Why don’t we build basements when constructing new houses/developments in Britain?

They are building what I assume will be a small block of flat on a road close by, and as I have watched this develop over the last month, it seems bizarre to me that they should dug and installed the foundations without ‘hollowing out’, laying cement, and using all that space underneath.

In all my years in Canada, I was never in a building that didn’t have a basement, whether it was simply used as a utility and boiler room, or fully developed as a habitable level.

So, why don’t we increase our space here, and include basements in our buildings?

Costs a lot of money to get rid of spoil from the hole. It would also make the footings more expensive. All about money really. Adds more cost that would increase value. I suspect in London and other city centres it is cost effective though.

Cost. Modern houses get thrown up as quick and as cheap as possible.

Also there’s loads of stuff down there. Sewers, electric cables, fibre optics, etc.

In Britain it all seems to be about maximising the £return ,hence why you don’t see much affordable housing being built as its the same amount of effort to build a large house that they can charge big bucks for as it would be to build a smaller cheaper house but less profit returned.

As a country/nation of house builders the big boys all seem stuck in a rut in regards to design , the bulk of modern houses are all starting to seem like Bricks and mortar versions of a Audi ie. Same style just scaled up or down to fit a price band, very dull.

People expect brick houses, don’t they? They all seem to be brick, even though it costs a lot of money. Perhaps people aren’t expecting basements, they don’t bother.

Personally I crave a basement, I could get all this crap out of my garage and house.

What annoys me is that I watched most of the houses on this street being built, and as they are on a slope there IS a big cavity underneath. They filled them with giant balloons to help them build on top. Very tempted to drill a hole in the floor of ours and stick and endoscope down there. Then if we have a hole, I’d be tempted to put some stairs in.

Because they are difficult to make water tight too, or so it would seem as I seem to be involved in a few re-tanking jobs for the NHBC every year!

Danger of desecrating ancient burial grounds, demonic curses and all that.

It’s more expensive to build, and generates less value than rooms above ground. In London where land prices are high most new developments do have basements of some sort, whether that’s habitable rooms in new houses or small blocks of flats, or plant space/refuse storage and bike or car parking in larger developments.

A quick google suggests that in Canada they have to dig footings below the frost line anyway, so once they’ve done that, they may as well use the walls they’ve built for a basement without much additional cost. We don’t have to dig as deep, so the additional cost of a basement is higher.

No need on new builds , simply build town houses ‘3 storey’ less hassle and definitely a lot less cost ..
Nothing to do with ancient burial ground .

Two main reasons for building basements: more space without going higher, and needing deep foundations to find solid enough ground. British ground is generally fairly solid and sometime the rock isn’t that far below (this opinion may be biased by never having lived South of Crewe)

Two main reasons for not building basements: more expensive than building above ground, and keeping the water out. Britain tends to be wet (see above for possible bias) making basements even more expensive.

Also, basements are good for sheltering in during tornadoes and hurricanes, but not during floods.

As someone earlier stated. Footings and services need to be much deeper due to frost line, so most of the expensive work is done.

Considering the cost of land in the country it is surprising that easements are not more commoy dug.

No need on new builds

Course there is. We all got shit to store.

Course there is. We all got shit to store.

There’s no room for wardrobes even. Have to hang your suits in the back of the bimmer.

When your wife’s into several different crafts and has half your wardrobe, your under stairs cupboard, and your entire (big) third bedroom devoted to storage of equipment and materials, you crave storage 🙂

There’s no room for wardrobes even.

I assume you’re NOT referring to basements, as the basement I had in my house growing up looked something like this:

only with a full bar, a snooker table, a hot tub, a large bathroom, a large bedroom, a full working office, two sitting rooms, a utility room, a walk-in pantry, and a workshop. All built by my dad in what had been a big, hollow concrete shell. 8)

Footings for a basement would be as cheap as they come. It’s the actual extra dig and cart then the construction of the basement that’s the large cost.

Cultural I reckon, as our idea of basements were cellars, and damp ones at that.

In all my years in Canada, I was never in a building that didn’t have a basement, whether it was simply used as a utility and boiler room, or fully developed as a habitable level.

Why don’t we build basements when constructing new houses/developments in Britain?

BECAUSE OF THIS……………..

😆 😆

Cost. Modern houses get thrown up as quick and as cheap as possible.

This. And a construction industry that is shallow in terms of what they like to build with/use/try new things.

It’s because builders are notoriously afraid of worms. That, and the cost versus return.

Also, basements are good for sheltering in during tornadoes and hurricanes, but not during floods.

That’s why they should be built on stilts in flood areas.

We get involved with a few basements to houses and commercial developments. Basements in houses seem generally to be limited to the 1-off builds located in built up areas of the south-east where the land value makes them cost effective and areas where planning won’t let 3 above ground levels / houses with large footprints to be built. – This is starting to filter down to other areas of teh UK. Plenty of offices / commercial buildings have basements for for parking, plant rooms and lift shafts. If you are infilling between existing development, you can inccur massive costs when trying to design and construct basements without impacting adjacent buildings.

That’s why they should be built on stilts in flood areas.

how do you build a basement on stilts?

how do you build a basement on stilts?

Use a really long shovel?

You want information about basements?? Why not ask the Basement Information Centre?? http://www.basements.org.uk/ 😀 😀

My bro in Michigan has a big basement; I saw the house when it was being built. They dug footings and built the basement walls then built the timber-framed house on top of them. The basement floor was wet clay. Last thing, they poured concrete on top of the wet clay. First time they had big prolonged rain in Michigan…. guess what…. it flooded. My brother rushed out and bought a sump pump then the power went off so he rushed out and bought a small genset.

We did the steel frame for some houses that were built on the site of a Victorian water reservoir at Sidmouth. They tanked the basements and had a sump in the corner with pumps that switched on automatically if water got in. Quite nice with the original vaulted ceilings and cast iron columns