House design guide
What Dublin wants your home to look like
Dublin City Council expects new homes and extensions to blend beautifully with their historic surroundings by using local materials, matching existing street heights, and keeping nearby neighbors' privacy in mind. Designs should prioritize natural daylight, minimize environmental impacts by incorporating green features, and provide adequate outdoor garden spaces. Demolition is generally discouraged in favor of preserving and sensitively adapting existing older structures.
Accepted house types & forms
What they want to see
Encouraged by the guide
Reuse and retrofitting of existing buildings(653)
Before considering demolition and a new build, applicants should look at reusing and adapting existing structures to minimize waste and carbon emissions.
Dual aspect apartments(694)
Apartment layouts should ideally have openable windows on at least two different walls to maximize sunlight, daylight, and fresh air flow.
Creating defensive front space(708)
For houses built right up to or very close to the street footpath, a small planting strip or buffer should be created to provide privacy.
Living green walls(667)
DCC encourages the use of self-sustaining vertical gardens on building exteriors to absorb stormwater, lower city heat, and reduce carbon emissions.
Amalgamation of backland sites(715)
If multiple neighbors have adjacent backland properties, they are encouraged to combine their land for a single, well-planned development rather than submitting piecemeal applications.
What gets refused
Discouraged by the guide
Gated communities(689)
The council presumes against gated developments because they reduce public access and prevent easy movement through neighborhoods.
Piecemeal backland access(715)
Separate, multiple vehicular entrances to backland properties are discouraged to prevent traffic hazards and cluttered layouts.
Demolishing historic stone or brick coach houses(718)
Because original stone or brick stable/coach structures are increasingly rare, proposals to tear them down will generally be refused.
Solely roof-lit living rooms(708)
Living rooms in new houses must not rely only on skylights or roof lights for daylight; they require normal side windows.
Basements in sensitive locations(761)
Significant underground excavations or basement construction next to homes in Conservation Areas or Protected Structures are discouraged.
Side gables as street corner boundaries(714)
Blank side walls facing street corners in housing estates are visually unappealing and should be avoided.
Materials & finishes
- High-quality materials that complement the existing local color palette and neighboring buildings (Page 651, 662)
- Sustainably sourced, recycled, or low-carbon construction materials (such as low-carbon cement) (Page 654, 663)
- Robust, damage-resistant materials in public-facing areas to discourage vandalism and graffiti (Page 656, 663)
- For mews developments, traditional materials that respect the main historic building (Page 718)
- Preservation of original historic lane materials including old stone, paving, windows, and ironmongery (Page 720)
Roofs & form
- Infill developments must respect and match the prevailing scale, massing, and rooflines of existing terraces (Page 660, 661)
- Historic roof coverings, shapes, and features like chimney stacks must be preserved (Page 661)
- Mews buildings should typically be limited to two stories, with simple roof profiles such as flat green roofs, low-pitched metal, or double-pitched slates running parallel to the lane (Page 719, 720)
- Any additional set-back upper floor on a mews must be set back at least 1.5 meters from the front wall line (Page 720)
Siting & landscape
- Traditional separation of 22 meters is sought between opposing first-floor windows to prevent overlooking, though this can be relaxed with smart architectural features (Page 705, 709)
- Private back gardens for houses must provide at least 10 sq.m of space per bedspace in standard residential areas, and 5-8 sq.m per bedspace in the inner city (Page 708)
- Backland dwellings must sit at least 15 meters away from the rear wall of the original main house, and have a minimum back garden depth of 7 meters (Page 716)
- Existing mature trees, hedgerows, and natural habitats must be surveyed and integrated into the layout of new builds wherever possible (Page 671)
- Any new boundary walls, fences, or railings must be durable and high-quality, retaining existing historic boundaries where they exist (Page 674, 714)