Cupboard love

With today's overloaded lifestyle you just can't get enough storage space, writes Rosalind Russell

Essex personnel manager Gillian Harris buys a new jacket and skirt every month, spending up to pounds 100. There are currently 15 jackets in her wardrobe, but when they reach their second birthday, they are thrown out and she replaces them. She can't bear to work out how much she spends on clothes in a year. A certain female newspaper editor had so many clothes crammed into her fitted wardrobe, the units collapsed under the weight of excess Versace. She moved to a bigger house with more wardrobes.

On average we own twice as manyclothes now than we did in the Sixties, according to research carried out by house builder, Wimpey. We also own more sets of golf clubs, exercise equipment, skis, children's bikes and microwave ovens. Storage of all the swag from a more affluent society is a major problem.

"Ownership of microwave ovens has soared," says Wimpey's marketing director Malcolm Pitcher. "So now we have to build kitchens with space for the microwave and design it so the plug point is in exactly the right place."

The average bedroom, they claim, now needs more than four power points. "Well of course," says Gillian. "In mine I have two lamps, a clock radio, a stereo and a TV."

To target its houses at specific markets, Wimpey set up a research team to comb existing published work on changing lifestyles, and they interviewed 40,000 home owners about how they use their homes. Formal dining rooms lose out to big sociable kitchen/diners. Men, they found, wanted low-maintenance homes and kitchen size was immaterial as long as they had room for a microwave oven. Women, on the other hand, wanted security... and big wardrobes.

"Storage space was a major factor in choosing my new house," says Gillian. "I have to wear a suit on a daily basis and need a lot of space for my clothes. I know it sounds like a nightmare - and I spend a fortune on dry cleaning - but I work in a very professional company at a senior level. Although I have to say some of the men only seem to have one suit."

A single girl, Gillian doesn't have any plans to share her wardrobe space with anyone else just yet.

Traditionally, individual developers have been more sensitive to customers' demands. In house building, you tend to get what you pay for. Tony Dowse builds expensive, upmarket period-style houses in Kent. His current project is a development of Arts & Crafts type cottages aimed at older people trading down in size. Every one of the cottages will have an American- style walk-in wardrobe. The third bedroom will also have a fitted wardrobe, the attic will have a floor and a loft ladder to allow more storage space, and there will be purpose-designed sheds to store the garden loungers.

"Older people tend to have lots of belongings. They might be trading down but they don't want to get rid of everything. It is an affluent market. But it is a recurring theme - people desperately want more cupboard space," he says.

Buyers have warmed to Mr Dowse's plans for the development in Wye, one of the prettiest villages in East Kent. Five have bought off-plan, with a show house not due to open until July.

Meanwhile, Wimpey's team has been analysing its potential market with mind-boggling thoroughness. Team members even know how many men prefer wet shaving to dry (the population is split, apparently, half and half). Wimpey has charted the huge rise in computer ownership (more telephone and plug points to be put in new houses) and has advised the designers on our leisure habits (such as the number of people who watch TV in bed).

As a result, some homes will have what they call a "full cinema system" installed: that is, a surround-sound system which will even reach into the family part of the kitchen/diner.

"You can never build in enough storage," admits Malcolm Pitcher. "After all, a two-bedroom terrace house is not a big home. But you can do your utmost to design the best and most spacious storage space for it. It's a challenge."

And what about Malcolm Pitcher's own changing lifestyle? Does he have twice as many clothes as he did in the Sixties? "I was a student then, and only owned one pair of Levis and a T-shirt. I probably own a couple more T-shirts now."