Photo Credit: gov.bc

By Sam Bennison

BC Housing

B.C. announces new designs for multi-unit housing on a single lot

Nov 16, 2023 | 12:09 PM

BRITISH COLUMBIA—The Province has announced new standardized housing designs that will provide builders and homeowners new plans for small-scale, multi-unit homes, such as such as townhomes, triplexes and laneway homes.

These new customizable residential designs can be adopted by local governments and offered to builders at significantly below-market cost, to fast track permitting and development.

Standardized designs can streamline the permitting process to make it easier for local governments to give building-permit approvals quickly and save builders and homeowners the costs that come from expensive design services. They also allow for smaller local governments that might not have the resources to develop their own standardized designs.

“In order to address our housing crisis, we must use innovative solutions to enable housing to be built faster,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing. “Having standardized building designs available can help streamline the permitting process. We will work to add additional designs in the coming years to ensure our communities remain vibrant and have a variety of housing options.”

This follows the recent introduction of legislation that will allow three to four units on land that is currently zoned for single family homes and duplexes, and as many as six units near bus stops.

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“In order to address our housing crisis, we must use innovative solutions to enable housing to be built faster,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing. “Having standardized building designs available can help streamline the permitting process. We will work to add additional designs in the coming years to ensure our communities remain vibrant and have a variety of housing options.”

The Province will be engaging with consultant team to provide advice on the development of the standardized housing designs.

The consultation period will last for nine months, with the goal to procure design services by spring of next year. The plans are expected to be available to local governments by summer 2024.

As many as 10 different designs will be developed. The designs will comply with B.C. building codes and are expected to be as close to building permit ready as possible, recognizing minor amendments that will need to be made for each site. The designs will be created for various lot sizes and configurations to be widely applicable throughout the province.