Mezzanine floors are gaining in popularity with property developers and homebuyers alike. The installation of mezzanine flooring is particularly effective when converting a large property into several smaller more compact apartments. Constructing mezzanine floors as part of the prestigious redevelopment of Victorian villas on the Bayswater Road in London has added up to 40% extra living space.
The height and architectural features of the original buildings have been retained and the additional living space created by the construction of mezzanine flooring has been credited with adding almost £5m to the selling price of £16.8m for the show home.
A survey carried out by the Royal Institute of British Architects on the living space of British homes shows that the average floor area of a detached house built a century ago is around 290 square metres, almost one-third greater than its modern counterpart which measures around 200 square metres.
The same survey has found that new homes in the North East are the smallest in the country, at less than 85 square metres for a three-bedroom property against the recommended minimum of 96 square metres.
However, the demand for space in Japan is so great that Japanese architect Hiroaki Ohtani has designed a family micro-house in Kobe which measures only 33 square metres. Designing sufficient space and storage is a challenge which has been met by the use of a number of innovative space-saving features which take much of their influence from traditional Japanese design.
