After a number of years without very much policy or guidance on ‘co-living’ or what is now known as ‘large scale purpose built shared living’ (LSPBSL), the GLA has now published for consultation ‘The Large-scale Purpose-built Shared Living Guidance LPG’ which provides information on how this type of housing differs from other forms of housing, and details how to apply London Plan Policy H16 to ensure these developments are of acceptable quality, well-managed and integrated into their surroundings.
The guidance focuses mainly on Policy H16 of the London Plan, but seeks to add further guidance and detail including setting out detailed standards for communal spaces and private rooms. The guidance also provides details to ensure well-managed, safe, and secure places for a mix of users and sets out a requirement for a proportion of rooms to be accessible. The guidance provides support to London boroughs to provide an appropriate range of housing, including affordable housing through their local policies.
The most interesting part of the draft guidance, given our experience of GLA-referable and non-referable developments, is the inclusion of certain standards and requirements, particularly as the quality and standards for these types of development have been subject to extensive discussions with some local authorities and been subject to a number planning appeals. The key standards in the guidance are summarised below:
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Standard Private Units Size |
18-27sqm |
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Accessible Private Units Size |
28-37sqm |
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Internal Communal Amenity Size |
Min. 5sqm of ‘essential’ internal communal facilities per resident – aim distributed on every floor |
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External Communal Amenity Size |
Min. 1sqm per resident – aim for one area or at least areas with min. of 40sqm |
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Kitchen |
Min. 0.6sqm per resident |
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Dining |
Min. 0.5sqm per resident |
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Laundry |
1 washer and dryer per 10 residents |
The guidance even seeks to require that developments provide certain items such as furniture or finishes. This includes, for example, furniture such as double beds, bedside cabinets and mini-fridges in private units, as well as the number of ovens, microwaves and dishwashers per resident in communal kitchen facilities. In our experience, whilst some applications have always provided a certain level of detail in respect of the rooms and communal areas, the specification of furniture and finishes will add further to the required information for any application.
The draft guidance will be of interest to those promoting or operating co-living developments in London, as well as local authorities, who can have a clear set of standards and rules to apply to applications coming forward. Equally, the guidance will start to align or support local authorities who are developing their own policies and guidance on co-living or LSPBSL developments, such as LB of Croydon, LB of Lambeth, LB Lewisham and LB Wandsworth. Local authorities outside of London will also be interested in the guidance too.
Whilst further guidance will hopefully allow for a more efficient assessment of co-living schemes through the planning process, and less ambiguity on what is acceptable in terms of certain space standards for example, the obvious question is whether the guidance goes too far and the level of detail prescribed is too much, and will this stifle the innovation or flexibility for those promoting and operating these types of development?
Investors, developers or those actively involved in the co-living sector need to engage with the GLA and the consultation guidance, which is on consultation until 27 March 2022.