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We're looking for the distribution of all (or estimation) spaces (industrial space + apartment space + other) inside buildings in Cities, sorted by clear height ceiling and area (sq meters), where Cities = NYC, LA, Seattle, London.
Hi there! Thanks for asking for a spreadsheet or graph showing the distribution of buildings in London by ceiling height and area in square meters. The short version is that after searching extensively through government reports and databases, industry research and reports, data analytics maps, academic publications, and trusted media sites, I've determined that the information you requested is not publicly available for these reasons: 1. ceiling height does not seem to be a surveyed data point for either government or industry research, 2. available area data for residential buildings is limited, 3. there is no freely available data for commercial buildings in London that allows for a breakdown of buildings by size, and 4. there is not enough available historical information to map ceiling heights by building age. However, I was able to learn that ceiling heights in London tend to be 3 meters or less for both residential and commercial buildings, and the majority of residences are under 100 sqrm. You will find a deep dive of my methodology and research below.
METHODOLOGY
After searching extensively, I have not been able to find enough freely and publicly available data with which to provide accurate or estimated breakdowns of buildings in London by area and ceiling height. While I was able to find a breakdown of residential dwellings in London by area ranges, I could find no statistics on ceiling heights for these buildings. Furthermore, the only freely available reports on the area size for commercial buildings revealed only an aggregate total of all available buildings in the UK, with not even an aggregate breakdown for London. I was able to find comprehensive data on the age of buildings in London, from which I hoped to apply historical information on ceiling heights in order to produce an estimate, but historical information only allows for limited insights on trends in ceiling heights over time, with too little information to produce estimated counts by height. You will find more details on the available data and insights available from government reports and databases, industry research and reports, academic publications, data analytics maps, and trusted media sites below.
HELPFUL FINDINGS
While I could not find a direct answer for your question, I was able to gather some information which I think will be helpful for your project.
~London Residential Buildings~
According to the most recent available data, Inner London hosts 1.4 million households, while Outer London accommodates 1.9 million households, for a total 3.3 million households living in Greater London.
51% of these residences are flats: 31% are purpose-built low-rise flats, 12% are converted flats, and 8% are purpose-built high-rise flats. Another 29% of homes are terraced housing. The remaining 20% of residences consist of semi-detached (15%) and detached (5%) houses.
Only 14% of homes in London are in buildings of 5+ floors, with a total of about 700 residential buildings of 11+ floors. If you are at all interested in exterior building heights, Emu Analytics provides a breakdown of 649,665 London buildings by height.
In London, just under 50% of residential dwellings are owner-occupied, while 26% are private rentals, and 24% are social rentals.
~UK Residences~
According to the most recent English Housing Survey, there were approximately 23.5 million dwellings in the UK in 2015.
The overall average area of UK residences is 94 sqrm. Owner-occupied homes, of which 92% are terraces or houses, average 108 sqrm. Homes in the private rented sector average 76 sqrm, while social sector rentals average just 67 sqrm.
Only 23% of homes in the private rental sector have a sqrm of over 90, while 53% of owner-occupied homes are this large. Amongst owner-occupied homes, about 20% are 90-109 sqrm, while another 33% are sized over 110 sqrm.
~Average Size of London Residences~
Combining the information presented in the above two sections, we can calculate the proportional sizes of London residences by multiplying the percent of each type of occupancy by the total number of homes in London, as follows:
(0.49*3.3 million) = 1.617 million homes are about 108sqrm.
(0.26 *3.3 million) = 858,000 homes are about 76 sqrm.
(0.24*3.3 million) = 792,000 homes are about 67 sqrm.
Thus, half of London's residences range between 67 and 76 sqrm, on average, while under 50% averages just over 100 sqrm. As such, the majority of London residences are under 100 sqrm.
~UK Commercial Buildings~
IPF's most recent report, published in July 2016, provides limited insight into the size of commercial buildings in the UK. By the end of 2015, there was a total of 683 million sqrm of commercial space in the UK, which breaks down as follows:
88% of non-residential property in the UK is commercial, with the remaining 12% consisting of educational buildings, hospitals and clinics, community buildings, and emergency services spaces.
I was only able to find a limited breakdown of non-residential buildings in London from Emporis' database. This data was too limited to make any deductions about the average size of commercial buildings by area.
However, Statista provides the average sizes of office space in central London areas, as of 2014 (converted into sqrm):
Given this data, your product would best be sized for the 800-1600 sqrm range for commercial buildings, in order to maximize the number of office spaces that might be applicable.
However, if your product would apply to individual workspaces, it would need to fit into a minimum area of 11 cubic meters. Government regulations stipulate that the total volume of the room divided by the number of people working in that room must equal at least 11 cubic meters. For typical ceiling heights ranging from 2.4 - 3.0 meters, this would correlate to 3.7 - 4.6 sqrm of floorspace per person.
~Historical Ceiling Heights and Construction Trends~
While I was unable to find enough data on historical ceiling height standards and the construction age of London's buildings in order to provide a detailed count of how many spaces occur at each ceiling height range, I was able to find enough information to consider trends over time.
The Suprageography blog has made available a variety of maps of the UK's buildings by age, including an interactive map which allows you to focus just on London. These maps are produced from a dataset available from the CRDC (free registration required to download the .xls file).
Construction of new residential buildings peaked in London in 1934, when 80,000 new homes were built that year. However, 37% of Inner London residences (547,000) were built before 1900, while the Outer London's biggest residential boom (approx. 510,000 homes) occurred in the 1930s.
In looking for information on standard ceiling heights in London, I was able to find the following:
- In the pre-1900 area, particularly following The Rebuilding Act of 1667, the standard London residence's ceiling height was 3 meters, with certain types of houses as well as second and third floors having a lower standard ceiling height of 2.75 or 2.6 meters.
- By the 1920s, UK ceiling heights had risen, with large homes featuring 11-foot (3.35 meters) ceilings, and 10-foot (3m) ceilings in medium-sized semi-detached homes.
- According to a 2003 article in The Telegraph, UK homes built since the 1920s have lower ceiling heights, averaging 2.67m in large homes, and just 2.43m in medium semi-detached homes.
- The current minimum ceiling height for new housing built in London is 2.3m for at least 75% of the dwelling.
- In the U.S., the trend has been toward increasing ceiling heights, with 9-foot (2.7m) ceilings becoming the standard in the late 1970s. Newly constructed office buildings have reached even greater ceiling heights since this standard was established, though construction standards in certain areas of the country have forced multi-floor buildings to lower ceilings to no taller than the old 2.7m standard.
- A 2007-2008 discussion on UK Business Forums indicates that UK commercial buildings typically have ceiling heights ranging from 2.4-2.7 meters.
- In reviewing the websites for several major commercial buildings in London, I saw many mentions of ceiling heights in the 2.5-2.7m range.
Given the available information as listed above, your product should definitely fall into the 0-3m ceiling height range, with a required ceiling height of no more than 2.4m to be applicable for the greatest number of London residential and commercial buildings.
POSSIBLE CONTINUED RESEARCH
In understanding what types of information are and are not publicly available about this topic, I can suggest a few other routes you may be interested in researching:
- You could request a spreadsheet listing the ceiling height and area size for major commercial buildings in London, or any other city of interest.
- You could request the average area sizes and ceiling heights for residential and commercial spaces in each city of interest individually, similar to what I've presented above, keeping in mind that it is unlikely that we'll be able to produce a spreadsheet as detailed as your request.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, after searching extensively through government reports and databases, industry research and reports, data analytics maps, academic publications, and trusted media sites, I've determined that the information you requested is not publicly available for these reasons: 1. ceiling height does not seem to be a surveyed data point for either government or industry research, 2. available area data for residential buildings is limited, 3. there is no freely available data for commercial buildings in London that allows for a breakdown of buildings by size, and 4. there is not enough available historical information to map ceiling heights by building age. However, I was able to learn that ceiling heights in London tend be 3 meters or less for both residential and commercial buildings, and the majority of residences are under 100 sqrm. Based on the available data, you'll want to size your product for ceiling heights no greater than 2.4m and areas under 100 sqrm for residences and areas of 800-1600 sqrm for commercial buildings, in order to maximize prospects.
I hope this helps! Thanks for asking Wonder. Please let us know if we can help with anything else!