Planning our new homes : report by the Scottish Housing Advisory Committee on the design, planning and furnishing of new houses / Publication prepared for the committee by the Department of Health for Scotland.

  • Great Britain. Scottish Housing Advisory Committee
Date:
1944
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Planning our new homes : report by the Scottish Housing Advisory Committee on the design, planning and furnishing of new houses / Publication prepared for the committee by the Department of Health for Scotland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    24/184 (page 16)
    Housing (Scotland) Act, Schedule) (a) In computing the number of rooms in a house no regard shall be had to any room having a floor area of less than 50 square feet. (b) The permitted number of persons for rooms of different sizes shall be computed by reference to the following table: 110 square feet or more . 2 persons. 90 square feet or more, but less than 110 square feet . . 14 ,, 70 square feet or more, but less than 90 square feet . 1 person. 50 square feet or more, but less than 70 square feet : “‘person’’= adult or two children under ten years of age ; infants under one year discounted. [36 The implication of these provisions assuming a minimum ceiling height of 8 feet is (a) that a room with a cubic content of 400 cubic feet or less is not large enough for human occupation even by one person, and (b) that two adults require as a minimum a cubic air space of 880 cubic feet per room. [7 It will be seen that all these provisions with the exception of the penal overcrowding provisions of the Act of 1935 do no more than lay down minimum standards for the dwelling as a whole. Exceptionally, standards for individual apartments. Examples are the Aberdeen Corporation Act of 1907, which prescribed that every new habitable room must have a cubic content of not less than 600 cubic feet, now subsequently amended by the Aberdeen Corporation Act of 1936 which pro- vides that no habitable room shall have a floor area of less than 75 square feet; the Glasgow Streets Sewers and Buildings Consolidation Order Confirmation Act, 1937 which prescribes that no habitable apartment in any new house shall have a cubic air space of less than 800 cubic feet exclusive of lobbies, closets, presses, etc. [38 Finally, certain other enactments not directly related to housing provide certain minimum standards of a similar type. Examples are the Army Regulations which provide for a mmimum of 60 square feet per person for dormitory accommodation in Army barracks; bye-laws made under the Public Health Act of 1897 regulating the occupancy of tents, vans and sheds which provide for a minimum standard of 200 to 300 cubic feet per person in sheds and count two children under 10 years as one person. [39 It will be obvious from this brief review that 1935 (First Report: Vol. 98, 1934-35, Col. 239.] existing legislation on this fundamental point requires substantial clarification and co-ordina- tion. Two conclusions are clear: firstly, an overall standard for the house as a whole is of comparatively little value because it makes it difficult to ensure the application of scientific medical standards to individual apartments; secondly, standards of space for individual apartments are themselves unsatisfactory unless parallel standards are laid down determining the presumptive occupancy of each apartment. [40 Persons per room In general, it was not until 1935 that standards were laid down regulating the numbers of persons deemed to be capable of being accommodated in houses of different sizes in Scotland. These standards are contained in the First Schedule to the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1935, and are as follows: One-apartment house 2 persons Two- 99 9 : eS 9 Three- ,, pe : aS es Four- 9 | 29 ; : 74 2 Five- es As i mete) ': and for each additional room in excess of 110 square feet—2 additional persons. As we have seen, for the purposes of the standard, “ person ” is defined as meaning any person of either sex over ten years of age. Children under ten years are counted as “ half persons ”’ and infants under one year are discounted altogether. [41 It must be noted that this standard in the 1935 Act is a penal standard of overcrowding for application to existing dwellings: that is to say, it defines the limits beyond which existing houses cannot be occupied “ after the appointed day ” without a penal offence being committed. Unlike most of the other provisions we have described, it was not designed or intended to be applied as a standard for determining the sizes of new houses required. Indeed, the Govern- ment of the day made it clear that they did not claim that the standard laid down in the Act of 1935 “‘ was an ideal one or that it defined the level up to which it was hoped that the housing conditions of Scotland would ultimately be raised.” * [42 For various reasons, however, the standard has been applied administratively by the De- partment of Health for the purpose of assessing the accommodation capacity of new houses built Local authorities in Scotland, as a condition of — receiving subsidy undér the Housing Acts, are required to certify that the houses, as respects which subsidy is sought, are not occupied either [Official