Council to host event on home self-builds

Speakers from the National Self Build Association (Nasba) and the Homes and Communities Agency will be at the event, to be held at Leeds Civic Hall on Saturday between 9am and 1pm.

A number of other agencies will be available to give help and advice about how people can start to build their own house.

Self build involves residents designing, planning and building their own homes.

There are a number of ways it can be done and the level of involvement in the building process can vary.

Some people will do the building work and labouring themselves, while others will hire a contractor to do it for them.

Coun Richard Lewis, Leeds City Council executive board member with responsibility for development and the economy, said:“This event will provide a good platform for people to talk to specialists in the field of self-build and also discuss and share ideas, and possibly even form groups of potential firs time builders.

“We have an ambitious housing target in Leeds so are exploring a wide variety of options of how we can bring new homes to the city and this is one interesting avenue we are looking at.”

There are currently over 24,000 people on the waiting list for social housing in Leeds.

Earlier this year Leeds City Council pledged to pour more money into improvements to its existing housing stock.

Ted Stevens, chair of Nasbsa, said: “There are six million people in the UK looking into building a home for themselves, so that 
suggests there are well over half a million keen on the idea in Yorkshire.

Most self builders are driven by two things – creating a more affordable or cost effective home for themselves, and a desire to have a home custom designed to exactly meet their needs.”