When you’ve got hours to read through home improvement blogs and spend money on home improvements, you want the best, most striking additions to be made to your house. Little wonder then that there is a basement boom in London right now, something which has already the prestigious areas such as Kensington and Chelsea know all too well.
Due to the fact that most homes a part of conservation areas – not to mention that they’re all packed in so tightly – people are looking beneath their feet to create mega, multi-floor basements. This allows homeowners to add millions to their price of their home, making it an even more attractive place to live.
Spas, swimming pools, gyms & wine cellars
With no legal right to build upwards there are spas, swimming pools, gyms and wine cellars sprouting underneath these already highly sought after terraced houses. Over the last decade the boom has seen over 2000 basements dug out and developed in an effort to double the value of homes. The first part of the process is the design stage, into which all of the extravagant additions can be drawn up and visualised. Once this has been done the earth beneath the original ground floor and basements has to be excavated and ground down. 3 million tonnes of earth have been extracted in the last ten years and the popularity of such construction work is only growing, with more and more elaborate designs being planned.
London’s basements
Of course, to create such a sturdy and reliable living space beneath these houses the extracted earth has to be replaced by reinforced concrete – something we at EasyMix have been carrying out. This concrete has to be pumped down to shore up and complement the building work taking place. Because there are few restrictions imposed on this kind of work, and because it won’t impact the way the property looks from the outside, residents have been able to style and create a world of their own beneath their normal homes.
Planning applications are being submitted all the time and the trend has caught on in other areas of the capital. Unfortunately, with so many people taking advantage of this construction work at the same time, Kensington and Chelsea council have had to ban the creation of basements of anything more than a single floor. With so many homes having the work done at the same time congestion issues arise which have made the creation of larger basements untenable.
Although the addition of space wouldn’t be worth nearly as much outside the M25, there is a much bigger profit to be had for having this work done inside the famous circular road, with the attraction of digging down spreading throughout the capital.
A new rise in construction
While residential property owners and developers have burrowed underground, it hasn’t seen a fall in the amount of tall buildings being developed in London. High-rise buildings in London have doubled in the last year according to a study by New London Architecture, for both residential and commercial purposes. This shows the diversity and the power of development, giving hope to anyone wanting to add space to their homes or building premises. The shape of the city is changing rapidly, with some breathtaking designs still to be built.
At EasyMix Concrete UK Ltd we are currently undertaking some of this work and have the experience and knowledge to help you create your dream basement beneath your existing property. Get in touch with us today if you’d like to learn more about any of our concrete products or related services. No job is too big or too small for our professional team!