AIM
To ensure that conversions and subdivisions result in good quality accommodation with the same facilities and level of residential amenity as new housing.
POLICY
GENERAL STANDARDS
Proposals for conversions and subdivisions should comply with the following general standards.
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All dwellings should, ideally, have dual aspect (proposed flats with their sole aspect into a parking court or shared rear area will generally be unacceptable). An exception may be made, however, within a listed building, where the applicant can clearly demonstrate that the conversion/subdivision costs are so excessive as to necessitate a more intensive subdivision.
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All habitable rooms (see Definition) should receive natural daylight and ventilation in order to minimise energy use. No residential accommodation should be formed solely in basement cellars or under-buildings.
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A minimum of 18 metres should be provided between habitable room windows directly facing windows in buildings on adjacent sites, wherever possible. Where the adjacent site is vacant, no new habitable room windows should be formed on an elevation less than 9 metres from the common boundary.
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Access to upper floors should be provided internally. External stairs should not be visible from any public area, as they detract from the visual amenity of buildings and the surrounding streetscene.
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There should be internal access from each dwelling to both the front and rear of the building, to enable occupants to reach refuse/recycling facilities and private amenity space (an exception may be made in properties where a path is provided around the side of the building)(see policy DES 12: Provision of Waste and Recycling Space).
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Parking provision should accord with policies TRANS 4: Vehicle Parking Standards and TRANS 6 Cycle Parking Standards.
In some situations, grounds attached to the building will be feued separately, to provide a private garden for each flat.
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Where this is not proposed, the developer should provide useable communal private garden space for residents; a shared “backcourt” or “backcourts”. These areas should be screened from public view and secured from public access. To minimise energy use, provision in these areas should also be made for clothes poles, to allow outside clothes drying.
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Provision of garden space, refuse/recycling space, etc should not result in the removal of trees, important to the amenity of the area. On sites with mature trees, a tree survey should be submitted with the application to allow assessment of any likely impacts (see policy ENV 8: Trees, Woodlands and Hedgerows and development guide DG/ENV 3: Trees and Woodlands).
Where the building and/or the site makes the provision of private garden space difficult, developers should look at the possibility of creative alternative solutions, such as shared roof gardens or private terraces or balconies for flats. Where little external common garden space is being provided, developers will be expected to bring forward mitigation measures to improve internal amenity, such as larger flats, more generous room sizes and the maximisation of window sizes in all habitable rooms.
SUBDIVISION OF FLATS
Maisonettes (see Definition)
The City still has many exceptionally large flats in terraces and tenements, usually in the form of maisonettes. Applications to subdivide a maisonette into 2 self-contained flats should meet the general standards set out above.
Single Floor Flats
As well as permanently removing larger units from the housing stock, the sub-division of flats within tenements and terraces places increased pressure on parking and communal facilities, such as refuse disposal and private amenity space. This is to the detriment of the residential amenity of neighbours and the surrounding area.
Proposals for the sub-division of single floor flats will only be acceptable where applicants can demonstrate one or more of the following:
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The proposal forms part of a comprehensive refurbishment of the entire building or group of buildings.
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The property has been actively marketed as a single self-contained flat, without successful sale (applicants will be expected to provide evidence that the flat has been marketed in the Glasgow Solicitors’ Property Guide, or an estate agent’s list, for at least 6 months, and to provide copies to the Council of any offers received in that period).
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The repair/refurbishment costs for the flat are so great as to necessitate the intensification of residential use (applicants will be asked to submit details of the costs of refurbishment).
LOCAL AREA POLICIES
CONSERVATION AREAS
Strathbungo Conservation Area: With many of the terraced properties converted into flats, problems of parking congestion and pressure on refuse disposal have increased. To prevent a worsening of this situation, the subdivision of terraced houses in Queen Square, Marywood Square and Regent Park Square will be restricted to two self-contained units per original house.
The unique character of the Category ‘A’ listed 1-10 Moray Place, allied to the modest size of the Moray Place terraces mitigates against any subdivision. As a result:
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the subdivision of 1-10 Moray Place and the Category ‘B’ listed terrace at 12-16 Moray Place will not be supported;
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no further subdivision of properties, which have already been divided into self contained dwellings, will be supported; and
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no parking space should be formed in the rear garden of properties (unless there are exceptional circumstances – e.g. the need for disabled access), in order to preserve the use for garden purposes and refuse/recycling storage.
Millbrae Conservation Area: There is a need to protect the amenity of this popular family housing area. Parking and access problems, for example, have already necessitated the introduction of traffic management measures in this area. The subdivision of terraced properties at 5-25 and 2-16 Ailsa Drive and 1,3,19 and 2-46 Millbrae Crescent, therefore, will not be supported.
In addition, no further subdivision will be supported of properties which have already been divided into self contained dwellings.
Park Conservation Area: This former residential area was, until recently, almost totally converted to office use with many of the former rear gardens converted to private car parks, open to the rear lanes. There is now, however, a steady conversion of office premises back to residential use, with conversion into flats. This outstanding conservation area contains terraces which are mainly A or B listed, often with interiors of exceptional quality.
The Council will expect proposals to make minimal disruption to the internal fabric with restoration of the interiors, wherever possible. Applicants will also be required to address the improvement of the townscape of the rear lanes, with solid boundaries reinstated and limited parking in the rear garden areas.
The importance of the conservation aspects, and the physical limitations imposed by the quality of interiors, mitigates against intensive subdivisions of buildings within the Park Conservation Area and the Council will encourage a limitation to the following number of flats:
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a maximum of 2 dwellings in a 4-storey terraced property; and
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a maximum of 3 dwellings in a 5 storey, or more, terraced property.
Where applicants wish to form parking spaces for the flats, this should not cover more than 50% of the former garden area and a boundary and gate to the rear lane should be reinstated.
Glasgow West Conservation Area: This area is characterised by Victorian terraces, among other building types, many of which were subdivided over the last thirty years into self contained small flats, one or more on each floor of the property. The area is one of the City’s most popular residential areas with both families and other groups, due to its provision of employment, excellent public transport, schools, parks and range of shopping and leisure uses. As car ownership has risen, however, the West End has experienced problems of traffic and parking congestion.
To attempt to address these problems and provide a greater range of dwelling size, the Council will not support proposals which:
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subdivide 3 storey terraced property (or any terraced property in Westbourne Gardens, Kingsborough Gardens and Kirklee Terrace);
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exceed a maximum of 2 dwellings in a 4 storey terraced property;
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exceed a maximum of 3 dwellings in terraced properties of 5, or more, storeys;
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seek to form parking space(s) in the rear of terraced properties (in order to preserve the use for garden purposes and refuse/recycling storage); or
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subdivide, further, properties which have already been divided into self contained dwellings.
It will be the responsibility of the developer to demonstrate where a scheme may not be viable on economic grounds, to the complete satisfaction of the Council.
LISTED BUILDINGS AND CONSERVATION AREAS
Proposals to subdivide listed buildings and/or buildings in conservation areas will also have to meet the standards set out in policy DES 3: Protecting and Enhancing the City’s Historic Environment (supplemented by development guide DG/DES 3 – Design Guidance for Listed Buildings and Properties in Conservation Areas).
Note: Residents of all new subdivisions or conversions within Controlled Parking Zones (see Map in policy RES 7: Car Free Housing) will be excluded from obtaining Residents' Parking Permits.
DEFINITION
HABITABLE ROOMS - All rooms apart from halls, landings, bathrooms and small utility rooms.
MAISONETTE – a dwelling on more than one storey, forming part of a building from some other part of which it is divided horizontally (Source: The Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004).
POLICY JUSTIFICATION
This policy supports the Plan’s Development Strategy to protect residential amenity and to ensure such development meets high standards of design (see Part 2, PEOPLE, Existing Residential Areas, paragraph 3.62).
As well as subdivision of residential buildings, some of the new housing stock across the City is increasingly provided by the conversion of non-residential properties, such as churches and warehouses.