Flats as an answer to housing crisis

[Turefu]

Hello.
British people like to live in their houses, flats are not popular. However, they're very common on the continent. Isn't it the way we should go? Building more flats instead of houses. There's only so much land available , we need to build up. That way more people will have their homes. People are relucant to live in flats, specially after lockdown, cladding scandal and Grenfell Tower tragedy. If security checks are increased, pehaps that's the way to go?
Your thoughts, please.

I have lived in flats in Europe (northern) and in the UK. I would very happily live in a purpose built German or Swiss flat again - with balcony, shared garden, laundry cellar, sound-proofing, house rules that other residents comply with… But I’d not choose to live in a British flat again. As someone else mentioned- tendency for no drying space, no balcony, poor quality build (in a new build) so you could hear every sound your neighbours made, no thought from neighbours about the impact of the noise they made. No cellar so no storage.
I wonder if house builders here don’t think as carefully about how liveable their units are?

What concerns me is the enthusiasm I'm seeing in some quarters for "retrofitting office buildings and retail into flats!!"

Er, NO. People living in flats deserve nice flats. People in houses are not expected to live in retrofitted shipping containers! Retrofitted shopping malls and office blocks are always going to be crap to live in.

Build nice flats with elevators, excellent sound proofing, good layouts, proper attractive balconies, nice shared social spaces and all the trimmings, and by doing this, change the narrative and image of apartment life in the UK!

And people can stop banging on about "embodied carbon" as an excuse for retrofitting rather than building. The carbon savings from apartment living in central areas (less driving, less heating) are massive and will quickly outweigh the amount of carbon emitted in building new flats from scratch. There is way too much enthusiam for preserving every rubbish and unfit-for-purpose building in the UK.

poor quality build (in a new build) so you could hear every sound your neighbours made
we heard birds walking on a roof above us in 2010 built flats. I still wonder if they forgot to put insulation in or if they jusy said "fuck it". Mum lives in top floor flat roof apartment abroad and dragon could land and she would probably hear nothing😂

Most of you have obviously not spent much time in Scottish cities, we built tenement flats instead of terraced houses and we don't have leasehold either, for the most part it works well and the flats are often very expensive now!.
I lived in them in my younger days and the experience was very similar to staying in an apartment in a northern European city. Big rooms, high ceilings, thick walls so little noise problems, nice walkable neighborhood.
There are problems now because not enough of the flats are owner occupied ( air BnB etc) and the old unofficial systems of stair cleaning rotas and garden maintenance ( most had a shared garden out the back for drying clothes) are harder to keep going. Car parking can be v difficult too.
I'm nostalgic about my days in tenement flats in Edinburgh, alas we couldn't afford to buy one.

I think a move towards the Japanese bathroom style would be great in flats . They have a bath that the dirty water can be recycled/ used for flushing the toilet and for the first party of the washing machine , which is in the bathroom or in a cupboard next to the bathroom), obviously rinsed with clean water. Retractable hanging rails for clothing above the bath and a built in dehumidifier.

I would only consider a flat if it was soundproofed and had a reasonable sized balcony. Having lived in a flat with neither of those things many years ago, no way in Hell would I ever do it again.

We have a family member who spent the lockdowns living in a flat that was covered in scaffolding which meant she spent most of her time without natural light. It really did something awful to her mental health that is going to take a while to work through.

My London new build flat has a utility cupboard with washer, dryer & plenty of room for my hoover etc. It’s east facing with big windows & a balcony, I hardly ever hear any of my neighbours & it’s well enough insulated that I rarely need the heating on.

The blocks are a short walk from the high street & tube but usually quiet, especially at night. It’s pretty much perfect really.

Glasgow tenements are the best flats. 3.5m ceilings and massive rooms and storage. I live in a 1980s flat with low ceilings and small rooms but i still like it because of the location and I have a balcony. High rise flats are awful.

Also in Scotland we own our flats freehold. It's so much better!

@BringItOnxxx I was so jealous of my brother's lovely flat in Hyndland, gorgeous, spacious and loads of period features.

So did we because our HA chose 2020 to do a roof renewal