During 2010 we provided architectural services for many smaller residential projects in the Leeds and Bradford area, such as small extensions, garage conversions, loft conversions and such like. 2011 looks as though we may end up carrying out even more of these kind of projects, certainly if the first two months of the year are anything to go by.
It’s evident that the stagnation of the housing market has led to an increase in people undertaking works to improve their home, and appointing architects to oversee the works. Speaking to a local planning officer recently, he told me that his particular local authority are inundated with planning applications for this sort of thing. Although this doesn’t appear that it will help the housing market in the short term, it certainly looks as though it will provide some help for the construction industry, which has been decimated over recent years and accounts for as much as 6% of the UK’s economic output. Granted, a lot of the larger construction companies are unable to tackle small domestic projects for obvious reasons, as are many of the larger architectural companies, but the majority of firms trading in both fields are small and should see real benefits from this.
A recent article published by a major financial institution stated that construction activity has recently surged to an 8 month high in the UK, which can only be viewed as good news. Another interesting article, published in The Independent on 28th January 2011, gave a very good insight into the financial benefits of home improvement, and anybody reading this post should really have a read of the link below:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/property/an-extension-added-100000-to-the-value-of-our-home-2196591.html
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