New Vancouver Special: BC to create standardized designs for small homes

New Vancouver Special: BC government to create standardized designs for small homes on single-family lots

BC government's example of multiple small homes on a single-family lot (left) and Vancouver Special homes (right). (Government of BC | Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

To reduce design, planning, and construction costs, simplify the process, and shorten the project timeline, the Government of British Columbia will create new standardized design templates for new small-scale homes in multi-family buildings on single-family lots.

This includes townhomes, multiplexes, and laneway homes, which will also support the provincial government’s new legislation requiring most municipal governments across BC to enable up to six homes on a single-family lot.

Moreover, this will help municipal governments meet their new completed housing supply targets under the provincial government’s legislated Housing Supply Act.

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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, BC Minister of Housing, in a statement. “Having standardized building designs available can help streamline the permitting process.”

In a release today, the provincial government states they will work with consultants to create up to 10 templates for municipal governments to quickly adopt, which would then be offered to builders and homeowners to use at a significantly lower architectural and engineering design services costs.

Additionally, this will also help smaller municipal governments, which typically have less resources, to quickly create their standardized changes.

This includes the creation of six templates for multi-unit infill projects with up to four units on a lot, and four templates for detached accessory dwelling units. These designs will have a focus on affordability, and account for varying lot configurations.

bc government single-family lot home templates

BC government’s example of multiple small homes on a single-family lot. (Government of BC | Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

The process to find a consultant begins now, with the team chosen by Spring 2024, and the standardized design templates ready for municipal governments to use by Summer 2024, which is also the deadline for municipal governments to update their bylaws relating to the provincial government’s legislation enabling more homes on a single-family lot.

Some comparisons are already being drawn between this provincial government strategy and the decades-old, two-storey “Vancouver Special,” when new immigrants to Vancouver created their own standardized low-cost, single-family detached house design to maximize usable floor area and reduce costs. Such family-friendly houses, of course, are visually distinct, with their boxy look, front balcony, low pitched roof, and similar materials, along with their almost identical floor plans.

In July 2022, Vancouver City Council also directed City of Vancouver staff to explore the creation of a contemporary version of the “Vancouver Special” to help expedite the permitting and construction process for family-friendly, multi-family residential buildings.

It is estimated about 10,000 “Vancouver Special” homes were built between 1965 and 1985, primarily within the Vancouver Eastside neighbourhoods and parts of western Burnaby.

A row of Vancouver Special homes in East Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

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