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IKEA in UK Booms After Introducing Smaller Sizes
IKEA in UK Booms After Introducing Smaller Sizes
Millions of Britons are living in 'rabbit hutch' family homes that have halved in size since
the 1920s,
it was revealed today.
The average semi-detached house now has one less bedroom and is much more
cramped, dark
and artificially lit than those built in the early 20th century.
After analysing data from 16,000 English homes, the team from the University of Cambridge, found
British homes are the smallest in Europe, study finds - Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/10909403/British-homes-...
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that 55 per cent of them had less floor space than the London Housing Design Guides internal
space standard.
More than a fifth of the properties fell short of total space requirements when the number of
occupants was taken into account.
Today, a bed is not just to sleep in; its more. People want more room in their beds because
they have become
a social space.
Figures from Tesco and John Lewis suggest that, for the first time, more 5ft-wide king-size beds
are being sold
than doubles in Britain. The figures reflect the fact that adults are now heavier and taller than
before and that
consumers are willing to pay the cost to recreate the comforts of a luxury hotel in their own
home.
Tesco said sales of king-size beds and super-king-size beds, which are 6ft-wide, had increased
by 45 per cent
during the past year a rate of increase that completely eclipsed the growth in double beds.
The UK Self-Storage Association says more than 350 specialist companies now operate
and there are now more than 800 self-storage facilities across Britain serving some 250,000
customers; renting 20-5osq ft oflock-up storage (the size of a garden shed) can cost well over
100 a month in central London, half that or less elsewhere.
There are currently 40 books on how to declutter your home currently in print. The Association
of Professional Declutterers and Organisers will put you in touch with any of several dozen
firms around the country that you can pay to do the job for you - at a rate of about 25 an hour.
Apartment complexes
In or around almost any German city, you will see the rows of Wohnsilos (residential
towers), the tall
and usually Spartan-looking apartment towers that dominate the cityscape, and were
mostly
constructed in recent decades to provide the higher quality housing that Germans
expect today.
Lacking the charm of traditional European architecture, these utilitarian living units most
often resemble
the unexciting condos and apartments that can be found all over Europe and the world.
Built in
response to a chronic lack of housing, these towers are usually located in what are
termed satellite
towns at the edges of the city.
many other factors. Already in the early
years of the German Democratic Republic, the availability and
quality of housing was much lower than it was in West Germany.
By 1986, there were 1.6 rooms for each per son in the GDR,
compared to 1.9 in West Germany. The amount of living space
per
person was 27 square meters, compared to 37 square
meters in West Germany. As
at "rent-free" housing in all analysed coun tries shows that these residents are usually older or younger
singles (over 65 or under 30 years of age). In Eastern Europe they are also often single parents with
children; surprisingly, "rent-free" households in Eas tern Europe are not only households with a low
income. Whether residents rent or own their homes depends not only on household income, but also
household type, household size and the charactrnst:ics of the area of resi
dence ffable 1). The probability of owning
have to be seen as a disadvantage. The wide variety of housing available in the
rental market in Germany provides not only, but especially, low-income and lowasset households with an attractive opportunity to live in quality housing, without
having to purchase a home.