Building Sensitively and Sustainably in County Louth

1. Page 81(read from a scan)

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   DESIGN GUIDELINES BUILDING IN UPLAND AREAS - THE DRUMLIN AREA, THE RIDGE AND THE COOLEY PENINSULA The upland areas cover a range of distinct landscape types in County Louth, much of which is recognised in designations of outstanding natural beauty and areas of scenic quality, which limit development. From a design perspective, there are some additional generalised guidelines for upland areas which should be helpful: TWO-STOREY BUILDINGS CAN MERGE SATISFACTORILY INTO THE LANDSCAPE A backdrop of hills and mature trees helps to contain the scale of building. IN UPLAND AREAS, CHOOSE THE GENTLEST PART OF THE SLOPE Choose a gentle slope or a naturally occurring indentation. If excavation is necessary, minimise the cut into the hill and grade the resultant material carefully to ensure that it blends with existing contours. Farmhouse in coastal location achieves shelter by positioning and planting KEEP DEVELOPMENT OFF THE SKYLINE There are visual as well as climatic reasons for advocating that development be kept off the skyline. Development on the skyline interrupts the natural landscape form, and whilst some strong and positive built landmarks exist, it is not appropriate that buildings should be allowed to litter the skyline. IDENTIFY THE BUILDING ZONE IN UPLAND AREAS It is usually possible to identify a zone in upland areas where development has primarily been located. Typically, this is above the valley bottom, which is prone to marshy land, flooding and frost hollows, and below the area where grassland gives way to moorland. The hillside road position reinforces this building zone. In the Cooley Peninsula area, these slopes rise from the coastal plain and follow a horizontal band along the lower hillside. Building above this zone should be avoided. Recognising this zone helps to lend coherence to the overall landscape and the positioning of buildings. The drumlin areas have gentle, undulating and rounded forms, with small hills and ever-changing skylines. Development should be positioned in the lower folds of the landscape. PLANT FOR SHELTER Use and conserve existing shelter. Create a sheltered environment to reduce problems of coastal exposure. Fortify existing planting on site. Recognise local plant types and choose carefully. (See the appendix which deals with building for shelter.) A cottage in an exposed coastal area is surrounded by planting for shelter and its gable end is to the sea

2. Page 82(read from a scan)

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   DESIGN GUIDELINES Design guidelines for towns and villages Settlement identity derives from recognisable characteristics or patterns. Their identification provides the basis for offering design guidelines. Unthinking conformity can lead to monotony. Progress and different lifestyles will continually generate new patterns to be absorbed into the traditional form. Their successful introduction is reliant on good judgement and balance. Patterns for settlements in County Louth are described here. The study of patterns is an objective preparation for design in a particular place. They are a generalisation only, and would not be precisely the same for any two villages. They need to be applied in line with the patterns for each place. The built fabric of settlements The settlement will have some public buildings - church, schools, market hall, community hall. These are usually buildings with special characteristics. They occupy larger sites than houses. They may address existing public space. They may help to create public spaces by being set back from the street, or by picking up or making an axis in the town. Ordinary, thematic buildings like houses make up the fabric of the settlement. They have varied characteristics, but these usually fall within fairly well defined limits. The setting of Carlingford, a mediaeval borough, on the Cooley Peninsula. Located at the foot of the hills, and fronting onto its sheltered harbour, it is defined and held in the landscape. Greenore is beyond.

3. Page 83(read from a scan)

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   DESIGN GUIDELINES Patterns Scale of settlements Scale in villages is typically singlestorey, dormer and two-storey. It is rarely three-storey, except where industrial mills and storage buildings occur. In villages there is little conformity in house types; they include detached, semi-detached and terraced types. Scale in towns is generally more homogeneous, with continuous streets of two-storey and sometimes three-storey buildings. House Types Houses in villages are usually setback two to five metres from the road, with a low wall, but sometimes they front directly onto the street. Houses in towns more usually front onto the street. Houses invariably have a pitched roof. Older houses usually have a 40° to 55°. roof pitch. Frontages are generally eight to ten metres wide and one room deep, i.e. five to six metres. Modern houses have between a 30° and 45° roof pitch, frontages up to about eight metres, and depths from six to eikht metres. They conspicuously vary from the patterns of older buildings. Commercial buildings Commercial buildings include pubs, shops and garages/service stations. There is a tradition of two-storey shops and pubs, with residential accommodation above. Shopfronts are generally accommodated within this form. The scale of the garage/service station is usually single-storey, with large canopies and corporate advertising. Streets Houses with a small set-back on either side of the road create the feeling of a village street, with the notable exception of villages facing onto a river or the coast, where a single-sided street often occurs, as at Baltray and to some extent at Clogherhead. The main streets of towns are generally enclosed, with house frontages on either side, sometimes with open spaces within the enclosure. There are exceptions, where there is frontage onto the sea, as in Blackrock. The most concentrated area of the street is often built up along the footpath, with predominantly twostorey buildings. In the outer areas, the houses are generally set back from the road, and are more likely to include single-storey houses. The street form in villages is as much defined by boundary walls as by the houses themselves. In towns, the building is the frontage onto the street, giving a stronger urban character. JAMES M'GEOGH

4. Page 84(read from a scan)

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   DESIGN GUIDELINES The elements of building façades are usually consistent and repetitive: window and door openings, some arched gateway openings, shopfronts, and pitched roofs punctuated with chimneys. The distinctive character of many settlements derives from their position in the landscape and at coastal edges. Gaps in the street frontage allow vehicular access behind the houses, and provide views to the landscape throughout the village. In towns, the core is characterised by a continuous wall of buildings to the street, broken only by street junctions and yard entrances. Landmarks Landmarks position the settlement in its setting. They may be prominent buildings, such as tower-houses or churches, court houses or market halls. Open Space Green areas in the form of grass verges, and sometimes green spaces, occur on the village street. Hard areas are the street and the footpath, aprons of commercial and public buildings, and occasionally public spaces. Towns contrast with this, having mainly hard surface areas in their centre and green areas towards the edge, such as the old fair green in Ardee. Green area on the edge of town, Ardee opposite Village scale in Louth The heritage centre in Carlingford respects the hard-stone quality of the abbey tower behind, introduces glass, and accords volumetrically with existing buildings whilst not aping them

5. Page 85(read from a scan)

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   DESIGN GUIDELINES STRENGTHEN THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTER OF THE SETTLEMENT The distinctive character of the village needs to be understood. It may well derive from its position in the landscape, the coastal edge, transport routes, or river crossing. New development should contribute to the distinctiveness of the place, and not diminish it. PROTECT THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT SETTING The position of the settlement in the landscape is usually very specific. Its natural environment setting should be protected. REINFORCE THE FORM OF THE SETTLEMENT The morphological characteristics of the settlement should be respected. Some settlements have linear forms, some concentric. Some settlements have defined street edges, as in Ardee, some are set in the landscape, as in Termonfeckin. The nature of Carlingford is created by being bounded on one side by water, and on the other by the hillside. Insensitive development would erode this quality. Main Street, Ardee, with defined street edges and a view of the countryside beyond

6. Page 86(read from a scan)

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   DESIGN GUIDELINES SETTLEMENTS SHOULD HAVE CLEAR BOUNDARIES TO GROWTH Whilst the village may be subject to growth at its edges, there should be an identifiable boundary at its ends to mark its limits in the landscape. Put another way, the entrances to the village should be marked and emphasised, and not confused where new development is undertaken. 30 PROTECT LANDSCAPE ELEMENTS WITHIN AND VIEWS OUT Gaps in the built form of a village, where streams or rivers may cross, or continuous belts of trees may run through, or fields may 'invade' the centre of the village, are elements which draw the landscape through the village, and should be retained and strengthened. Gaps in the frontage, affording views to the landscape, should be sustained where new development is undertaken. Landscape views should not be eroded by intrusive development. Tree-lined entrance to village frames the house and church, signalling the built-up area of Louth Village Termonfeckin - A stream runs through the centre of the village

7. Page 87(read from a scan)

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   DESIGN GUIDELINES ENCOURAGE COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT TO STRENGTHEN THE CORE, AND TRY TO SITE NEW PUBLIC BUILDINGS CLOSE TO THE CENTRE New public buildings should be located with convenient access from the village centre. They should have a place in the village, rather than being placed at the edge without any connection. Existing landmark buildings should be given due consideration for new uses in order to secure their conservation. CONNECT NEW DEVELOPMENT WITH OPEN SPACE AND GREEN ROUTES New development should be seen as an opportunity to increase the public zones of the village, with provision of public space. There should be easy pedestrian access within the settlement, with connection to the main street to strengthen the core of the settlement. Ardee - New town housing is linked by bridge through revitalised landscaped area to town centre Traditional example of the margin in a village situation at Clogherhead. The setback has been observed in newer buildings on either side. This new restaurant and guesthouse in the centre of Carlingford helps to restructure the street

8. Page 88(read from a scan)

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   DESIGN GUIDELINES VEHICULAR ACCESS SHOULD CONNECT CONVENIENTLY TO THE TOWN Vehicular access should normally be taken from the main street in a small settlement and within the built up boundary in a larger one. Vehicular access and parking provision should not dominate the environment; it should be integrated in an overall residential environment of quality. FAVOUR INFILL AND DERELICT SITE DEVELOPMENT Areas in the village which are unfinished; gap sites, derelict sites, unused areas within the boundary; should be given priority for development, in preference to development at the edge. RESPECT AN INCREMENTAL FROM OF GROWTH The scale of new development should respect the incremental form of the village. This will help to ensure that the village appears to be complete at any time. Development in depth should be controlled, with ready access to the main street, whether pedestrian or vehicular. Whilst residential schemes will have their own identity, they should also stitch into the town by using, for example, green routes which connect to schools or other parts of the town, or by exploiting vistas to landmark buildings. Scale of development should work with the existing scale in the village. In the case of a village, it is likely to be two-storey, and in the case of a town, it may be appropriate to consider up to three-storey development. CONSIDER THE MARGIN IN FRONT OF HOUSES There should be a defined margin between the footpath and the front of the house to correspond with typical margins in the village. The edge should be defined with a boundary wall. The wall should be built of materials in keeping with the village: masonry, stone or rendered blockwork, as appropriate. The height of the boundary wall should be a minimum of 90cm, and up to 180cm where the wall acts as a screen for a private garden. The growth of hedges behind the walls is encouraged. HOUSE FORMS SHOULD BE SIMILAR TO EXISTING FORMS Providing houses in villages: The form of houses along the building line should be similar to existing village forms, i.e. medium to wide frontage, pitched roof of not less than thirty degrees, and comparable ratios of window to wall. The houses should have an entrance to the street where the frontage is on the street. Providing houses in towns: The house should have an urban frontage, creating town houses which have little or no margin between house and footpath, comparable in feeling to the existing street houses whilst allowing for a residential environment with sufficient private space, parking and public space. Backland areas behind the main street can provide new housing opportunities, with connection to the street through an archway if necessary.

9. Page 89(read from a scan)

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   DESIGN GUIDELINES CREATE SAFE PRECINCTS FOR TOWN HOUSING The traditional linear street form in towns is visually very powerful, but has environmental drawbacks concerning safety, privacy, identity of a group, control and security. The creation of precincts or courtyard areas with mixed car and pedestrian use produces an edge-to-the-street quality, with dramatic improvement in safety. Each area should have sufficient space for landscaping, access and parking to create precincts which are overlooked and safe for play. A townhouse type, with a public front area and a private back area, is an effective and well-tried solution. Selective orientation will exploit solar gain and improve comfort, both for the house and garden. On-curtilage parking is generally preferred. The town form is maintained in this terrace of houses which follows the street line and echoes the earlier street housing in Carlingford. In-town development in Ardee retains the street form and produces a courtyard development to create a safe and secure precinct. LANDSCAPED DESIGN HELPS TO SOFTEN THE IMPACT OF NEW DEVELOPMENT Planting and landscape should be provided at the outset to soften the impact of new development, and should ideally form part of a designed network of green routes and spaces.

10. Page 90(read from a scan)

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    DESIGN GUIDELINES Design guidelines for grouped development Design Guidelines: grouped development in designated development centres 1 – Housing clusters: groups of houses carried out by a developer The clachan is the strongest image of a cluster from earlier times. Its economical use of ground effected a tight grouping of buildings with, no doubt, strong social interaction. Clustering defined and limited the inhabited area of the countryside, and created the opportunity for shelter within the cluster. Today, however, each householder requires access and parking for cars, and space around the house for garden and outdoor activities, making it difficult to imagine that clachans could be seen as a model for development. Yet their form suggests that they could be an inspiration, if not a model, for grouping which is distinct in the landscape and visually coherent. Typically, present-day housing in groups lacks such coherence, and follows a pattern of site-division into roughly equal plots, either in linear form or in a cul-de-sac, with little regard for old field patterns, hedgerows, orientation, climatic conditions or the natural landscape. Grouped housing helps sustainability. Water supply and sewage treatment systems can be grouped. Appropriate planting and boundary conditions can unify the whole. Each individual house can be positioned in accordance with climatic demands. The group can also provide much better climatic protection. Housing appearing as a cluster is very satisfying in the landscape. 2 – Grouped sites with separately designed houses This type of development requires assiduous attention to ensure that the effect on the natural environment is not suburbanisation. Houses on each of the plots tend to be purpose-built for each owner with a deliberately original palette of materials, reflecting the individuality of the unit rather than the community of the group. Yet, if there are common rules about materials, boundary design, continuity of landscape treatment, common landscaped areas, and site entrances, the result could be of the highest quality without sacrificing individuality in the house design. As more than one designer is usually involved, and sites are sold individually, the planning authority should be approached at the outset by the owner, to define suitable plots and establish a common design brief. The design of a group of houses in the countryside, in appropriate locations, offers the opportunity to optimise the potential for clustering and to set the group within the surrounding landscape. Farm clusters have existed over the years, and many generate beautiful spaces as well as achieving a sense of protection and shelter. Good examples may serve as a useful model for adaptation to present-day uses. Local authority sheltered housing designed around a courtyard and located close to the town centre of Carlingford.

Source Louth County Council: Building Sensitively and Sustainably in County Louth · 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.