Design: Pre-reviewed Designs

Discover the New Standardized Designs for Gentle Density Homes in B.C.

In September 2024, the Government of British Columbia released a series of free, standardized designs to help facilitate the development of gentle density homes. These designs are versatile, using a “building blocks” approach that allows for customization. You can mix and match elements to add features like garages or additional bedrooms and stack up to three storeys high. The collection includes a range of options from duplexes and triplexes to quadplexes and townhouses, with various roof shapes and exterior finishes to blend seamlessly into existing neighborhoods. There are also designs for accessory dwelling units, like laneway homes, and adaptable cottages perfect for aging in place.

All designs comply with the 2024 B.C. Building Code and can be tailored to fit different lot sizes and site conditions across the province. The design files are available for free download and have been compiled into a convenient catalogue for easy browsing.

These standardized designs are expected to save time and reduce costs for local governments and builders, speeding up approvals and construction. This initiative is a key component of the Homes for People action plan, aimed at unlocking more homes faster by creating favorable conditions for rapid housing development.

Click the image to view the designs and access the full document.

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Vermonters need better housing options and more affordable homes. Achieving this goal requires changing how homes are built in Vermont, particularly regarding the location and types of new homes.

Currently, Vermont’s housing production is focused on large and expensive single-family homes on sizable lots and large-scale multi-family apartments. However, Vermonters seeking housing options in-between, such as duplexes, four-plexes, cooperative housing, senior housing units, age-friendly homes, or townhouse condominiums, face limited choices. Regulatory and financial barriers have made developing diverse homes on a smaller footprint more challenging and complicated for small-scale developers who want to contribute to their communities.

This project aims to change that by unraveling regulatory complexities and reviving common-sense solutions that work for Vermont, such as Missing Middle Homes (MMH). The Vermont Homes for All Toolkit and community engagement process will re-introduce MMH to Vermont by focusing statewide attention on small-scale gentle infill and incremental development as a strategy to address Vermont’s housing and affordability crisis.

Video: In March 2024 the Department of Housing & Community Development launched the Homes for All Toolkit at a special event that brought together novice and emerging small-scale home builders, community development professionals, and local leaders interested in innovative home-building and home-renovation solutions to connect, network, and learn. Watch the Summit recording here!

The City of Mississauga is offering free pre-approved plans for one-bedroom and studio garden suites.

As Small Housing holds, design flexibility is crucial for the financial viability of gentle density housing projects. It also ensures a variety of housing forms to better meet the diverse needs of our communities.

Offering pre-approved plans is an important step in progressing gentle density ambitions, making it easier for homeowners to build a detached unit on their property. You can explore the full suite of Mississauga’s resources on their dedicated page.

Discover organizations from across Canada, and the rest of the world, who are contributing towards the gentle density movement and the delivery of homes that people want, need & deserve.

Name: Smallworks

About: For the last 16 years, Smallworks has been the heart of laneway housing in North America and we have operated with a simple mission, to empower homeowners to create housing solutions that work for them.

The organisation strongly believe in this form of housing; infill housing provides gentle density, while preserving the neighbourhoods we’ve come to know and love.

Having built nearly 400 homes, they take pride in being able to use experience to accurately project both cost and timeline, ensuring that their homes are built on time, on budget, and with no surprises.

For more information: Head to their dedicated website.

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The Infill Challenge Best Practices Summary from the City of Kelowna provides an analysis of leading edge policies, processes and projects in infill housing, and gives us the opportunity to learn from them.

Key insights:

The Best Practices Guide is intended to provide leading edge examples of infill housing from across Canada in the areas of process, development, and policy and regulations. The key lessons from each of these areas can be used to inform the Infill Challenge project as it unfolds in Kelowna.

Samples include:

Process:

Engage stakeholders early
Follow an objective, transparent process
Use data and research to clarify needs and objectives

Development:

Encourage the use of place-based design
Ensure that lane access and a grid network are in place
Require that front doors face the street, where possible

Policy & Development:

Use clear language (no jargon)
Support the process with strong visuals
Consider context-based zoning regulations and guidelines

On this useful resource page from the City of San Jose, users can explore a comprehensive resource library to support research and insights into the city’s promotion of ADUs as a means of addressing housing challenges.

Key insights:

ADUs are an affordable type of home to construct in California because they do not require paying for land, major new infrastructure, structured parking, or elevators.
ADUs can provide a source of income for homeowners.
ADUs are built with cost-effective wood frame construction, which is significantly less costly than homes in new multifamily infill buildings.
ADUs allow extended families to be near one another while maintaining privacy.
ADUs can provide as much living space as many newly-built apartments and condominiums, and they’re suited well for couples, small families, friends, young people, and seniors.
ADUs give homeowners the flexibility to share independent living areas with family members and others, allowing seniors to age in place as they require more care.

This webinar from January 2024, hosted by the Congress of New Urbanism, provides a useful overview of some of the key challenges posed by pre-approved designs for gentle density homes, but also detailed the many benefits that these can bring to a community.

Featuring insights from Edward Erfurt, Director of Community Action at Strong Towns, Jennifer Krouse of Liberty House Plans, & Allison Thurmond Quinlan, principal architect and landscape architect with Flintlock LAB (who also presented at the Small Housing Gentle Density Leaders Summit 2024).

As this accompanying CNU article outlines, the panel described the many benefits of pre-approved plans, including:

Increasing community familiarity and understanding of missing middle housing types, like small apartment buildings, duplexes, and accessory dwelling units
Encouraging higher quality design so that small developers proposing similar projects will have an easier time. If housing is expedited, there is a risk that low-quality design will boost opposition. A collection of context-sensitive building plans offers greater predictability because the architectural review is complete, Krouse says.
The programs are designed to reduce regulatory friction in a housing delivery system that many people recognize is overly complex. This helps to level the playing field between small and large developers, the latter of which have developed ways around bureaucratic red tape.

Based out of Melbourne, Future Homes offers a useful blueprint to consider in the delivery of pre-approved designs.

Facilitating the construction of enhanced gentle density dwellings, Future Homes was developed by the Department of Transport & Planning in Victoria and offers four distinct sets of site-less designs available for purchase, each boasting unique styles, layouts, and designs.

Key insights:

Pre-approved designs simplifies & streamlines the planning process for citizen developers and related actors
Pre-approved designs provide a versatile and customizable approach to apartment construction
Can play a central role in fostering better and more adaptable living spaces for diverse communities.

Image to the left shows Design Strategy Architecture with IncluDesign‘s “Future Homes Design A”.

Key Info

Specifications

Number of Units 9+
Size of Units < 1000 sqft
Number of Structures 1

Size of Project

Width of Build < 45’
Number of Storeys 2.5 Storeys
Total Build Area < 6500 sqft

Lot Attributes

Lot Type Corner
Vehicle Access Front, Rear

These designs are for illustrative purposes only, and not intended for construction.

This forward-thinking design seamlessly incorporates a total of 8 units, offering a mix of unit types to suit various needs, including two spacious family-sized units with 3 bedrooms each. Each unit features its own individual entrance door, ensuring privacy and convenience for residents. Alternatively, the design can accommodate a total of 6 units, including four with 2 bedrooms each, providing flexibility in configuration.

Despite its multi-unit layout, the design maintains the feel of a small apartment building within the scale of a large single-family home, blending functionality with aesthetic appeal. In total, the design offers 14 bedrooms, catering to diverse household sizes. The proposed floor space ratios (FSR) are 1.10 on a 50×110’ lot and 0.91 on a 60×110’ lot, showcasing efficient land usage while maximizing livable space.

Drawing and Images

"Tweedsmuir" on 60' front-access lot — “Tweedsmuir” on 60′ front-access lot

Cost Estimate

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Key Info

Specifications

Number of Units 3
Size of Units < 600 sqft
Number of Structures 2
Bedrooms Per Unit 1, 2, 3

Size of Project

Width of Build < 25’
Number of Storeys 3 Storeys
Total Build Area < 4500 sqft

Lot Attributes

Lot Type Corner
Vehicle Access Rear

These designs are for illustrative purposes only, and not intended for construction.

This cutting-edge design can incorporate a total of six units on a lot just 33’ wide, using an innovative shared, “point-access-block” stair.

“Comox” also maximizes its small lot through the use of a zero-lot-line on one side. The design could be used to ease the transition within a block from a commercial zone to residential, or the design could be mirrored on a second lot to create a rooftop patio space between the two structures.

This rooftop space would be in addition to one courtyard already on the ground level and another on the third storey, which give the design its abundant light and air access in spite of its density: a FSR of 0.73 on the 50×131’ lot shown, or 1.10 on the 33×131’ lot. “Comox” has 9 bedrooms and utilizes sprinklering.