House design guide
What South Dublin wants your home to look like
South Dublin County Council wants homes and extensions to be high-quality, energy-efficient, and designed to adapt to a family's changing needs over time. In urban areas, the council promotes compact infill developments and living-over-the-shop arrangements, while in rural and high-amenity areas, new housing is strictly restricted to individuals with a proven local social or economic need and must blend unobtrusively into the landscape.
Accepted house types & forms
What they want to see
Encouraged by the guide
Adaptable Residential Layouts(Page 235)
Designing home layouts that can be easily extended or remodeled internally to accommodate the changing needs of occupants over their lifetime.
Home Working Space(Page 235)
Providing adequate space within new housing units, including apartments, to comfortably allow residents to work from home.
Energy Efficiency and Solar Gain(Page 233, 246)
Designing and positioning houses to take full advantage of natural solar heat gain and incorporating energy-saving and renewable energy measures.
Street Frontage and Natural Surveillance(Page 236)
Designing developments to provide clear street frontage to maximize passive surveillance, enhancing safety and security for the neighborhood.
Living Over the Shop(Page 238)
Converting and utilizing the upper floors of buildings in town, district, local, and village centers for residential use.
What gets refused
Discouraged by the guide
Intrusive Engineering on Sloped Sites(Page 237, 245)
The use of disruptive engineered solutions like cut-and-fill platforms, high embankments, or retaining walls on steep or varying slopes.
Directly Opposing Windows and Balconies(Page 236)
Placing above-ground windows and balconies directly opposite neighboring properties without sufficient separation distance to safeguard privacy.
Oversized Rural Valley Extensions(Page 243)
Extending or altering habitable structures in high-amenity zones like Liffey Valley or Dodder Valley by more than 50% of the original building size.
Urban-Generated Rural Dwellings(Page 240)
Building new homes in rural or high-amenity areas (such as the Dublin Mountains, Liffey Valley, and Dodder Valley) for applicants who do not have intrinsic local economic or social ties to the rural community.
Replacing Long-Abandoned Dwellings(Page 244)
Constructing replacement homes where the original structure has been abandoned as a habitable dwelling for more than 5 years.
Ribbon and Haphazard Development(Page 245)
Designs and sitings that create or worsen ribbon development or disorganized, haphazard housing patterns along rural roads.
Materials & finishes
- Sustainably sourced building materials (Page 246)
- Reused demolition and excavated materials integrated into the building design (Page 246)
- Structural materials with low to zero embodied energy and carbon dioxide emissions (Page 246)
Roofs & form
- Inconspicuous and compact dwelling forms, particularly in steep topography and areas of high visual amenity (Page 244)
- Replacement rural dwellings must largely occupy the same footprint, scale, and location as the original building to be replaced (Page 244)
- Habitable extensions in the Liffey Valley (HA-LV) and Dodder Valley (HA-DV) must not exceed 50% of the size of the original structure (Page 243)
Siting & landscape
- Sited to minimize visual impact on the landscape, including views, prospects of natural beauty, and natural/built heritage features (Page 245)
- Sited to complement the landscape's natural contours and natural drainage features, avoiding heavy terrain manipulation (Page 236, 245)
- Private gardens should generally be enclosed within perimeter blocks behind the building line to ensure privacy and security (Page 236)
- Sited away from areas at risk of flooding (Page 222, 230)
- Retain and reinstate traditional roadside and field boundaries (Page 245)