New Builds

Due to increasing costs and the scarcity of viable building land, developers and private clients in Great Britain are becoming more aware of the importance of making best use of the space available to them. This trend has also has been long established throughout Europe.

Incorporating basements into dwellings at the initial construction stage has the following benefits.
1. Makes full use of the footprint of the building at the initial stage of construction, incorporating more rooms to be utilised in a manner to suite the new owners requirements.
2. Allows existing densities to be maintained with the advantage of increased amenity space.

Where restrictions have been placed to only allow the erection of a single storey dwelling due to planning constraints, one could build a basement and double the habitable space without interfering with the restriction placed gaining extra value to the building also.

If your new build is being erected on poor ground conditions to start with, there will be a necessity for deep foundations at the onset. One could build a basement, which will act as part of the foundations and therefore off set the initial costs incurred.

On a sloping site, it is possible to build a semi-basement on one side and at or near ground level on the other side.
The high cost of a conventional substructure on these sites can also be offset against the basement construction.

If you combine a basement with a habitable roof space, this can increase the useable floor area of a two-storey house by approximately 70%.

Method of construction for a new build
This will depend on several factors. Location, soil type and water table. Basement can be constructed from cast in situ concrete, pre-cast walls, and block walling and interlock sheet piles. This would depend on clients’ specification and budget.