Land
Land - God isn’t making any more of it! - goes the old saying. And in the UK a huge amount of the available building land is already in the ownership of the large volume builders, ready for the day they want to develop it. Also the social landlords such as housing associations tend to own a lot of land for redevelopment, usually in urban areas.
However the individual self builder is sometimes at an advantage here because the larger developers tend to avoid small sites, particularly if they have some peculiarity such as steep slopes, strange angles, or protected trees. This can sometimes be turned to the advantage of the self builder and actually create a more interesting result, albeit with a bit more effort and cost.
So how to decide on location?
Apart from the obvious matter of being in the part of the country you want to be, check out the non-car access to the following -
- work
- shopping
- schools
- transport connections
- entertainment / leisure / the countryside
- health facilities
- friends and family
If you can reach these by public transport, bike or walking then cars will not be necessary for every journey.
Look out for sites which enjoy good year-round sunlight. This may help with solar heating, particularly if you want to attempt a Passivhaus standard. Try to use a brown field site rather than green field.
