In 2015, the UK government published the Nationally Described Space Standard (NDSS) following a housing standards review. We assessed the compliance rates with the NDSS in new affordable housing in England.

The metrication of the Parker Morris Standards shows how space standards are as much the outcome of negotiations and subjective judgements as they are the result of rational decisions based on evidence.

This project examines how housing – especially subsidised housing – is standardised by design governance, typological preferences, and social norms shaped by spatial, technical, and social reasoning as well as by a time and place.