The Small Space Guide

Most small-space advice
is somebody's opinion.

Ours is measurements. Every figure in this guide is named to a British Standard, a Building Regulation or a trade convention you can check yourself, so you always know which numbers are law and which are simply what tends to work. It is written for the flat you already have, not the one you wish you had, and where a popular small-space claim does not survive the research, it says so.

1. 01Reading a Small FootprintThe clearances a body actually needs to move through a home: Approved Document M's 750mm door and 900mm hallway, the trade conventions below them, and how to measure a door properly.
2. 02What the Space Standard RequiresThe Nationally Described Space Standard in full, from 37m² for a one-bed with a shower room, and why it rarely applies to the flat you are standing in.
3. 03Furniture That Does Two JobsBeds that fold, tables that extend and stools that store, and ISO 10131, the standard behind the foldaway bed most people assume is unregulated.
4. 04Where Everything Actually GoesHow much built-in storage a flat is deemed to need, from 1.0m² for a one-bed, and the ergonomic figures behind a wardrobe that actually works.
5. 05Tricks Worth TrustingLight Reflectance Value, the one measurable figure that changes how large a room reads, and the popular mirror claim that does not survive the research.
6. 06The Kitchen That Still WorksThe clearances that decide whether a compact kitchen works for one cook, standard heights and depths, and the rules around the cooker.
7. 07The Bathroom in Less SpaceBS 6465-2, the British Standard that governs how close together a toilet, basin and shower can sit.
8. 08One Room, Every FunctionWhy a studio flat needs more extract than a kitchen with a door, and the Approved Document F rates that set it: 30 l/s with a ducted hood, 60 l/s without.
9. 09Built to the MillimetreThe 2440 by 1220mm sheet that quietly proportions every built-in carcass, and the span that decides whether a shelf sags.
10. 10Borrowed LightThe escape window a bedroom above ground floor needs under Approved Document B, why a heavy blind box can fail it, and the BS EN 17037 daylight targets room by room.
11. 11Before You Knock ThroughThe two-month party wall notice that has to sit in the programme before structural work can begin, and what the Act actually covers.
12. +The Small Space PlannerThe whole guide turned into one checklist against your own flat, room by room, with a tape measure in hand.