Coach houses take center stage in British Columbia

A “Laneway Loft House” — a 624 sq. ft. dwelling designed to be placed along an alley — was the star of this year’s BC Home + Garden Show in Vancouver, British Columbia. At the urging of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association, Smallworks Studios/Laneway Housing Inc. erected the diminutive contemporary-style house (complete with a green roof) in the show’s exhibition hall in February.
Peter Simpson, CEO of the Home Builders’ Association, said coach houses like the one from Smallworks can increase Vancouver’s density, make the city more affordable by expanding the rental stock, and facilitate development of more pedestrian neighborhoods. Vancouver expects to have rules in place by next fall that will allow property owners to convert their garages into small rental housing units or tear down the garages and build brand-new coach houses — as long as the new dwelling has a footprint no larger than the former garage.
Laneway housing is also allowed in parts of Surrey and Burnaby, BC. The City of North Vancouver is expected to permit laneway housing this year. Megaphone, a Vancouver periodical, reported that laneway houses from Smallworks, a design-build firm, cost about $250 (Canadian) per square foot. That includes the teardown of the old garage. The average unit would cost about $150,000.
The unit in the show, designed by Birmingham & Wood Architects, featured an open interior with large glass areas on portions of two walls, looking onto an outside deck. A sleeping loft was positioned beneath a sloped roof. The alley side of the ground floor was notched out below the sleeping loft, providing room for a car to park there.
Vancouver will allow the units on lots with 33- and 50-foot widths. Planning Director Brent Toderian says the city has considered size, massing, shadowing, overlook, privacy, and other issues in working on rules for these units. Matters such as height and parking will be ironed out after the first 100 are built.