhance the longevity of built form and improve living standards in real terms.  Rooms can be made multi-functional with a bit of forethought and robustness of design.  Increased use may be made of outdoor spaces and rooms.

So … Rule of Thumb … Build a smaller house and put the resources into higher quality.  Think carefully about the spaces you need and the qualities you wish them to have.  Think about multiple function spaces.  Call for the removal of regulatory inhibitions to the construction of smaller houses and sites.