Front door, does it have to be at the front?

[Lingwood]

Looking to build a small 2 bed bungalow, and looking at many different layouts, but would prefer to have the 2 bedrooms at the front (its a quiet road) and living areas (kitchen and living room, not sure if open plan or not) at the rear to allow "modern" access to rear garden area.

 

Most bungalows I have seen have the door on the side, but I seem to remember seeing a planning regulation that stated that the preference was to have a defined front door? I have seen one layout that would work, but would probably mean widening the bungalow a bit, maybe could off set this width by the length. Originally was planning a 6 x 10 (internal measurements),

 

Any advice on links?

 

Thanks

 

[ProDave]

I've seen "front doors" at the back of a house, but that was a clear example of taking an off the peg design and turning it around to ensure the living room got the sun and that's just where the door ended up.
 

[Jeremy Harris]

There's no planning regulations that stipulate stuff like this nationally, it all comes down to your local authority planning policies and guidance.  Some publish design guidance, some don't.  I've personally never seen a reference to any policy that says the front door has to be at the front, and planners tend to work on the basis of the side that will be the "major elevation" when deciding whether a proposal fits into the "street scene" or not.

 

Our new build has the major elevation facing the road, but the drive coming in from the side, so all along the front of the house is fencing and a newly planted hedge.  I think we could easily have not had the front door at the front, if it were not for the building regs requirement for fire escape.  The internal layout would have been difficult to arrange with doors at the sides, and still comply with building regs.

 

Worth having a look at your local authority planning policies and guidance, to see what's there.

[Ferdinand]

A Preference is not compulsory. Kittens are unnecessary here imo.

 

Door at the side and staircase across is a pattern used on many (millions of?) small houses from the 1900-1940 period, particularly terraces and semis.

 

Still used more recently eg http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-46867593.html.

 

Brand new chalet bungalow:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/property-41266902.html

 

[jamiehamy]

It's probably just when you think about it a lot, but I suppose the term 'Front door' is specific to the front - really, the question is - does the main entrance door have to be at the front?  

[Lingwood]

When I Googled, other local authorities have quite detailed regulation, by my LA has zero.

 

I guess the correct term should be "main entrance" and we are just used to saying front door front the traditional British view.

 

Like my main property, I moved the front door from round the side to give the house a front door, and even though electric gates prevent posty delivering to the door, we still had a letter box fitted ....just because!!!! 

[Ferdinand]

I would take a little care to say "main entrance" in your Planning App, just in case :-) .

[Temp]

My front door is on the side of the house.

 

What are other houses in the road like. In general planners don't like one house to stand out from the others. So the more variety there is in your road the more freedom you have to do your own thing. That applies to just about every aspect of your design from the setback from the road to the choice of materials and colours.