two storey extensions

Two storey extensions could help housing crisis and reduce carbon emissions

A study led by Grantham Scholar Charles Gillott shows two storey extensions on buildings could provide an extra 175,000 homes in Sheffield.

If rolled out across the UK, extensions could bring down house prices, reduce carbon emissions and meet government housing targets.

Charles is supervised by Dr Danielle Densley Tingley at the University of Sheffield’s Department of Civil and Structural Engineering. You can find the University of Sheffield press release about the study online. Two storey extensions could help to tackle UK’s housing crisis (the main image in this page is from this press release and shows an example of an extended building).

The study was covered in the media and by various trade websites, and we’ve collected them below.

News stories on two storey extensions study by Charles Gillott

Grantham Scholar Charles Gillott who led the study on two storey extensions.
Grantham Scholar Charles Gillott who led the study on two storey extensions.

BBC Sheffield

Charles was interviewed by Howard Pressman for BBC Sheffield. You find Charles’ bit about 16:22. They spoke about the potential for housing provision through vertical extension in Sheffield.

Yorkshire Post

Extensions on existing properties could create 175,000 new homes in Sheffield, according to university research. Putting extensions on existing homes could help to tackle the UK’s housing crisis and meet net zero commitments, according to new research from the University of Sheffield.

Sheffield Tribune

Could building up could solve Sheffield’s housing crisis? These great gifs from University of Sheffield PhD candidate Charles Gillott caught our eye this week. Gillott is writing his thesis about how the vertical extension of existing buildings could help tackle the housing crisis.

The Star

How building two extra floors could solve Sheffield housing problem and save city green spaces. Sheffield needs homes.

The Engineer

Vertical extensions could alleviate housing dilemma. Adding vertical extensions to existing buildings could help alleviate the UK’s housing crisis and meet net zero commitments, according to new research from Sheffield University.

I.M3 (Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining)

Two storey extensions to tackle UK’s housing crisis. Extending buildings upwards could help to tackle the UK’s housing crisis and meet net-zero commitments, according to new research from the University of Sheffield, UK.

More from Charles on vertical extension

Levelling Up White Paper: What the experts say. Michael Gove unveiled the government’s flagship Levelling Up White Paper in February 2022). Academics and experts from across the University of Sheffield, including Charles, gave their views.

Charles gave a great overview of his work in the Conversation. We have reusable cups, bags and bottles: so why are our buildings still single use?

COP26 observer interview: Charles Gillott. Before he went to COP Charles explained why why we need to both train engineers to reuse buildings and create policy to enforce a circular economy for the construction industry.

The University of Sheffield Twitter