The most obvious example is a traditional ‘DIY self-build’ home, where the self-builder organises the design wanted and then personally undertakes much of the actual construction work involved’ (National Custom and Self Build Association)
•Custom-build has become a term being used to denote ‘homes built through households working with a specialist developer to design and deliver the final unit(s)’. (National Custom and Self Build Association)
A legal definition of self-build and custom housebuilding in the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 (as amended by the Housing and Planning Act 2016, www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/17/contents/enacted/data.htm) states:
‘self-build and custom housebuilding’ means the building or completion by:
(a)individuals,
(b)associations of individuals, or
(c)persons working with or for individuals or associations of individuals, of houses to be occupied as homes by those individuals.
The guidance notes that a minimal ‘tweaking’ of dwellings principally designed and built by property speculators will not meet the ‘custom-build’ description.
•Community self-build is the term that has been used to describe ‘a group of local people in housing need, building their own homes … Those without building skills, participate on the basis that they are prepared to make the necessary time commitment and be prepared to learn new skills’. (Community Self Build Agency).
•Group self-build usually refers to ‘a group of individuals coming together to build the homes together by pooling their resources’ (Community Self Build Agency).
•The Self Build Register/Right to Build Register stems from a legal duty on every local authority in England to maintain a register of people who are looking for a serviced plot to build their own home and to grant ongoing development permissions to meet the demand identified within three years.
Key appeal (self-build and custom-build)
The attraction of being able to ‘build’ a property for one’s own household is an ideal clearly shared by many. National surveys have consistently shown over 50% of respondents aspire to undertake such a venture at some time in their lives (e.g. from the Building Societies Association, 2011). The flexibility of organising or undertaking the construction of one’s own property has enabled many households to build in very singular locations, and to very personal specifications. It has also been used by community projects seeking to maximise local participation and neighbourhood impact.
The National Custom & Self Build Association (NaCSBA) has listed the following variations (and the respective levels of ‘hands-on’ effort required) in how such schemes might take place:
Self-build home: a household manages the design and construction process of a ‘one-off’ property and undertakes a fair proportion of the actual building work.
Contractor-built home: a household arranges the design of a ‘one-off’ property and then selects a contractor to complete all the construction work.
Kit home: a household selects a type of home (and may organise the foundations) and engages the kit home company to provide and erect the property to completion.
Independent community collaboration: a group of households acquires a site, divides it into plots, then each household undertakes the design and construction of their home.
Supported community self-build group: a body like the CSBA (below) or a local community-led trust supports a group of households to build homes together.
Developer-led home: A developer with a site and a prearranged design erects the building for a household to customise or finish aspects of the dwelling and interiors.
Developer-led group custom-build: A developer builds homes for a group, either customised to completion, or for the households to complete, singly or together.
In some cases, the generic term ‘self-build’ is used as shorthand for a variety of the activities listed above and may also be applied to work undertaken to renovate existing properties, either by an individual or by a group. Firms and contractors supplying ‘custom-build’ services have felt, however, that their identity and role may not have sufficient presence in such a shorthand use, or reflect how the ‘DNA’ of the term custom-build reflects the routine experience of households looking to customise established designs or properties to their own needs. In 2014, therefore, the national promotional and support body changed its name from the ‘National Self Build Association’ to the ‘National Custom & Self Build Association’ – NaCSBA.
Recent context (self-build and custom-build)
The annual UK output of the self-build/custom-build sector has been calculated to be in the region of 8–10%. This is not an insignificant number – effectively it’s about the same number of homes as are built by any one of the UK’s largest volume housebuilders. But precise figures are notoriously difficult to compile, and there is little data that separates figures out for the individual countries in the UK.
The NaCSBA has a target to facilitate the doubling of the overall national rate to 16% in the next few years, while market reports estimate a 41% growth in value of the sector by 2020.1
Government endorsement of such ambition gave support for a National ‘Self Build Action Plan’ produced in 2011 by the (then) National Self Build Association and other stakeholders to promote ways for self-build housing to become a ‘more mainstream housing option’ and increase its yearly outputs. Continual lobbying of the issues both inside and outside of Parliament, including by a very supportive All Party Parliamentary Group (now termed the All Party Parliamentary Group on Self-Build, Custom and Community Housebuilding and Placemaking) subsequently laid the ground for the Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 and regulations on local authorities to establish Self Build Registers and identify land available to meet local self-build and custom-build aspirations. All authorities now have a ‘register’ (of some kind or the other) and record ‘demand’ for households wishing to build individually or in groups, but little formal practice is yet to emerge on how authorities are bringing actual land into the use of those households whose demand is now on record.
Informal evidence of self-build opportunities outside of England suggests that self-building still has routine appeal as a chosen activity in the rural regions of Ireland, Wales and Scotland (the writer recalls an estate agent’s window in Aberdeenshire during 2013 that was completely covered in self-build plots offered for sale), although the Scottish Government has recognised new entrants to such a market may need assistance in some locations. A two-year pilot self-build loan fund took effect from 2016 in the Highland Council area, and some useful case studies have been compiled by the Highlands Small Communities Housing Trust.2
Since 2017, a Right to Build Expert Task Force has been operating with support from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government ‘to help local authorities, community bodies and other organisations across the UK deliver large affordable custom and self-build housing projects’. It has received funds from the Nationwide Foundation and has established a Board that includes input from World Habitat, the National Housing Federation, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Royal Town Planning Institute.
Examples (self-build and custom-build)
Examples of completed projects demonstrate the breadth of homes that can feature under the self-build/custom-build ‘banner’.
Self-build home: see the annual examples of award winners in a variety of ‘categories’ listed from Build It magazine (https://builditawards.co.uk/); the ‘Field of Dreams’ at Findhorn (www.ecovillagefindhorn.com).
Contractor-built home: the myriad