The trend for three storey new build houses 🏠 - but with very little living space?

[MCBfan]

I’ve noticed a lot of these springing up round here recently and I wondered what people’s thoughts were.

The houses have three storeys but are built on a very small footprint. You have just two rooms downstairs: a kitchen/diner and a small lounge. On the first floor, there are two bedrooms, and a bathroom. In the loft there are either two more en suite bedrooms or a large master bedroom, en suite with walk in wardrobe.

Clearly, these are designed as family homes but the living space downstairs is really small.

I’ve just seen one for sale where the owners have designated one of the first floor bedrooms as ‘the living room,’ and the small original downstairs living room as ‘a study.’ But it seems like it would be a pain having a living room on the first floor?

Just wondered what others thought of this trend! I’ll try to find a floor plan. The gardens tend to be very small too, as the houses aren’t very wide.

Ours isn't narrow. It's a good few feet wider than our old house (Victorian semi). How narrow is narrow?

Yes, apartments are also very common on the continent, but historically they're not so popular in this country, at least not for families. My experience of apartments in mainland Europe is that they tend to be very nice: spacious, with private lobbies that only residents can access, multiple balconies, and good soundproofing. The UK flats I've lived in haven't been quite as nice.

I think the UK needs to reform leasehold laws (to ensure things like management fees are transparent, reasonable and don’t get ratcheted up ridiculously) if apartment living is to become more normal in this country. It’s a really urgent task IMO, because even if families do prefer houses in the UK. houses with lots of stairs are not safe for elderly people, and there really isn’t the space to build zillions of bungalows - see the other thread going on on MN right now about housing for older people - so mobility-friendly flats with elevators and nice balconies etc. need to become commoner for older people who are hoping to downsize.

I don’t understand the millions of toilets. We all have one loo in our family and it’s fine, but maybe some people have the classic MN phobia about sharing toilets with anyone else.

Thanks @Crucible, our hallways are wide compared to where we've lived before which probably helps with the internal sense of space. Hopefully a generation away, but yes stairlifts are a good call. Either that or eventually downsizing to a flat for two with even more stairs a lift.

Exactly the same. Single parent with three young adults. Just what I need and could afford. The two bathrooms and a cloakroom are a bonus. Plus off street parking and small low maintenance garden. Modern and low maintenance and the bedrooms are a great size.

Wouldn’t have liked to bring up small children in this layout but different floor plans work for different families.

Oh and my house is only 12ft wide! 😆

And still cost £600k 🥲

Re loos, it’s just practical. One person has an upset stomach and another a heavy period and it doesn’t turn into a messy catastrophe.

I don’t think I could ever go back to just one with an OH with a gluten intolerance. Even more so now as food manufacturers are filling stuff with gluten to save money but not putting warnings on packets.

We live in a town house and compared to our previous 3 bed semi, we have so much living space. The layout really works for us as a family; our DS x 2 have the top floor and their own bathroom, I pretty much only go up there to clean as it's their space. We spend a lot of time together as a family in the living room and all meals etc in the kitchen. Youngest ds is football mad and spends all his free time in the garden practicing so I often sit in the conservatory and watch him.

This house really works for our family, when we're old we may downsize or just live on the first 2 floors but I'm not really thinking of that. I hope it's a long way off!

I have a Victorian three-storey terraced house. I wouldn’t call it a townhouse. It’s nice. But kitchen, living and dining room are downstairs. No downstairs loo, which is a disadvantage. Four double bedrooms, three on the first floor and one on the second floor. Quite often people do loft conversions on these - both our neighbours have - which makes it four floors.

A family member lived in one I really liked - but it was bigger than normal so the middle floor had loads of space for a big diner kitchen leading to a right angled lounge - so more dining space and then a big lounge.

Downstairs was a sun room, the garage and a bathroom. Upstairs was 3 bedrooms, a bathroom and an en-suite.

It was genuinely lovely. But it's the only one I've seen like that. All the others seem very small on each level by comparison - but i guess it allows people to buy bigger houses than they would be able to than if just on two levels (like you say, smaller footprint).

I don’t understand the millions of toilets. We all have one loo in our family and it’s fine, but maybe some people have the classic MN phobia about sharing toilets with anyone else.

It's not about a phobia.

3 adults in this house. 1 who struggles to walk far and hold her bladder - she needs a toilet available as soon as she needs it.

1 has IBS that means she needs a toilet near her for multiple morning visits.

1 has had his prostrate removed so can take a long time to pee.

And I don't think we're not that unusual. We may not be the 'two parents, two kids' model but I think many households are not. Lots of variation that means multiple bathrooms genuinely make for easier living.

I remember going to look at one when I was buying and it really wasn't for me. It was a beautiful house but I would have never got on with the layout.

The lounge and toilet were on the first floor. Kitchen/Diner on the second floor with the bedrooms and bathroom on the third floor. I just knew I wouldn't be able to get to grips with going upstairs to cook.

It's convenience for us, 2 toilets means I don't usually have to wait a couple of hours until they have finishing reading the bleach bottle while sat on said loo. 😆

Glad you're happy there. Yours looks almost identical to ours, minus the conservatory and balcony. It's actually the nicest house we've ever lived in. I love the integral garage too, we actually store our micro caravan in there. Here's our middle floor lounge, with a juliet balcony for plenty of light, which is our favourite room.

@Netcam lovely living room! We looked at a couple of town houses when we bought this. The other was much smaller and I would have felt cramped in there. I think we have a great layout that works well and the proportions are generous. Ultimately it comes down to layout and footprint but as we know, there are some good sized townhouses out there that work really well for families.

Agree that some are cramped. We saw one on the road adjacent to ours that didn't have any balcony or juliet balcony on the first floor living room and was rectangular, so felt dark and boxy. I think the French doors and L shape in the first floor living room make a big difference.

Our whole terrace is also curved so the rooms are slightly unusual shapes which actually makes it a bit more interesting and quirky inside.

But I totally agree with you that there are some great ones that work for families. Everyone in our terrace likes the houses and most are families with children.

We live near Cambridge which is an expensive part of the country. A 3 storey terrace is the cheapest way to buy a reasonable amount of space for a good price.

I think they are a great way of using land efficiently and still build big enough houses for families. We don't all need space for 2 cars as well as a front garden. At the front we just have a shared drive with our neighbour and it's fine. People are very friendly around here.

I grew up abroad where two storey houses were common. Having two floors of bedrooms meant you are more spread out and less on top of one another. The difference with houses here though is that the (separate) living room was on the ground floor.

I'm really not keen on this design. Our house is 3 floors but 1st and 2nd floors are only bedrooms and bathrooms. The living space is all downstairs. I would not want to be going backwards and forwards two floors between kitchen/living areas.

Agree that some are cramped. We saw one on the road adjacent to ours that didn't have any balcony or juliet balcony on the first floor living room and was rectangular, so felt dark and boxy. I think the French doors and L shape in the first floor living room make a big difference.

This is the design ours has, and it's lovely. We have a full balcony off the main bedroom as well as the Juliet in the lounge.

It’s not quite the same as loft conversions generally don’t yield anywhere near as much space as a full extra floor, and so don’t end up as top-heavy. We used to live in a Victorian semi that had a converted loft. The first floor had 2 double bedrooms and a good sized bathroom, whereas the loft conversion was just one double bedroom and nothing else. We got planning permission for a loft conversion for our current house but only managed to fit in one double bedroom and a bathroom on the plans even though the floor below has 4 beds and 2 baths.

My friend bought one of these new-build 3 story townhouses a few years back and really hates it now, especially since starting a family. Her kitchen and living room are on the 1st floor which makes it extra awkward. She wants to move but unfortunately can’t sell the house even though it’s in a very desirable area. I’m sure it’s the 3 story layout putting people off.

A full balcony sounds lovely. We have another juliet balcony in our first floor en suite bedroom too, which I really like.

This is the promo video for our style of house:

Ultimately, I just see it as everyone has different taste. Our neighbours seem to love their houses as much as we do, and we barely hear anything from them, as they seem to be solidly built too. (Our electrician was surprised by a solid wall where usually there would be a stud wall in a new build the other day!)

The house I'm currently trying to buy is a townhouse, and so many of the things people mention as a downside are the exact reasons I love it. I grew up in a 3-storey Victorian townhouse though, so tall and narrow with stairs feels normal and natural to me - certainly don't get the horror of using a flight of stairs occasionally - it's not exactly strenuous!. The one I'm buying has a lovely big 1st floor living room, with balcony giving spectacular open views (of protected areas that can never be built on). You need to have the height to really get views.It has 3 big rooms on each upper floor which means you can really easily change the balance of bedrooms/living rooms to suit your needs. I'll be using the whole 1st floor as living/working space, using it as a 3 bed house with masses of living space.
It has an integral garage plus parking at the front, with a small courtyard garden at the back (french windows to kitchen/diner) - which I see as a bonus. I find maintaining a garden a drain on my time and much prefer an option that gets me plenty of house with limited land.

I dunno, I grew up in a tall narrow 4 story house with kitchen on basement level, living room upstairs and my bedroom in the attic so vertical living seems fine to me!
Only thing that seems odd in the pic on 1st page is that the only bathroom on 1st floor is en-suite and there are two bathrooms on top floor which seems unnecessary. .
New builds always have a ridiculous number of toilets though.
This layout would suit me and kids at the moment because we don’t do much “ family time” but even if we did the kitchen/ diner looks big enough.