Ministerial guidelines
Design Standards for Apartments: Guidelines for Planning Authorities
Apartment floor areas, mix, dual aspect, storage and amenity space. Replaced the 2023 apartment guidelines.
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage · July 2025 · 48 pages
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- Figure 1.1 Illustration from the National Planning Framework - National Strategic Outcomes Source: Government of Ireland 2.0 Context 2.1 Sustainable and Compact Growth The National Planning Framework (NPF), initially published in 2018 and revised in 2025, sets out a high-level strategy for the planning and development of Ireland to 2040. The strategy to accommodate this growth in a sustainable way focuses on 10 National Strategic Outcomes (NSOs) that include: Compact Growth (NSO1), Sustainable Mobility (NSO4), Enhanced Amenity and Heritage (NSO7), a Low Carbon and Climate Resilient Society (NSO8) and the Sustainable Management of Water, Waste and Environmental Resources (NSO9), Figure 1.1 refers. National Strategic Outcome No. 1 of the NPF relates to Compact Growth. This is supported by National Planning Objectives that target 50% of new housing growth that take place in the five cities4 and 30% within other settlements,5 to be delivered within the existing built-up footprint, respectively. A compact growth approach to settlement patterns can make a transformational difference to settlements of all sizes by bringing in new life and footfall, contributing to the viability of services, shops and public transport, increasing housing supply and enabling more people to be closer to employment and recreational opportunities, as well as to walk or cycle more and use the car less. Compact growth and higher density development also maximises the use of existing infrastructure and resources (including land) and reduces the need for additional infrastructural investment costs. 4 National Policy Objective 8 5 National Policy Objective 9 Page 7Planning Design Standards for Apartments | Guidelines for Planning Authorities | Chapter 2
- Avoid-Shift-Improve Principle Avoid Shift Improve Reduce or avoid the need for travel Shift to more environmentally friendly modes Improve the energy efficiency of vehicle technology Land-use planning Public transport, active travel Vehicle efficiency, clean fuels Figure 1.2: Avoid-Shift-Improve Extract from National Sustainable Mobility Policy 2022 Source: Government of Ireland Figure 1.3 15 Minute City Source: Georgia Pozoukidou and Zoi Chatziyiannaki, in 15 minute City: Decomposing the New Planning Eutopia, 2021 The objectives of the NPF are further supported by the National Sustainable Mobility Policy (SMP) (2022) and associated Action Plan to 2025. The SMP’s approach is based on the principle of Avoid-Shift-Improve, Figure 1.2 refers. The creation of compact and connected urban areas in particular is key to achieving the overarching aims of the SMP, by reducing distances travelled between home, place of employment, schools and other services (Avoid) and supporting the development of sustainable alternatives by providing the critical population mass necessary to support new and improved public transport services and active travel infrastructure (Shift). This approach will also facilitate the formation of 15-minute cities or neighbourhoods, where a range of services and amenities are all within all within a short walk, cycle or public transport journey of homes, Figure 1.3 refers.Planning Design Standards for Apartments | Guidelines for Planning Authorities | Chapter 2 Page 8
- The Climate Action Plan (2025) also recognises that spatial and land use planning play a key role in addressing climate change. The consolidation of our urban areas will reduce the need for urban expansion and travel demand, helping to mitigate the potential impacts of a growing population on our environment. Compact growth will also support more efficient energy use and a transition to lower carbon economy, particularly in the transport and built environment sectors. The NPF was revised in 2025, reaffirming the Government’s commitment to Compact Growth. This includes a new approach to monitoring urban growth and a tool to track and compare urban development trends across the main urban settlements. New National Planning Objectives6 were also introduced to support large-scale Transport Orientated Development (TOD) opportunities to deliver housing and associated development at suitable locations, served by high capacity public transport and located within or adjacent to the built up footprint of the five cities or a metropolitan town, as more compact and sequential patterns of growth. As set out in the NPF and the SRDCSGs, meeting our targets in relation to compact growth will require a continued focus on the regeneration and redevelopment of brownfield and infill sites, as well realising opportunities for adaptation, reuse and intensification of existing buildings. It will also be necessary to increase the scale of new buildings in all parts of our cities and towns, with highest densities at the most central and accessible urban locations, particularly in city and town centres and close to public transport nodes and interchanges (including of TOD). This will require a sustained increase in housing output, including apartment type development, in particular at central and accessible locations. This is a key pillar of the Government’s housing plans, along with the NPF, projecting a need to plan for approximately 50,000 additional homes to 2040. It is therefore critical to ensure that apartment living is an attractive and desirable housing option for a range of household types and tenures, building on experience to date. It is also critical that the economic and regulatory conditions are such that apartment development can attract investment and assist in the response to demand for this form of housing. 2.2 Viability There are a range of factors that are key to increasing housing output more generally and apartments specifically, such as securing development finance for residential development and ensuring a pipeline of ready-to-go sites at reasonable cost, including brownfield sites. Viability presents an ongoing challenge to housing delivery. This challenge is particularly acute in relation to the delivery of apartments, and in particular the build-to-sell market, where a considerable gap has emerged between the cost of delivering apartment development and comparable general housing market prices. The overall purpose of these Guidelines is to strike an effective regulatory balance; ensuring that apartment development meets the needs of society in terms of standards and quality, while promoting an increased level of output overall. The Residential Construction Cost Study Report (DHLGH, 2023), found that construction costs for apartments in Ireland were broadly similar when measured against four European comparator cities7. One of the conclusions of the study was that cost reductions could be achieved through greater adoption of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and standardisation. This includes integrated block layouts (houses, duplexes and apartments) and model designs relating to duplexes, triplexes and apartments. 6 National Policy Objectives 10, 97 and 99 7 Comparator cities were Berlin, Utrecht, Copenhagen and Birmingham Page 9Planning Design Standards for Apartments | Guidelines for Planning Authorities | Chapter 2
- The planning process, along with other sources of regulation and related input cost, must also play its part in ensuring that, while appropriate standards for accommodation are set from a long-term planning and sustainable development perspective, such standards are compatible with securing housing supply in our major urban areas that is economically viable to develop, bearing in mind average household incomes and levels of affordability in terms of rent and/or mortgages. 2.3 Implementation The policy and guidance contained within these Guidelines is to be implemented through statutory development plans and in the consideration of individual planning applications. In general terms, apartments are most appropriately located within urban areas. As outlined in the SRDCSGs, densities should increase in relation to proximity to urban centres and public transport services. In this regard, city and town centres and public transport nodes where high capacity public transport services are provided (or planned) are particularly suited to higher densities including apartment developments. Other locations close to public transport services, locations of employment and a range of urban amenities including parks/waterfronts, shopping and other services, may also be suitable locations for apartments. Chapter 3.0 of the SRDCSGs sets out policy and guidance in relation to growth priorities for settlements at each tier in the national settlement hierarchy and in relation to residential density. City and County Development Plans must appropriately reflect this8, in the context of the need to sustainably increase housing supply and ensure that a greater proportion of housing development takes place within the existing built-up areas of Ireland’s cities and towns. This means making provision for more residential development to take place on infill and brownfield sites and as refurbishment of existing buildings, to increase urban residential densities. The development of higher densities, and in particular apartment development, at high capacity transport nodes and interchanges (i.e. Transport Orientated Development) will also be prioritised. Identification of the types of location in cities and towns that may be suitable for apartment development, will be subject to local determination by the planning authority, with regard to the SRDCSGs, based on: • The national settlement hierarchy; • The appropriate of density range for the locale (as defined in Tables 3.1-3.7 of the SRDCSGs); • Accessibility to public transport services (as defined in Table 3.8 of the SRDCSGs); • Considerations of character, amenity and the surrounding environment (as per Section 3.4.2 of the SRDCSGs). When identifying areas suitable for higher densities, consideration should also be given to the mix of housing typologies that can be provided. A key focus on the SRDCSGs are innovations with regard to compact forms of ‘own door’ housing that can deliver more diverse and affordable forms of housing at medium densities. This will reduce the need for apartments in locations where access to public transport services are more limited in nature or where a more bespoke low-rise design response is warranted. 8 Section 3.2 of the SRDCSGs states that planning authorities should consider defining and mapping central, urban, suburban, urban extension and edge areas so as to provide greater clarity with regard to the application of appropriate densities.Planning Design Standards for Apartments | Guidelines for Planning Authorities | Chapter 2 Page 10
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- 3.0 Apartment Design Standards 3.1 Building Height and Layout Building heights are the subject of separate guidance to planning authorities contained within the Urban Development and Building Heights Guidelines, issued in December 2018. The SRDCSGs (2024) also set out minimum separation distances for housing, duplexes and apartments. Separation distances for apartments will also need to be based on achieving satisfactory levels of daylight/sunlight for future occupiers of the apartments and for neighbouring occupiers (see also Section 6.1 below), and where there is a need to accommodate centralised areas of communal open space within a perimeter block. 3.2 Housing Mix Apartment guidance to date has enabled statutory development plans to address different housing needs in different areas, as reflected in housing strategies, even within different parts of a large urban area. This may be applied based on parameters such as the projected demand profile for housing in an area and the desirability of providing for a range of dwelling types/sizes, having regard to the character of and existing mix of dwelling types in the area. However, some statutory development plans have specified an across-the-board mix of types/sizes in relation to the composition of individual apartment schemes. Unit mix requirements can impact on the viability of apartment schemes and may not support the best outcomes in terms of the number of units delivered, or the particular need within an area. Three-bed units have a high delivery cost relative to other unit types and can impact on the viability of a scheme as a whole. The issuing of the SRDCSGs in 2024 provides further flexibility in this regard by increasing the scope to deliver a greater number of 2 and 3 bedroom houses and duplex style apartments in the form of compact ‘own door’ housing. When undertaking a comprehensive housing need and demand assessment (HNDA), planning authorities must take into account densities and the range of housing typologies that are deliverable (refer also to Figure 3.1 of the SRDCSGs for illustrative purposes). For example, the needs of smaller households (1-2 persons) may be better catered for in apartment-style accommodation, while the needs of larger households (3 persons+) may be better catered for in forms of compact ‘own door’ housing (including larger maisonette-9 style apartments). In the context of sustainably increasing housing supply, targeting a greater proportion of urban housing development and the broader housing choices enabled by the SRDCSGs, restrictions in statutory plans relating to mix within apartment developments, are not warranted other than in specific circumstances. 9 A maisonette is an apartment spread over two levels, usually as part of a duplex. See also Appendix A of the SRDCSGs for further definitions. Page 13Planning Design Standards for Apartments | Guidelines for Planning Authorities | Chapter 3
- Accordingly, having regard to the need to promote increased apartment delivery: Specific Planning Policy Requirement 1 (A) With the exception of social housing developments, social/affordable housing provided for under Part V the Act or schemes to provide housing for older persons where a specific mix of unit sizes may be required, such as in accordance with a Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA), there shall be no restrictions within statutory plans in relation to the mix of unit sizes or types to be provided within apartment developments. There shall be no minimum or maximum requirements for apartments with a certain number of bedrooms. (B) Where any such restriction or requirement is set out within a statutory plan, this Specific Planning Policy Requirement shall apply to any single apartment scheme and there shall be no restriction in relation to the mix of unit sizes or types and there shall be no minimum requirements for apartments with a certain number of bedrooms within the development, except in the circumstances set out above. 3.3 Apartment Floor Areas Ongoing demographic and societal changes mean that a greater variety of apartment types is required to house those that may wish to be accommodated in apartments, including: • those seeking to relocate to more central or accessible locations; • those first entering the home ownership or rental market, seeking more affordable housing options; • young professionals and workers generally; • households without dependents and ‘downsizers’; • older persons, in both independent and assisted living settings. Such factors are combined with the trend whereby employment opportunities have been increasingly located in and around Ireland’s cities and larger towns and, notwithstanding improvements in technology, the availability of broadband and a greater incidence of remote working. This is likely to continue and indeed is promoted under the NPF from the perspective of providing a sustainable approach to commuting patterns. While the availability of a range of employment opportunities is one of the reasons why people are more likely to seek to reside in or relocate to urban areas, this is also dependent on the availability of a choice of suitable and affordable accommodation. Such accommodation must cater for a range of people’s needs in the short, medium and longer term as changes in personal circumstances arise throughout their life cycle. To facilitate these changes a greater variety of unit types were introduced in previous Guidelines relating to apartment development. This includes a studio-type apartment (i.e. a small unit with a combined living/sleeping area, generally provided for a single person) and a two-bedroom three-person apartment. The issuing of the SRDCSGs in 2024 also provides further scope to deliver a greater number of 2 and 3 bedroom duplex style apartments as part of a compact ‘own door’ housing mixed housing scheme.Planning Design Standards for Apartments | Guidelines for Planning Authorities | Chapter 3 Page 14
Source Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Design Standards for Apartments: Guidelines for Planning Authorities (July 2025) · Licence the publisher's termsText read from the publisher’s PDF; tables, maps and drawings do not survive as text, and page numbers are the PDF’s (its first page is 1). Check the original before relying on a passage.