GB2567134A

GB2567134A - A domestic building and a method for constructing a domestic building

Info

Publication number: GB2567134A
Application number: GB1713747.2A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Dickinson Michael
Original assignee: Kingfield Dev Ltd
Current assignee: Kingfield Dev Ltd
Priority date: 2017-08-25
Filing date: 2017-08-25
Publication date: 2019-04-10
Anticipated expiration: 2037-08-25
Also published as: GB2567134B; GB201713747D0

Abstract

The building comprises a foundation, a plurality of external walls 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116 extending from the foundation, at least four internal supports 124, 126, 128, 130 extending from the foundation, and a roof, at least three of the internal supports being first steel pillars, with at least one internal wall 146, 148, 152 connecting a first steel pillar to another first steel pillar or an external wall. The at least four internal supports may comprise four first steel pillars, or three first steel pillars and an internal support wall. The internal support wall may be adjacent an entrance 129 and have a staircase 154 connected to it. The building may have a second storey. The external walls may have peripheral supports 118, 120, 122 which are steel joists. The roof may be supported by the peripheral and internal supports. Also claimed is a method of planning and constructing a group of domestic buildings comprising planning and locating on a plan a plurality of foundations having the same shape, agreeing a sale of one of the foundations with a purchaser, agreeing a sale of one of the buildings, and constructing the building as agreed.

Description

A domestic building and a method for constructing a domestic building

The present invention relates to a domestic building and to a method for constructing a domestic building, and relates particularly, but not exclusively, to domestic properties built in groups on estates.

In the industry of the construction of domestic buildings it is commonplace, for reasons of economy of scale and in common with the majority of industries, to construct multiple buildings together in groups, that is utilising mass production techniques. It is also commonplace for these groups of properties, collectively often termed estates, to be built in different sizes and of different styles although generally with a common theme running throughout the estate. It is generally the case that, before construction of any properties take place, the plans have been created for all of the properties that are to be built and therefore the style and size of each property is predetermined and fixed. As a result, there is little flexibility for varying the construction of the property to meet the needs of the customer.

It is also the case that existing methods of construction allow very limited adaptation of a property once construction is complete. In particular, the process of adapting a property to meet the varying needs of a family is sufficiently difficult that is often the case that property owners opt to move house rather than go through the process of adapting their current house to meet their changing needs. For example, as children are born there is a need for additional bedroom space and it is often the case that it is desirable to alter the main living space, whereas, when children grow up and leave home less bedroom space is required and different living accommodation may be preferable .

Preferred embodiments of the present invention seek to overcome or alleviate the above described disadvantages of the prior art.

According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided a domestic building comprising:a foundation;

a plurality of external walls extending from said foundation, said external walls including peripheral support members;

at least four internal support members extending from said foundation, said at least four internal support members including at least three first elongate members;

at least one internal wall connecting a first elongate member to another first elongate member or to an external wall; and at least one roof.

A building constructed as set out above has significant advantages over the prior art. For example, it allows greater flexibility and cost reduction when building estates of houses ensuring that all the purchasers of the properties are able to buy a property that is most suitable for their needs. This can be achieved by creating identical foundations spread across an area where the properties are to be built. The laying of identical foundations offers significant time and cost efficiencies. Potential purchasers can then select a site that they desire and have the style of property that they want built on that site. This therefore gives the purchasers a greater selection of purchasing options. The purchaser is able to have the property they desire in the location they desire rather than compromising between location and property style as is presently the case when, as will inevitably be the case for some purchasers, the style of property they want is not available in the location they desire whilst the location they desire has the wrong style of property planned or built thereon. Whilst it is of course possible for a system to exist where plots are sold and buildings are constructed according to a plan specified by the purchaser such systems are unable to compete, in terms of cost and construction time, with existing mass construction of estates where all plans are previously prescribed with very little flexibility beyond decor.

A building constructed as set out above also offers the greatest flexibility for making alterations to the property once constructed. The use of three or more first elongate members, which provide support internally of the building, allows the use of easily constructed plasterboard walls (also called stud walls) for the internal walls of the building. As the needs of the people living in the property change it is therefore easy to make alterations to the internal layout of the building. Three or four elongate members, acting as support pillars, provide sufficient support for the building, in particular supporting a second or more storeys and/or roof, whilst not significantly limiting the location of the internal walls, particularly in the ground floor. As a result, the purchasers of the property are more likely to adapt the building and are therefore less likely to move to a new property which in turn promotes community cohesion.

In a preferred embodiment the at least four internal support members comprise at least four first elongate members.

Using four first elongate members as the internal support members provides the greatest flexibility for positioning, and rearranging at a later date, internal walls of the building whilst providing sufficient support for the roof and/or second or more storeys. In particular, where the four elongate members are arranged in a square and the external walls of the building form a square or approximately square shape the best support for the upper portions of the building is provided with minimal constraint on the internal form of the building. Furthermore, this arrangement divides the space into nine smaller units which can be combined together in multiple arrangements to create different sizes and locations for different room types.

In another preferred embodiment the at least four internal support members comprise three first elongate members and at least one internal support wall.

The advantages of this arrangement are very similar to those set out above for four elongate members except that the location of one of the internal walls becomes fixed.

This generally makes little difference to the flexibility of the property once constructed since it is often the case that some internal features of the building are substantially fixed in their locations anyway.

In a further preferred embodiment the internal support wall is located adjacent an entrance way through an external wall.

The building may further comprise a second storey.

In a preferred embodiment the internal support wall has a staircase connected thereto.

A staircase is an example of an internal feature of the property which is difficult to, and therefore unlikely to be, moved during internal rearrangement of the building. Furthermore, it is advantageous to construct a stairway against a supporting wall.

In another preferred embodiment the greatest dimension between parallel external walls is between 10m and 12m.

In a further preferred embodiment the greatest dimension between parallel external walls is between 9m and 15m.

It is preferable that three of said at least three first elongate members form a right angled triangle with perpendicular lines of said triangle parallel to said external walls.

Arranging three of the first elongate members into a right angle triangle with perpendicular sides of said triangle being parallel to the external walls of the building provides a simple but robust arrangement of the internally supporting pillars.

The peripheral support members may comprise second elongate members .

In a preferred embodiment at least one first elongate member has a corresponding second elongate member such that a line connecting said corresponding first and second elongate members extends perpendicular to the external wall associated with said second elongate member.

In another preferred embodiment the roof is at least partially supported by said peripheral support members and said internal support members.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of constructing a domestic building comprising the steps : constructing a foundation;

constructing a plurality of external walls extending from said foundation, said external walls including peripheral support members;

constructing at least four internal support members extending from said foundation, said at least four internal support members including at least three first elongate members;

constructing at least one internal wall connecting a first elongate member to another first elongate member or to an external wall; and constructing at least one roof.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of planning and constructing a group of domestic buildings comprising the steps :planning and locating on a plan a plurality of building foundations, a plurality of said plurality of building foundations having substantially the same shape;

agreeing a sale of a said foundation with a purchaser;

agreeing a sale of a building as set out above; and constructing said building as agreed.

The method of planning and constructing a group of domestic buildings as set out above provides advantages over the prior art. For example, the construction of multiple identical foundations offers significant time and cost reductions. Furthermore, a potential purchaser of the property has the greatest flexibility in choosing both a location and property style that suits their requirements whilst maintaining the benefits of mass construction of existing methods of building a housing estate.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, and not in any limitative sense with reference to the accompanying drawings in which :Figures 1A, IB, 1C and ID are views of a property according to the present invention from the front, from the rear, from one side and from the other side respectively;

Figures IE, IF and 1G are plan views of the building of figure 1A showing the ground, first and second floors respectively;

Figure 1H is a plan view equivalent to figure IE shown in more detail including additional internal features and furniture which might typically be added to each room;

Figures 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D are views of a property of the present invention from the front, from the rear, from one side and from the other side; and

Figures 2E and 2F are plan views of the building of figure 1A showing the ground and first floors respectively.

Referring to figures 1A to 1H, a building 100 is specifically a domestic property for people, and more specifically groups of people including families, to live in. The building includes a foundation, which is generally indicated with the reference numeral 102, and is located substantially below the ground surface (indicated at 104). The foundation 102 is constructed or laid using normal construction techniques familiar to persons skilled in the art. The foundation 102 is prepared in such a way that any of the proposed buildings which might be built on that foundation will be sufficiently supported by that construction. Typically, the foundation is prepared by digging a trench following the outline of the external walls of the building. This trench is then partially filled with concrete onto which walls forming the base are constructed. The bottom of the walls are formed from brick and then a flat floor of concrete formed between the walls.

The building also includes a plurality of external walls. In the embodiment shown in figures 1 the foundation is L-shaped (although the shape is very close to being rectangular and close to being square) and the six external walls are labelled 106, 108, 110, 112, 114 and 116. The greatest dimension between opposing pairs of walls is 11.465m between walls 106 and 110 (thereby defining the length of the building 100) and is 10.688m between walls 108 and 112 (defining the width of the building). Ideally the length and width of the building are between 10 and 12m as this provides a good size for a domestic property whilst ensuring that the distance between the steel support members (both internal and external) is not too great. A length and width of between 8 and 15m would also be perfectly acceptable.

These external walls extend vertically from, and therefore perpendicular to, the foundation 102 and some, but not necessarily all of the external walls include peripheral members indicated at 118, 120 and 122 (see figure 1H).

support

In this embodiment the peripheral support members are in the form of steel joists which extend vertically from the foundations .

These steel support members are embedded within the external walls and are hidden within these walls .

The external walls may be formed from any suitable construction and this can include lightweight walls which provide little or no structural support or weight-bearing function. However, as an alternative the external walls may provide structural support and may therefore bear the weight of upper floors and/or the roof .

For example, the external walls may be formed from brick and/or blocks or may be formed from Structural Insulated Panels

Where the external walls may be capable of providing the structural support function it may still be preferable to include the

However if the external walls themselves provide sufficient support, through the use of bricks and/or blocks or a SIP construction then the peripheral steel support members may not be required with the walls themselves acting as the external support members .

The external walls define an inside to the building and in that inside area are provided at least four internal support members extending from the foundation

102 .

These internal support members include three first elongate members in the form of internal support steels with an internal support wall 130.

The internal support wall

130 is divided into wall portions, indicated at 132, 134, 136

bearing function. The internal support wall 130 forms part of an entrance hall 127 and is therefore located adjacent the main entrance door 129 for the building. The internal support steels 124, 126 and 128 and the internal support wall 130 together with the peripheral support members 118, 120 and 122 provide the weight-bearing support for the second storey 140 (figure IF), third storey 142 (figure 1G) and the roof 144. Furthermore, these peripheral and internal support members extend into the second storey 140 and extend into the roof space/third storey.

The building 100 also includes internal walls which connect an internal support member to a further internal support member or to and external wall. These internal walls are of a type that provide little or no structural support and are therefore easily removed. For example, these internal walls can be constructed from a timber frame and plasterboard, commonly termed stud walls. As can be seen in figure 1H an internal wall 146 connects the peripheral steel support member 122 to the internal support steel 126. Likewise, the internal wall 148 connects the internal support steel 128 to the peripheral support steel 118. This internal wall 148, appears on the plans to have a gap which represents a doorway 150. In another example, an internal wall 152 connects the internal support steel 128 to the external wall 110.

Because the building 100 is provided with a second storey 140 and a third storey 142 means for getting from one floor to another are required. In the example shown this takes the form of a pair of staircases 154 and 156 with the first staircase 154 allowing movement between the ground floor and first floor (second storey 140) and the second staircase 156 allowing movement between the first floor and the second floor (third storey 142) . The first staircase 154 is built so as to be connected to internal and external support walls specifically, the external support wall 116, the internal support wall 132 and to a limited extent the internal support wall 134. The internal support wall 132 is particularly useful in supporting the staircase 154. Since it is rare to move staircases within properties this makes it unlikely that the internal wall 132 will be moved under any circumstances of rearrangement of the building 100 and thus a permanent weight-bearing wall can be constructed without loss of flexibility for future redevelopment of the building. Likewise, the second staircase 156 utilises the portion of wall 130 that extends through to the second storey 140 .

As can be seen from figure 1H the internal steel support members 124, 126 and 128 are arranged in a right-angled triangle when viewed in a plan view. The two perpendicular sides of this triangle lie parallel to external walls of the building. In particular, the line between steel support members 126 and 128 is parallel to the external wall 110 and the line between steel support members 124 and 128 is parallel to external wall 108. As can also be seen from figure 1H when a line is drawn between an internal steel support member and a peripheral steel support member that line is substantially perpendicular to the external wall in which the peripheral steel support member is located. For example, the line between the internal steel support member 126 and the peripheral steel support member 122 is perpendicular to the external wall 112. Likewise, a line between the internal steel support member 128 and the peripheral steel support member 118 is perpendicular to the external wall 108. It is also the case that a line between the internal steel support member 124 and the peripheral steel support member 120 is also perpendicular to the external wall 108 although no internal wall extends along that line. However, a horizontal support beam, indicated with paired dashed lines and the reference numeral 158, extends from the peripheral steel support member 120 to the internal steel support member 124 and beyond until it reaches the wall portion 134 of internal support wall 130. This horizontal support beam 158 provide support for the second storey 140. A further horizontal support beam 160 extends between the external wall 112 and the internal support wall 130.

The planning and construction of the building 100 is undertaken as follows. Once an area of land has been designated as being provided to have a plurality of buildings constructed thereon a plan is created locating a plurality of substantially identical foundation shapes around the site. Typically, this would involve the planning of a road system or network along which the building plots would be arranged with a planned foundation located in each plot. It would typically be the case that the plots would slightly vary in shape and size and the orientation of the foundations on the plot, that is the direction in which the front of the building faces, would also vary. Potential purchasers would then select a plot which suited their preferences. For example, choosing between a large or small garden and/or choosing between north and south facing gardens. Typically the foundations for all of the houses are built at the same time in order to make this process most economical. The above-described process of selecting and agreeing a plot selection can take place before, during or after the process of construction of the foundations. Once the sale has been agreed the details of the construction of the building can also be agreed, for example by selecting from a plurality of building style options such as, but not limited to, those shown in the figures of this application. Once the plot and style of building required have been agreed construction of the building can take place in order to create a building as set out above.

Another example of a building according to the present invention is shown in figures 2A to 2F. In these figures features in common with those shown in figures 1A to 1H are indicated with like reference numerals increased by 100. The building 200 is a two-storey building built in the dormer bungalow style. As a result, portions of the second storey, shown in figure 2F, are located directly below the roof and this therefore creates portions of the second storey which are too low for practical living space and are generally used for storage, commonly termed under eaves storage. These portions are indicated at 262.

After a family have been living in a building for a period of time, their circumstances may change meaning that they require different things from the building in which they are living. For example, the arrival of children can require more bedrooms and variations to the living space, for example more open plan living can be desirable. These changes can be achieved by the simple rearrangement of the internal walls to form an arrangement such as those shown in the other figures or any other suitable arrangement which utilises the internal steel support members. Typically, and is shown in all of the examples here, these internal steel support members are hidden within the internal walls. However, this may not be the case.

For the building shown in figures 1 and 2, it may be the case that when the building was first purchased it was fitted out without entering the roof space. In other words, in figures 1 only the ground floor and first floor are used as a two-storey property. This is of course less expensive than fitting out all three floors. At a later date, the fitting out of the third storey can take place thereby creating more bedrooms. Likewise, in figures 2 the initial fitting out could be for a single storey, that is a bungalow, and the second storey only added at a later date. Similarly, the building is adapted to be easily altered to accommodate a lift or elevated device. Specifically, the support wall portions 134 and 136 and the part of wall 132 which connects these wall portions can be easily adapted from a cupboard, as presently shown in figure 1H, to a lift utilising the support function provided by the support wall 130 .

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the above embodiments have been described by way of example only 5 and not in any limitative sense, and that various alterations and modifications are possible without departure from the scope of the protection which is defined by the appended claims. For example, the present invention is equally applicable to larger buildings. The buildings described above could be wider or 10 longer, by approximately half as much again, therefore requiring six internal support members of which at least five would preferably be the elongate members in the form of the internal steel support members.

Claims

1. A domestic building comprising:- a foundation;

2. A building according to claim 1, wherein at least four internal support members comprise at least four first elongate members .

3. A building according to claim 1, wherein said at least four internal support members comprise three first elongate members and at least one internal support wall.

4. A building according to claim 3, wherein said internal support wall has a staircase connected thereto.

5. A building according to claim 3 or 4, wherein said internal support wall is located adjacent an entrance way through an external wall.

6. A building according to any preceding claim, further comprising a second storey.

7. A building according to any preceding claim, wherein the greatest dimension between parallel external walls is between 10 m and 12 m.

8. A building according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein where in the greatest dimension between parallel external walls is between 9 m and 15 m.

9. A building according to any preceding claim, wherein three of said at least three first elongate members form a right angled triangle with perpendicular lines of said triangle parallel to said external walls.

10. A building according to any preceding claim, wherein said peripheral support members comprise second elongate members.

11. A building according to claim 10, wherein at least one first elongate member has a corresponding second elongate member such that a line connecting said corresponding first and second elongate members extends perpendicular to the external wall associated with said second elongate member.

12. A building according to any preceding claim, wherein said roof is at least partially supported by said peripheral support members and said internal support members.

13. A method of constructing a domestic building comprising the steps : - constructing a foundation;

constructing a plurality of external walls extending from said foundation, said external wall including peripheral support members;

14. A method of planning and constructing a group of domestic buildings comprising the steps :- planning and locating on a plan a plurality of building

5 foundations, a plurality of said plurality of building foundations having substantially the same shape;

agreeing a sale of a said foundation with a purchaser;

agreeing a sale of a building according to any of claims 1 to 12; and

10 constructing said building as agreed.