House design guide
What Kildare wants your home to look like
This guide outlines how to design a rural home in County Kildare that integrates harmoniously with the countryside. It encourages simple, well-proportioned house shapes, low-impact siting that works with the landscape's natural contours, and the use of high-quality local materials. Homeowners should avoid complex or bulky designs, suburban-style landscaping, and fussy architectural features.
Accepted house types & forms
What they want to see
Encouraged by the guide
Reuse of existing buildings(Page 6)
First consider re-using, adapting, or extending existing rural structures and dwellings in the locality to meet housing needs instead of building a new house.
Siting along contours(Page 12)
Position buildings along the natural contours of the site rather than working against them, which helps to blend the house into the topography.
Narrow plan layouts(Page 13)
Incorporate narrow plan designs connected to break down massing, minimize the need for site excavation, and maximize light and solar gain.
High solid-to-void relationship(Page 22)
Maintain a traditional balance of proportions where there is a greater wall surface area compared to window and door openings.
Modest and integrated porches(Page 32)
Ensure any porches are modest in scale, subordinate to the main structure, and ideally internalised within the volume of the house.
Rainwater harvesting(Page 44)
Incorporate rainwater harvesting systems like water butts, storage tanks, or greywater recycling during site planning to reduce domestic water consumption.
Retaining existing boundaries(Page 47)
Keep mature hedgerows, established trees, and stone boundary walls to preserve rural character and provide screening.
Subservient extensions(Page 59)
Design extensions to be smaller in scale and height than the main building so they look subservient and do not dominate the original dwelling.
What gets refused
Discouraged by the guide
Ribbon development(Page 10)
Avoid sites that contribute to ribbon development, defined as five or more houses along 250 meters on one side of a road.
Artificially altering site levels(Page 13)
Avoid deep excavations, excessive cutting and filling, or placing houses on an artificial raised platform.
Deep boxy buildings(Page 18)
Avoid deep floor plans and boxy designs which require oversized roof structures and reduce solar light penetration.
Overhanging eaves(Page 25)
Avoid roofs with large overhangs that sit on the building like a heavy lid.
False chimneys(Page 28)
The inclusion of false chimneys purely for visual or aesthetic reasons should be avoided.
uPVC and synthetic materials(Page 29)
Avoid uPVC conservatories, uPVC doors, and white uPVC fascias, soffits, and rainwater goods, as well as dry dash, brick, and artificial stone.
High roadside boundaries(Page 47)
High roadside boundary walls, elaborate entrance gates, and heavy piers that appear incongruous and dominate the landscape are discouraged.
Suburban-style landscaping(Page 53)
Avoid formal symmetrical layouts, straight driveways, massive mown lawns, and the planting of non-native species like Leyland Cypress.
Front and gable cottage extensions(Page 57)
Avoid building extensions on the front or gable sides of traditional cottages, as they mask original details and alter the front facade proportions.
Materials & finishes
- Natural slate (dark colour, not mixed)
- Tiles (except red clay roof tiles which are out of place)
- Metal sheeting / corrugated sheet metal
- Thatch, zinc, and sustainable green roofs
- Stone (fully integrated on 3D elements, not just front veneer)
- Timber (such as untreated larch, oak, and painted timber)
- Alu-clad timber windows
- Tongue and groove vertical boarded or panelled timber doors
- Lime render / nap rendered finishes
- Wrought iron (for gates)
- Rough cast concrete
- Permeable tarmac, stone setts, and gravel surfaces
Roofs & form
- Simple roof shapes with side gables and slopes between 35-45 degrees
- Non-complex roof profiles keeping ridge lines and valleys to a minimum
- Barrel roofs inspired by traditional agricultural buildings
- Flush rooflights (preferable to mid roof dormers)
- Wall plate dormers extending upwards out of the main walls (1 1/2 storey format)
- Roofs with solar water collectors or photovoltaic systems
- Flat roofs (acceptable only for contemporary, professionally designed extensions)
- Double, slipped, valley, and L-shaped pitched roofs for extensions
Siting & landscape
- Clustering new homes close to existing dwellings, farm buildings, or structures to utilize existing screening
- Locating dwellings further back in the site, perpendicular or at an angle to the road rather than directly facing the road frontage
- Selecting sites with at least two, and preferably three, naturally existing boundaries
- Siting houses in sheltered locations beside woodland, mature hedgerows, and shelterbelts
- Respecting minimum setback distances: 91m from Motorways and National roads, 31m from Regional roads, and 18.5m from County/Distributor roads
- Using driveways that follow the natural contours of the site to avoid unnatural straight roads
- Allowing portions of gardens to grow wild to support biodiversity, keeping mowed lawns to a minimum
- Incorporating car parking and turning spaces to the rear or side of the dwelling