Design Standards for Apartments: Guidelines for Planning Authorities

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   4.5 Bicycle Parking and Storage An important context for these Guidelines is a likely significant population increase in our cities and urban areas and the need to optimise the number of trips undertaken by bicycle. As noted in the Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets (DMURS), trips by bicycle have the potential to replace motor vehicles as an alternative means of transport for short to medium range trips. As noted in the Sustainable Mobility Policy (SMP), electric bikes have an increasing share of the market and have the potential to extend the reach of active travel trips. Accessibility to, and secure storage of, bicycles is a key concern for apartment residents and apartment proposals must respond accordingly to the requirements below in their design and provision of cycle storage facilities. Cycle storage facilities should be directly accessible from the public road or from a shared private area that gives direct access to the public road avoiding unnecessarily long access routes with poor passive security or, slopes that can become hazardous in winter weather. Requirements for the quantity and design of bicycle parking are set out in Section 5.25 (including SPPR 4) of the SRDCSGs. Within apartment developments cycle storage also requires a management plan that ensures the effective operation and maintenance of cycle parking, in particular, avoiding arrangements that lead to a significant number of lockers being left locked and empty. Cycle parking shall be the subject of a funded maintenance regime that ensures that facilities are kept clean, free of graffiti, well-lit and the parking equipment will be properly maintained. It is essential, therefore, that as far as possible cycle parking is low maintenance, easy to use and easy and attractive to use by residents. Planning authorities should ensure that development proposals incorporate details on the provision of and access to cycle storage facilities at planning application stage by the development proposer. Appropriate conditions in relation to the operation and maintenance of the cycle storage facilities should be attached to any grant of permission for apartment developments. Further information in relation to the design and provision of cycle storage for apartment developments can be found in the Cycle Design Manual (National Transport Authority, 2023) and Bike Parking Infrastructure Guidance (Dublin Cycling Campaign, 2017). 4.6 Car Parking The availability of car parking has a critical impact on travel choices for all journeys, including local trips. The provision of car parking can also add significant cost to the development of apartment schemes, and in particular where the ratio of parking necessitates a podium or basement car park. Having regard to the types of location in cities and towns that may be suitable for apartment development, car parking ratios should be minimised, substantially reduced or wholly eliminated at locations that have good access to urban services and to public transport. Maximum car parking rates are set out in Section 5.25 (SPPR 3) of the SRDCSGs. These rates are graduated based on proximity to centres and accessibility to public transport services (refer also to Table 3.8: Accessibility of the SRDCSGs). Page 25Planning Design Standards for Apartments | Guidelines for Planning Authorities | Chapter 4

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   For all types of location, where it is sought to eliminate or reduce car parking provision, it is necessary to ensure, where possible, the provision of an appropriate number of drop off, service, visitor parking spaces and parking for the mobility impaired. On-site or proximate spaces should also be prioritised for use by mobility impaired persons and leased on a demonstrated needs basis rather than being sold with units. Provision is also to be made for alternative mobility solutions including facilities for car sharing club vehicles. ‘Car free’ development is permissible and if developed, must be fully communicated as part of subsequent apartment sales and marketing processes. Where any underground car parking is proposed, such facilities must be well lit and adequately ventilated. Where surface parking is provided, it should be clearly accessible to the entrance to, and where appropriate, overlooked by, the units it serves. Car parking may be provided on-street at the edge(s) of a development site in some locations. Decked or multi-storey car parking may also be considered, but should not be compromise the quality of amenity space, building design or streetscape. At least one principal façade of multi-storey car parks should be fronted by development, for example a south-facing elevation and such structures may also provide an opportunity for rooftop amenity space. In all cases, designated accessible parking spaces should be provided. 4.7 Communal, Community and Cultural Facilities Communal, community, and cultural facilities may be provided in apartment schemes, particularly in some larger developments. For example, communal laundry facilities and for drying clothes may be provided in well-ventilated areas. The provision of facilities within an apartment development could also extend to community rooms, gym uses or studios, for example, that may be open to non-residents. It should be noted that the provision of such facilities is likely to have significant implications, both for the viability of the development and for management and maintenance costs for future residents and/or local authorities. As set out in the Development Plans Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2022), the need for community facilities (such as community centres, local hubs and cultural spaces) should be determined by an audit process, including a ‘gap analysis’ of existing local amenities and facilities relative to the existing demand and the anticipated demand generated by programmed new development12. The form and location of such facilities should be identified in a statutory plan, which is subject to Strategic Environmental Assessment. Such facilities should not be required on a threshold basis in relation to individual apartment schemes. The provision of such facilities is likely to have significant implications for viability of the development and in terms of management and maintenance costs for future residents and/or local authorities. Specific Planning Policy Requirement 6 The provision of new Communal, Community and Cultural facilities within apartment schemes shall only be required in specific locations identified within the development plan and shall not be required on a blanket threshold-based approach in individual apartment schemes. 12 Refer to Section 7.2 of the Development Plans Guidelines for Planning Authorities, 2022.Planning Design Standards for Apartments | Guidelines for Planning Authorities | Chapter 4 Page 26

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   Notwithstanding the Planning Guidelines for Childcare Facilities (2001), which are subject to review, and which recommend the provision of one child care facility (equivalent to a minimum of 20 child places) for every 75 dwelling units, the threshold for provision of any such facilities in apartment schemes should be established having regard to the scale and unit mix of the proposed development, the existing geographical distribution of childcare facilities and the emerging demographic profile of the area. One-bedroom or studio type units should not generally be considered to contribute to a requirement for any on-site childcare provision and subject to the factors above, this may also apply in part or whole, to units with two or more bedrooms Page 27Planning Design Standards for Apartments | Guidelines for Planning Authorities | Chapter 4

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   5.0 Shared Accommodation /Co-living Sectors and Purpose-Built Student Accommodation

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   5.0 Shared Accommodation/Co-living Sectors and Purpose-Built Student Accommodation 5.1 Shared Accommodation/Co-living Developments Shared Accommodation (now also known as ‘co-living’) is identified as a distinct format within the overall residential sector, which, due to its specific nature, has a limited, ‘niche’ role to play in the provision of the new residential accommodation within Ireland’s cities. The shared accommodation/co-living format comprises professionally managed rental accommodation, where individual rooms are rented within a commercial development that includes access to shared or communal facilities and amenities. For clarity, these Guidelines do not apply to established forms of accommodation with a shared or communal element, including hotels, aparthotels, hostels, student accommodation or house or flat share arrangements. When introducing the shared accommodation/co-living format the Urban Development and Building Heights Guidelines, issued in December 2018, stated that given the relatively new nature of this form of accommodation, the Department would monitor the emerging shared accommodation sector and may issue further additional technical updates to this document as appropriate. In this context it was determined in 2020 that there was a sufficient quantum of shared accommodation/co-living units either permitted or subject to consideration within the planning system, that may be built out to demonstrate and prove this concept, without impacting the housing system. Accordingly, it is a Specific Planning Policy Requirement (SPPR) of these Guidelines that shared accommodation/co-living developments will not generally be permitted:- Specific Planning Policy Requirement 7 There shall be a presumption against granting planning permission for shared accommodation/co-living development unless the proposed development is required to meet specific demand identified by a local planning authority further to a Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) process. 5.2 Purpose-Built Student Accommodation The continued application of suburban housing standards originally conceived during The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is developing “The Design Guide for State Sponsored Student Accommodation 2025” to inform the approach to Student Accommodation. The Guide is an iterative framework that reflects best practices and supports the efficient delivery of state sponsored student accommodation. It is also intended, where appropriate, that the standards contained within the Guide can inform the planning and design of off-campus forms of student accommodation that are led by the private sector. Page 31Planning Design Standards for Apartments | Guidelines for Planning Authorities | Chapter 5

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   The 2025 Guide supersedes the 1999 Department of Education Guidelines which were issued under Section 50 of the Finance Act 1999 and takes a bottom-up approach to defining minimum space standards for study bedrooms, bathrooms, and shared kitchen, living, and dining areas. Its objective is to establish updated design standards that support the delivery of high-quality student accommodation by promoting consistency in design, improving cost-efficiency, and enabling the adoption of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). While adherence to the Design Guide is not a mandatory policy requirement, specific standards set out in the Design Guide are identified as being of particular importance from the perspective of providing appropriate flexibility for these typologies to be applied within the planning system. Specifically, the Design Guide allows for the provision of single study bedrooms without the requirement for an en-suite bathroom, with a minimum required area of 8 sq.m for a single study bedroom and a minimum required area of 11.5 sq.m for a study bedroom incorporating an en-suite bathroom. Accordingly, the following is a requirement of these Guidelines: Specific Planning Policy Requirement 8 (A) (i) There shall be no requirement or restriction in relation to the provision of en-suite bathrooms for single study bedrooms within Purpose Built Student Accommodation schemes. (ii) The minimum required area for a single study bedroom without en-suite facilities is 8 sq.m and the minimum required area for a single study bedroom with en-suite facilities is 11.5 sq.m; and statutory plans may not set out minimum required areas that exceed the minimum required areas set out within this SPPR. (iii) The minimum space requirements for kitchen/dining/living areas serving 10 and 12 persons are 3.6 sq.m and 3.3 sq.m per person, respectively; and statutory plans may not set out minimum required areas that exceed the minimum required areas set out within this SPPR. (B) Where any other requirement or restriction is set out within a statutory plan, this Specific Planning Policy Requirement shall apply to any single student accommodation scheme.Planning Design Standards for Apartments | Guidelines for Planning Authorities | Chapter 5 Page 32

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   6.0 Apartments and the Development Management Process

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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.