I am not entirely sure what you mean by higher standards . Aside from building regulations , there is no fixed standard that houses must comply with in the UK . That said , there are number of guides which most residential developments usually follow . Which guides are used in a specific project depends on the local council , the housing authority , the developer , the area you are building in , the size of the development , and the mix of units you have . There is usually a long process of negotiation in order to establish which guide to follow at the beginning of a project . The most common guides are Lifetime Homes , Code for Sustainable Homes , London Housing Design Guide , Wheelchair Housing Design Guidehousingdesignguide , Secured by design , The London plan , and various other major , or minor options . There are also various British standards which can affect sizes and areas , but again these are only guides , and not law . As I mentioned earlier , there is only one set of rules that all buildings in the UK have to comply with , and that is the UK Building Regulationsdocuments unless an exception is granted by the local authority . The government has been trying to unify all the different guides and regulations , in order to make a more cohesive and easy to follow set of rules , with the result so far being Technical Housing Standards which is not nearly enough . Having worked on a fair number of different types of residential developments in and around London , I can say that affordable houses tend suffer in comparison to private sales units . They usually have the minimum space standards , use cheaper finishes and materials , and the common areas are done to lower quality than those of private sales . That said , they should still comply to the building regulations , and accessibility standards where needed . Like others have pointed out , the house sizes in the UK are the smallest in the developed world and probably in some under developed nations as well , quality does suffer because of the private developers focusing on sales units , and I have huge gripes with the way the architectural industry accepts compromises to quality in order to appease developers or clients . Unfortunately the high demand for investment properties , and the move away from social to economic security fuels the way houses are built today . If we want better housing , we need to change the way we view property as a society .