This one seems to have slipped by many of us over the last few weeks, what with the extreme weather most of the UK has been suffering from of late. But new cutting of red tape might spell some good news for the window and door industry in the coming years.

David Cameron is trying to cut red tape to help stimulate construction and house building. As part of this effort he wants to scrap rules which set out minimum window and door sizes, minimum strengths of front doors, as well as other things such as dimensions of rooms, positions of toilets and lighting. This all sounds very good and I am sure that builders will be pleased because it will make the job of an architect a fair bit easier. But while I am sure the intentions of this proposal are honest and for the good of the country, there are some big risks which some with this sort of reform.

Relaxing the rules to this extent might make it very easy for builders to get away with building homes to an even lower standard. For example, the average house size built today is half that of a 1920’s building, and a new home has about the same floor space as a tube carriage. Think of it in those terms and we really don’t need homes to get any smaller! But if the rules governing this are relaxed or removed altogether, there won’t be anything to stop penny pinching builders squeezing every last drop out of their plot space.

There is a flip side though. Many builders and architects may have seen the current rules as prohibitive, stopping them designing and building houses to their full potential. Relaxing of rules could of course lead to homes with much bigger floor space, bigger windows, better doors and more contemporary aesthetics. What we would is hope that builders are responsible and wouldn’t abuse the new set of rules.

Whether you agree or disagree with the relaxing of these rules, which it should do at the very least is to raise conversation about windows and doors and their use within the fabric of the building. Anything which puts windows and doors at the forefront of people’s minds can only be a good thing for the industry long term.

This post has been written for Value Doors UK who are a Leeds based UK supplier and installer of high quality composite doors. To find out more about those options or about Value Doors UK in general, please visit their website: http://www.valuedoors.co.uk/ or contact them on 0800 955 0898.

A report on this can be found here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/10598283/Window-and-door-rules-axed-in-drive-to-get-Britain-building-houses.html