House design guide

What Sligo wants your home to look like

Sligo County Council requires new homes and extensions to integrate naturally into their surroundings, favoring traditional vernacular principles or high-quality modern designs while strictly rejecting suburban styles in rural settings. Developments must avoid visually prominent spots like ridge lines and must prioritize protecting existing trees, hedgerows, and historic streetscapes using high-quality local materials.

Accepted house types & forms

traditional or vernacular rural houseshigh-quality, modern design housesstorey-and-a-half houses with a narrow plan form

What they want to see

Encouraged by the guide

Subordination of extensions(Page 11, Section 33.2.16)
Extensions must be subordinate to the main building (appearing smaller from the public road) and integrate with its form, design, window proportions, and finishes.
Nesting in the landscape(Page 22, Section 33.4.2)
Rural houses should nestle into the site, utilizing existing topography, mature trees, and hedgerows for shelter and screening to avoid dominating the countryside views.
Pitched roof design(Page 24, Table 33.5)
For traditional rural vernacular houses, roofs should have a pitch between 35 degrees and 42 degrees, ideally finished with natural slate or natural effect slate.
Undergrounding utilities(Page 9, Section 33.2.13)
Electricity and other utility cables must be placed underground in urban built-up areas and residential zones.
Permeable surfacing(Page 3, Section 33.2.5)
Use of permeable surfacing, like cellular grass paving systems, should be considered for parking, hard standings, and access routes to manage surface water.

What gets refused

Discouraged by the guide

Suburban house designs in rural areas(Page 21, Section 33.4)
Suburban-style house designs are not acceptable in rural areas because they do not harmonise with the rural setting.
Exposed or elevated sitings(Page 22, Section 33.4.2)
Avoid locating homes on hill slopes, ridge lines, or shorelines where they would break the skyline or shore profile.
Non-traditional boundaries(Page 23, Section 33.4.4)
Stone-faced concrete block walls, ranch, palisade, or post-and-wire fencing are non-traditional and must be avoided.
Overhanging roofs and white PVC fascia(Page 25, Table 33.5)
Overhanging roofs with large, decorative, or white PVC fascia boards are not allowed as they add unnecessary bulk and clutter.
Non-traditional external finishes(Page 25, Table 33.5)
Brick, random rubble stone, and pebble dash are not traditional finishes for rural dwellings and should be avoided.
White PVC on historic streetscapes(Page 34, Table 33.6)
The use of white PVC for windows is not appropriate on traditional streetscapes and will not normally be permitted.

Materials & finishes

Natural slate or natural-effect slate is preferred for roofs (p. 24, 33).
Plastered or rendered walls are the suitable finishes for rural houses (p. 25).
Traditional finishes on historic streets include lime-based renders, natural cement renders, wet dash, and painted renders (p. 34).
Hardwood timber is required for doors fronting onto historic streets (p. 34).
Simple, black, round plastic, cast-iron, or aluminium rainwater gutters are recommended (p. 25, 34).
Brick, dry pebble dash, and un-rendered random rubble stone are unacceptable for rural or traditional streetscapes (p. 25, 34).

Roofs & form

Roofs should be pitched, with a pitch range of 35 to 42 degrees for rural vernacular houses (p. 24, 33).
Storey-and-a-half homes with a narrow plan form are preferred over dormer bungalows (p. 24).
Gable widths should generally not exceed 8 metres (p. 24).
Eaves must be constructed flush with the wall, omitting projecting soffits or boxed eaves details (p. 24, 33).
Chimneys should be placed centrally on the ridge and built flush at gable ends (p. 24, 33).

Siting & landscape

Avoid building on elevated or exposed sites, ridge lines, or shorelines (p. 22).
A continuous building line should be created or maintained along street edges where possible (p. 2).
Incorporate and retain existing mature trees, hedgerows, and rock outcrops within site boundaries (p. 8, 22).
Replicate traditional boundaries such as dry stone walls, hedgerows, or grassed earthen banks (p. 23).
Driveways and access roads must follow site contours and be kept as short as possible to prevent landscape scarring (p. 22).