Ministerial guidelines
Urban Development and Building Heights: Guidelines for Planning Authorities
Building height in towns and cities, and the criteria for taller buildings; plans may not set blanket height limits.
Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government · December 2018 · 26 pages
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- Urban Development and Building Heights Guidelines for Planning Authorities December 2018Planning Guidelines28 Prepared by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government
- Photo by Charles Curling [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons Contents
- Contents 1.0 Background and Context 1 Purpose of the guidelines, definitions National Planning Framework 2.0 Building Height and Development Plans 7 Importance of building height in an urban context Development plan requirements 3.0 Building Height and Development Management 13 Development management assessment criteria
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- Foreword by Minister Eoghan Murphy T.D. As part of this year’s publication of Project Ireland 2040 and the National Planning Framework, the Government signalled the preparation of new statutory guidelines for planning authorities on urban development and building heights. We made that commitment because of our determination to put into practice key National Policy Objectives contained in the Framework to secure better and more compact forms of future development. This is for the benefit of our economy, our environment and most of all, our citizens. Following the consultation phase I have considered the many submissions received and have now finalised these guidelines for publication under Section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. Traditional development models for our city and towns have tended to be dominated by employment and retail uses, surrounded by extensive and constantly expanding low-rise suburban residential areas resulting in ever longer commutes, more and more congestion, empty suburbs by day and empty city and town cores by night. This is completely unsustainable. We need to shift away from energy intensive “business as usual” development patterns and create more mixed, more dynamic and more sustainable cities and towns, that carefully employ the delivery of increased building heights to tackle our problems with urban sprawl. Our cities and our towns must grow upwards, not just outwards, if we are to meet the many challenges ahead. Constant expansion of low-density suburban development around our cities and towns cannot continue. The increased level and cost of infrastructure it generates, the energy intensive transport systems needed to feed it, and the loss of prime green land which, once developed, is irreplaceable. Furthermore, there are serious and unsustainable carbon emission implications due to increased commuting distances to the city and town centres, never mind the sheer waste of time in travelling, when instead we could be living. There is an opportunity for our cities and our towns to be developed differently. Our urban centres could have much better use of land facilitating well located and taller buildings, meeting the highest architectural and planning standards. These guidelines are intended to set a new and more responsive policy and regulatory framework for planning the growth and development of our cities and towns upwards, rather than ever outwards. Publication of these guidelines is timely. The guidelines follow the clear strategic objectives of the National Planning Framework and the long-term capital investment framework under the 10- year National Development Plan, which will enable a shift away from unsustainable “business as usual” development patterns and towards a more compact and sustainable model of urban development. Thank you. Mr. Eoghan Murphy T.D. Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government
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- 1 1.0 Background and Context 1.1 These guidelines are published by the Minister under Section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended) after a focused period of public consultation and are intended to set out national planning policy guidelines on building heights in relation to urban areas, as defined by the census, building from the strategic policy framework set out in Project Ireland 2040 and the National Planning Framework. 1.2 Building heights are a long established matter for the planning process to manage given that the existing statutory framework for drawing up development plans appropriately includes references to building heights as a factor in setting out the detailed requirements of the relevant local authorities, taking into account wider policies and requirements, including policies of the Government. 1.3 In determining planning policy and making planning decisions around appropriate building heights, the planning process has to strike a careful balance between on the one hand enabling long-term and strategic development of relevant areas, while ensuring the highest standards of urban design, architectural quality and place-making outcomes on the other. 1.4 However, in recent years, local authorities, through their statutory development and local area plan processes, have begun to set generic maximum height limits across their functional areas. Frequently, such limits have resulted from local-level concerns, like maintaining the character of an existing built-up area, for example. However, such limits, if inflexibly or unreasonably applied, can undermine wider national policy objectives to provide more compact forms of urban development as outlined in the National Planning Framework and instead continue an unsustainable pattern of development whereby many of our cities and towns continue to grow outwards rather than consolidating and strengthening the existing built up area. Such blanket limitations can also hinder innovation in urban design and architecture leading to poor planning outcomes. 1.5 A comparison between the population of the central urban parts of Dublin (approx. 500,000 people) with the similarly sized central urban parts of Paris (population circa 2.2 million) highlights the potential that our capital city and other city and large urban areas have to accommodate the needs of a growing economy and a growing population, without at the same time having to always or predominantly grow outwards. 1.6 In this regard, these guidelines outline wider and strategic policy considerations and a more performance criteria driven approach that planning authorities should apply alongside their statutory development plans in securing the strategic outcomes of the National Planning Framework. 1.7 Traditional building heights in most urban areas in Ireland vary somewhat within a limited and generally low-rise range. This range goes from two storeys in many suburban locations, frequently in the form of housing estates, moving towards building heights of three, four or more storeys in more central urban areas, but generally not more than 6-8 storeys in the central urban areas of the cities and larger towns.
- 2 1.8 In general terms therefore, maximum building heights in city and town centre areas have tended towards the range of six to eight storeys, which have been exceeded in only a limited number of locations. These locations have generally been identified in strategic planning policy terms as being suitable for buildings that are significantly taller than the prevailing and/or traditional building heights as in the case of strategic development zones and high capacity public transport nodes. 1.9 Reflecting the National Planning Framework strategic outcomes in relation to compact urban growth, the Government considers that there is significant scope to accommodate anticipated population growth and development needs, whether for housing, employment or other purposes, by building up and consolidating the development of our existing urban areas. For example, if much of the future development in and around existing urban areas, where two- storey development is currently the norm, was of four-storey form as the default objective, it would be possible to provide substantially more population growth within existing built-up areas where there is more infrastructure already in place, rather than in greenfield locations which would need services. Therefore, these guidelines require that the scope to consider general building heights of at least three to four storeys, coupled with appropriate density, in locations outside what would be defined as city and town centre areas, and which would include suburban areas, must be supported in principle at development plan and development management levels.
- 3 1.10 The rationale above for consolidation and densification in meeting our accommodation needs into the future must also be applied in relation to locations that development plans and local area plans would regard as city and town centre areas; for example, within the canal ring in Dublin and analogous areas in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford and other major towns as identified and promoted for strategic development in the National Planning Framework and Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies. In such areas, it would be appropriate to support the consideration of building heights of at least 6 storeys at street level as the default objective, subject to keeping open the scope to consider even greater building heights by the application of the objectives and criteria laid out in Sections 2 and 3 of these guidelines, for example on suitably configured sites, where there are particular concentrations of enabling infrastructure to cater for such development, e.g. very significant public transport capacity and connectivity, and the architectural, urban design and public realm outcomes would be of very high quality. 1.11 These guidelines therefore set out national planning policy that: • Expand on the requirements of the National Planning Framework; and • Applies those requirements in setting out relevant planning criteria for considering increased building height in various locations but principally (a) urban and city-centre locations and (b) suburban and wider town locations. 1.12 Complementary policy advice published by the Department, for consideration in combination with these guidelines in the planning process, includes: • Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments (2018); • Best practice guidelines Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities (2007); • Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2009); • Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets or ‘DMURS’ (2013); and • Retail Design Manual (2012). • Urban Design Manual (2009) Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments Guidelines for Planning Authorities Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government March 2018Planning Guidelines28 Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government Published 2007 www.environ.ie Best Practice Guidelines for Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities DELIVERING HOMES SUSTAINING COMMUNITIES Best Practice Guidelines for DELIVERING HOMES, SUSTAINING COMMUNITIESQuality Housing for Sustainable Communities Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets RETAIL DESIGN MANUAL A companion document to the Retail Planning Guidelines for Planning Authorities April 2012 Urban Design ManualA best practice guide May 2009 A companion document to the Guidelines for Planning Authorities on Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas
- 4 1.13 These guidelines are issued by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government under Section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended). Planning Authorities and An Bord Pleanála are required to have regard to the guidelines and apply any specific planning policy requirements (SPPRs) of the guidelines, within the meaning of Section 28 (1C) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended), in carrying out their functions. 1.14 Accordingly, where SPPRs are stated in this document, they take precedence over any conflicting, policies and objectives of development plans, local area plans and strategic development zone planning schemes. Where such conflicts arise, such plans/ schemes need to be amended by the relevant planning authority to reflect the content and requirements of these guidelines and properly inform the public of the relevant SPPR requirements. The National Planning Framework 1.15 The Government’s National Planning Framework, together with the National Development Plan as part of Project Ireland 2040, will ensure our country’s development is planned for appropriately in strategic terms and that there is effective integration between strategic planning and investment in the necessary enabling infrastructure. 1.16 The first of the 10 National Strategic Outcomes in the National Planning Framework that the Government is seeking to secure relates to compact urban growth, with the associated objective that at least half of the future housing growth of the main cities will be delivered within their existing built-up areas through infill and brownfield development and 30% in other key towns. The Government is determined to ensure that the realisation of this objective is a shared priority across Government, the wider public sector and through private investment and it will therefore be a key driver for investment and policy delivery at national, regional and local levels. 1.17 Securing compact and sustainable urban growth means focusing on reusing previously developed ‘brownfield’ land, building up infill sites (which may not have been built on before) and either reusing or redeveloping existing sites and buildings, in well serviced urban locations, particularly those served by good public transport and supporting services, including employment opportunities. 1.18 In addition, the National Planning Framework has a number of directly relevant national policy objectives that articulate delivering on a compact urban growth programme. These include: • National Policy Objectives (NPO) 2(a) relating to growth in our cities; • NPO 3(a)/(b)/(c) relating to brownfield redevelopment targets; • NPO 4 relating to attractive, well-designed liveable neighbourhoods; • NPO 5 relating to sufficient scale and quality of urban development; and • NPO 6 relating to increased residential population and employment in urban areas; In particular, NPO 13 (text below) identifies building height as an important measure for urban areas to deliver and achieve compact growth as required:
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