What’s driving change in UK housing design? And how are these factors impacting on the way homes look and perform for their residents? These are questions that leading manufacturer and supplier of PVC windows, doors and fascia systems, Epwin Group, has asked the UK’s architects and specifiers in its new research project: Building for the Future.
The company has carried out a survey asking architects and specifiers what factors they feel will affect housing over the next decade and what effect they will have on design and build. Sharn Samra, Marketing Director at Epwin Group, said: “As a business we’ve placed a focus on product innovation and meeting the ever-evolving needs of our market and customers.
“It’s important that we’re not only looking to the future and understanding trends that are affecting design, but also evaluating the impact of these trends on the built environment. By doing so we are able to develop products and services which help the design community to meet future challenges.
“Building for the Future combines the results of a survey of architects and specifiers with in-depth interviews and desktop research and we think the results are insightful. Furthermore, the feedback we have received is that this research has been conducted at a pertinent time, with many architects attempting to manage and make sense of conflicting influential factors.
“What the research has unearthed is nine key themes which architects feel will have the greatest influence on housing design and build over the next decade. These factors present a significant challenge for the design community, and there is a sense of concern about how they will meet the task that lies ahead – designing homes which will meet the needs of our changing population, framed against issues such as increasing urban populations and a lack of available land for development.
“However, there is also hope and optimism within the industry. Positive findings include; the impact of the technological advances being seen in the architectural world which are changing the face of design, innovation in sustainable building and green technologies which are improving the way housing performs for its residents, and the flexibility and speed of construction offered by modular homes which could help to offset some of the negative issues facing the industry, such as skills shortages.”
To download the full research paper visit www.buildingforthefuture.epwin.co.uk
