Developing homes

All the homes we build are accessible. More than a quarter are designed for wheelchair users, with the others built to be accessible and adaptable. Since 1994 that has meant meeting the Lifetime Homes accessibility standards or its successor, Building Regulations part M4 Category 2*. Lifetime Homes is a concept we developed alongside the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It sets out 16 design criteria that ensure a new home is accessible, flexible to live in and can be easily adapted. These features create homes that accommodate the changing needs of a household – or many households - over time.

We are constantly working to improve the designs of our homes, to make them even more accessible, so that our tenants can live even more independent lives.

By building developments that integrate housing designed with both disabled people and non-disabled people in mind, we help minimise social exclusion, tackle the negative stereotypes that disabled people face and combat the isolation and segregation many experience.

Our approach also saves money. By building accessible and adaptable homes from the outset, we cut the cost of future adaptations if a tenant's needs should change. And by providing homes that support independence, we help disabled people stay out of more expensive institutionalised settings. Our Raynville Crescent scheme in Leeds is an example of this providing 11 houses built to the Lifetime Homes Standard and three Wheelchair standard bungalows. Read more about Raynville Crescent in our case study [pdf] 552KB here.

*In 2015 after Habinteg took part in a government review of housing standards, two new ‘optional’ access standard were introduced into Building Regulations Approved Document M. The ‘accessible and adaptable’ standard is largely equivalent to the Lifetime Homes standard, whilst Category 3 is a set of standards that make a home accessible for a wheelchair user.