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Original poster

Why did this property need a lift??

54 replies

xyz111 · 20/08/2023 21:02

Just watched an episode of Grand Designs. The house was built with a small ground floor, but then it was up on a stilt, so the main living area was on the 1st floor and in the air (really hard to describe!!!) there was a lift installed from the ground floor to the first floor. Kevin commented on it and the guy said they had to install in because of planning regulations.
Does anyone know what these planning regulations are? Why has he had to put a lift in his house when he doesn't need it himself??

OP posts:
RidingMyBike · 20/08/2023 22:54

xyz111 · 20/08/2023 21:31

So would that mean that even new town houses would now need a lift??

No, we lived in one until recently and viewed some others. Modern townhouses seem to be designed so there's a room on the ground floor labelled as a bedroom, loo with loads of space in it and a kitchen/dining room so someone needing to use a wheelchair would end up living on the ground floor without needing to go upstairs. This is what one of our neighbours actually did after his wife ended up in a wheelchair.

Complete pain to live in with a young family though - technically a four bedroom house but bedrooms were on three different floors!

Sammy6388 · 20/08/2023 23:19

Just a guess, but they may have a planning policy which supports building new bungalows/ lifetime homes. This is on a floodplain, so a normal bungalow or house with any habitable rooms on the ground floor would not have been granted planning permission. So a lift is required to make it accord with planning policy.

NewHouseNewMe · 20/08/2023 23:24

Kevin was a bit sniffy about the decor on this one. The guy fitted it out with 1980s style coloured carpets and mixed furniture he had around and Kevin was not impressed.

Mojodojocasahaus · 20/08/2023 23:25

xyz111 · 20/08/2023 22:00

That's a shame. The man who built it wanted to see out his days there

Show quote history

If he wanted to see his days out there then maybe the lift was for him in later life?

Gribbit987 · 20/08/2023 23:28

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Flopsythebunny · 20/08/2023 23:33

It will be for accessibility. Occupational health wanted to put one in my house but I refused. It would have taken up half of the dining room and half of the front bedroom. Because I refused the lift, they refused me a ramp from the front door to the driveway. They said I couldn't have one without the other. I ended up paying for a ramp, a new extra wide front door and a stair lift. Took me nearly 2 years of pip to pay for it. And people wonder why disabled people claim pip!

Mmhmmn · 20/08/2023 23:56

TicTacNicNak · 20/08/2023 21:08

I don't know the answer but maybe it's to do with the main living quarters being on the upper floor, so that it is accessible for anyone mobility impaired?

I think that's right

Mmhmmn · 20/08/2023 23:58

Baconking · 20/08/2023 21:26

Is this a new series? I thought I'd seen them all but don't recognise that house

I think I've seen that one. Essex ...estuary views.. the guy returned from living in Spain 🤔

charliechaplins · 21/08/2023 00:03

Flopsythebunny · 20/08/2023 23:33

It will be for accessibility. Occupational health wanted to put one in my house but I refused. It would have taken up half of the dining room and half of the front bedroom. Because I refused the lift, they refused me a ramp from the front door to the driveway. They said I couldn't have one without the other. I ended up paying for a ramp, a new extra wide front door and a stair lift. Took me nearly 2 years of pip to pay for it. And people wonder why disabled people claim pip!

Why did they think a stair lift wasn't suitable?

charliechaplins · 21/08/2023 00:16

The property is most likely built on a flood plain.

Is the lift from the ground to the first floor or where?

notapizzaeater · 21/08/2023 00:17

Aww wonder why he's selling ? The price includes the furniture - hope he's ok.

charliechaplins · 21/08/2023 00:40

notapizzaeater · 21/08/2023 00:17

Aww wonder why he's selling ? The price includes the furniture - hope he's ok.

Do you have a link?

Flopsythebunny · 21/08/2023 01:03

charliechaplins · 21/08/2023 00:03

Why did they think a stair lift wasn't suitable?

Show quote history

Because I can't always manage to get to it by myself

charliechaplins · 21/08/2023 01:07

@Flopsythebunny so the times you can't get to the lift yourself what do you do?

anunlikelyseahorse · 21/08/2023 01:31

charliechaplins · 21/08/2023 00:16

The property is most likely built on a flood plain.

Is the lift from the ground to the first floor or where?

Yes I wondered if it was built like that due to flooding risk. The higher elevation also gives better views. I quite like it. Although I'd be a bit worried about its stability over time.

charliechaplins · 21/08/2023 01:37

@anunlikelyseahorse it's a severe risk of flooding so it was built that way.

I can't see where the lift is though.

It's not about accessibility. Lots of houses are built with the stairs being in the middle of a town house/upstairs - a whole estate in Manchester is like that.

Without knowing the layout of the house it's hard to tell.

Netaporter · 21/08/2023 02:43

I’m about to remodel our family home and I’ve asked our architect to leave a space for a lift for when we get older 🤷‍♀️. I think if you’ve been through elderly parents ageing (badly) and their quality of life limited by accessibility issues you consider how you’d like your own twighlight years to be.

Regarding this house, I very much doubt he’ll get that money for it, lift or no lift. The interior does not match the exterior by any stretch of the imagination….!

SpidersAreShitheads · 21/08/2023 03:29

Netaporter · 21/08/2023 02:43

I’m about to remodel our family home and I’ve asked our architect to leave a space for a lift for when we get older 🤷‍♀️. I think if you’ve been through elderly parents ageing (badly) and their quality of life limited by accessibility issues you consider how you’d like your own twighlight years to be.

Regarding this house, I very much doubt he’ll get that money for it, lift or no lift. The interior does not match the exterior by any stretch of the imagination….!

Agree with all of this!

I actually really love the elevated design and the views over the estuary would have me quivering with unbridled joy 😅 Having lived in an area which was at risk of flooding, I can appreciate the practicality of the elevated design. Also, I quite like how it looks!!!

However, the inside is dire. And I don't mean decoration, that's just personal taste. The bedrooms are poky - did he need that many? They seem way too small for such a grand and sweeping house. And why are there so many bathrooms?!

I like the idea of the house, and unlike PP I like the exterior - but the interior layout is a huge disappointment.

Flopsythebunny · 21/08/2023 06:53

charliechaplins · 21/08/2023 01:07

@Flopsythebunny so the times you can't get to the lift yourself what do you do?

My husband or carer help me or I stay on whichever floor I'm on at the time until I can do it.

Its only a small semi and a lift would mean that the dining room and one bedroom would be lost. We own our house too so the value would be badly affected. If we could find a bungalow in this area, we would move in a heartbeat but nothing has come up for sale in the last 7 years and I can't move out of the area due to my support network.
I can manage without a wheelchair in the house but need one when I go out, hence needing the wider door and ramp.

ThomasHardyPerennial · 21/08/2023 07:14

I think it's really bad form when Kevin is so critical of someone's personal taste. He can also be so fucking mean if people don't practically bankrupt themselves just to finish/kit out their new house (like he was in this episode).

WickedSerious · 21/08/2023 07:55

That's an incredibly ugly house.

Original poster
xyz111 · 21/08/2023 08:56

Hobbes8 · 20/08/2023 22:07

I don’t understand the point of the weird structure. Surely the space underneath the 1st floor is only ever going to be dark and horrible and nothing will grow there. I don’t know much about building but I presume it would have been easier to make it a standard 2 storey house. Does the show explain why they made such tricksy design decisions? It doesn’t seem either practical or aesthetic?

I think it was because it's on a flood plain, so the bottom is likely to flood...

OP posts:
Original poster
xyz111 · 21/08/2023 08:58

JeromeKJerome · 20/08/2023 22:48

£1.9m!!!!! No way is it worth that. It's a bungalow on legs!!!

OP posts:
Hobbes8 · 21/08/2023 08:59

@xyz111 woukdnt flooding knock out the lift?

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