Development plan · South Dublin County Council
South Dublin County Development Plan 2022–2028 – Written Statement
The council's development plan written statement: its strategy, policies, objectives and development standards. Variations adopted since are not in this text.
South Dublin County Council · 2022–2028 · 584 pages
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- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028198Quality Design and Healthy Placemaking (QDP) principles and guidance on adaptability as set out in the South Dublin County’s Height and Density Guide (Appendix 10) and the Urban Design Manual – A Best Practice Guide (2009) and the guidance on Lifetime Homes as set out in the Quality Housing and Sustainable Communities – Best Practice Guidelines for Delivering Homes Sustaining Communities (2007). The Development Plan includes a socially inclusive housing strategy for the existing and future population of South Dublin County including the needs of those requiring social housing. The following Chapters set out the Council’s holistic approach to neighbourhood and community development, which aims to deliver attractive mixeduse sustainable neighbourhoods containing a variety of housing types and tenures together with supporting community facilities, public realm and good connections to public transport links and local amenities and services. Policy QDP7: High Quality Design – Adaptability and Inclusivity QDP7 Objective 8: To promote and support a Universal Design Approach to residential and nonresidential development – having regard in particular to the universal design principles and guidance in relation to Buildings for Everyone, Housing and Shared Space as promoted by the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design at the National Disability Authority – ensuring that all environments are inclusive and can be used to the fullest extent possible by all users regardless of age, ability or disability consistent with RPO 9.12 and 9.13 of the RSES. (See also Chapter 8: Community Infrastructure and Open Space). QDP7 Objective 9: To promote and support the provision of quality housing with long-term adaptability in residential and mixed-use developments, having regard to the principles and guidance in relation to adaptability as set out in South Dublin County’s Height and Density Guide (Appendix 10) and the Urban Design Manual – A Best Practice Guide (2009) and the guidance on Lifetime Homes as set out in the Quality Housing and Sustainable Communities – Best Practice Guidelines for Delivering Homes Sustaining Communities (2007). QDP7 Objective 10: To promote and support the principles of universal design, ensuring that all environments are inclusive and can be used to the fullest extent possible by users regardless of age, ability or disability consistent with RPO 9.12 and 9.13 of the RSES. QDP7 Objective 11: To encourage and foster the creation of attractive mixed-use sustainable neighbourhoods which contain a variety of housing types and tenures with supporting community facilities, public realm and residential amenities, and which are socially mixed in order to achieve a socially inclusive county.
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028199Quality Design and Healthy Placemaking (QDP) QDP7 Objective 12: To develop a network of pedestrian footpaths and public spaces, which includes access to public toilets, accessible outdoor seating and facilities for people with disabilities and / or mobility impairments and based on the principles of universal design. 5.2.7 Density and Building Heights The adoption of the National Planning Framework (NPF) represented the advent of significant changes to planning policy in Ireland at national and regional level. The NPF articulates a set of shared goals for every community across the country to deliver a programme of compact urban growth. National Policy Objective 13 requires the inclusion of planning policy provisions and standards ‘including in particular building height and car parking to be based on performance criteria that seek to achieve well-designed high-quality outcomes in order to achieve targeted growth. Such standards shall be subject to a range of tolerance that enables alternative solutions to be proposed to achieve stated outcomes, provided public safety is not compromised and the environment is suitably protected’. The Urban Development and Building Height Guidelines (2018) expand on the requirements of the NPF by setting relevant planning criteria for considering increased building height to achieve greater densities in various but principally urban city-centre locations and suburban and wider town locations. To ensure compliance at local level with the overarching planning policy requirements at national level, SPPR1 states: “In accordance with Government policy to support increased building height and density in locations with good public transport accessibility, particularly town / city cores, planning authorities shall explicitly identify, through their statutory plans, areas where increased building height will be actively pursued for both redevelopment, regeneration and infill development to secure the objectives of the National Planning Framework and Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies and shall not provide for blanket numerical limitations on building height.” In response to such policy provisions and guidelines, in particular SPPR1, this plan is accompanied by South Dublin County’s Building Height and Density Guide (Appendix 10). South Dublin County’s Building Height and Density Guide (BHDG) The Building Height and Density Guide (BHDG) for South Dublin County forms the primary policy basis and toolkit to employ the delivery of increased building height and density within the County in a proactive but considered manner. The guide contains a detailed set of performance-based criteria for the assessment of developments of greater density and increased height. It provides a series of detailed notional development scenarios for various site contexts providing for specific
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028200Quality Design and Healthy Placemaking (QDP) guidance criteria around contextual appropriateness. These have been developed especially for South Dublin County based on the known qualities and characteristics of its particular urban and suburban environments. The performance-based assessment criteria will enable proper consideration of development proposals for increased building height linked to the achievement of a greater density of development. The BHDG has regard to and is informed by all relevant Ministerial Guidance documents (and any amendments thereof) and Specific Planning Policy Requirements contained therein, most notably the Urban Development and Building Heights Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2018). The premise of these guidelines is not intended to introduce height for the sake of height, but to introduce and consider increased heights and densities as a means of accommodating greater residential populations within the County’s serviced and zoned land banks in particular where public transport, employment and other services are proximate to a development proposal in line with the principals of compact growth. Securing compact and sustainable urban growth in South Dublin County will mean focusing on reusing previously developed ‘brownfield’ land in the County as well as undeveloped infill sites, particularly those served by good public transport. The BHDG sets out the key considerations in scenarios such as this and other relevant varying site contexts across the County. How to use the BHDG South Dublin County’s Building Height and Density Guide aims to take applicants through a process of contextual analysis by which the suitability or otherwise of different density and height levels can be assessed with reference to the receiving environment of the proposed development.
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028201Quality Design and Healthy Placemaking (QDP) The guide sets out the following 4-step approach which includes; 1. Policy Planning Context National and Local 2. Thinking Understanding Considerations around Density and Height 3. Application Developing a Criteria-based Approach 4. Illustration Indicative Development Scenarios The BHDG in Appendix 10 of this plan is intended to complement the Urban Design Manual – Best Practice Guidelines (2009) which identified a set of component questions at various scales which together formed a complete urban design analysis of the development proposal. In the BHDG, certain parameters of the more general urban design assessment are expanded to more directly address issues relating to height, density, and intensification. Policy QDP8: High Quality Design – Building Height and Density Guide (BHDG) Adhere to the requirements set out in the Urban Development and Building Height Guidelines (2018) issued by the DHLGH through the implementation of the Assessment Toolkit set out in the South Dublin County’s Building Heights and Density Guide 2021. QDP8 Objective 1: To assess development proposals in accordance with the Building Height and Density Guide set out in Appendix 10 of this Development Plan and associated planning guidelines. In this regard, all medium to large scale and complex planning applications (30 + residential units, commercial development over 1,000 sq m or as otherwise required by the Planning Authority) shall be accompanied by a ‘Design Statement’. The Design Statement shall include, inter alia, a detailed analysis of the proposal and statement based on the guidance, principles and performance-based design criteria set out in South Dublin County’s Height and Density Guide. Any departures within the proposed development from the guidance set out in the Building Height and Density Guide for South Dublin County (Appendix 10) shall be clearly highlighted in the Design Statement. (See Chapter 12: Implementation and Monitoring). QDP8 Objective 2: In accordance with NPO35, SPPR1 and SPPR3, to proactively consider increased building heights on lands zoned Regeneration (Regen), Major Retail Centre (MRC), District Centre (DC), Local Centre (LC), Town Centre (TC) and New Residential (Res-N) and on sites demonstrated as having the capacity to accommodate increased densities in line with the locational criteria of Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments, Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2020) and the Urban Design Manual – Best Practice Guidelines (2009), where it is clearly demonstrated by means of an urban design analysis carried out in accordance with the provisions of South Dublin County’s Building Height and Density Guide that it is contextually appropriate to do so.
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028202Quality Design and Healthy Placemaking (QDP) Building Height Terminology South Dublin County’s BHDG sets out important terminology to assist in the assessment of building heights in the County and discussions around height. Recognising that there should be no blanket numerical limitations on building heights, height in the BHDG is considered thematically in relation to its context. Such terminology is summarised as follows: Prevailing Height The prevailing building height is the most commonly occurring height of buildings within an area of common character and at the contextual scale at which the proposal is to be assessed. The prevailing building height of a specific street may be different to the prevailing building height of the wider neighbourhood and a site might in some instances be large enough to effect a transition between the two. Thematic Height In certain urban areas, for example Georgian Dublin, the prevailing height may be closely linked to a specific form of development from which the area derives its character. In such instances, it might be appropriate to refer to Prevailing Height as Thematic Height in order to signal the presence of specific contextual issues around built environment, heritage or historic concerns. Amplified Heights There may be existing buildings or parts of buildings within the streetscape or neighbourhood that deviate from the prevailing height but not to such an extent as to be considered a significant, or non-thematic, variation. Such instances of amplified height do not necessarily denote a contextual precedent to which new developments can respond in kind with increased heights.
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028203Quality Design and Healthy Placemaking (QDP) Apparent Height There may be existing buildings or parts of buildings within the streetscape or neighbourhood that deviate from the prevailing height. This may be in a more comprehensive fashion than selective amplification of part of the building’s form by instead setting back floors above the prevailing or thematic height as a secondary massing, while the primary building façade provides a ‘shoulder’ that maintains the prevailing height of the street. Contextual Heights While the prevailing height is the general measure of heights in the surrounding area, the analysis of contextual height will include and identify all of the variations in apparent height and amplified heights that are relevant to any rationale for or justification of increased building heights in a new development. A comprehensive analysis of prevailing and thematic heights and the function and location of variations to these within the urban area will result in an understanding of the contextual height of the receiving environment of the proposed development. Context Driven Approach to Height The approach to building heights in South Dublin County, as supported by South Dublin County’s BHDG, will be driven by its context. This is in line with the Urban Development and Building Height Guidelines and specifically SPPR1 which prohibits numerical limitations on building height by planning authorities. The BHDG sets out a framework for the analysis of building heights relative to their context. For example, a ten-storey building is ‘tall’ in the context of a 2-storey streetscape but is only ‘taller’ in a block where the prevailing height is 8-storeys. Building heights are increased relative to the prevailing heights in their vicinity. Therefore, proposals for increased building heights can be expressed in terms of their amplification of prevailing heights by means of a Contextual Height Ratio. In this regard, a ten-storey building would be five times the contextual height (5 x CH) in a two-storey streetscape, but one and a quarter times the contextual height (1.25 x CH) in an 8-storey streetscape. Such a measure provides a clear indication of the scale of change proposed in the built environment without utilising the more subjective terminology of tall / taller or high / higher buildings.
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028204Quality Design and Healthy Placemaking (QDP) The context driven approach to height in the County will be based on and informed by the receiving environment and surrounding built form having regard to the provisions of South Dublin County’s BHDG and in particular the Contextual Analysis Toolkit. The presence of permitted development(s) in the surrounds, whilst a planning consideration, does not on its own, connote an emerging context of increased heights or a precedent for individual increases of development heights. Contextual Heights at Clancy Quay Dublin - the 8-storey Building C can be expressed as a contextual height ratio of 4xCH relative to the historic buildings A or 1.25xCH relative to the newer development at Building B. Proposed increased heights should be proportionate to the role and function of buildings and the scale of their impact on the receiving environment. By this measure, the more prominent a role the development plays at the larger urban scale the more a larger contextual height ratio would be expected; conversely the more locallyoriented a role the building plays the lower the expected contextual height ratio. Landmark Buildings Commonly, terms such as ‘landmark’ or ‘gateway’ are used in applications to justify significantly scaled increases in building heights. However, landmark buildings that are distinctive in their form and provide real legibility such as signalling the presence of an important public transport interchange or node; an important gateway to an urban area or a large-scale public or civic amenity or facility – can play an important role in healthy placemaking and creating successful and sustainable neighbourhood areas. The scale of the landmark should be proportionate to its role as a placemaking object within the urban fabric and the extent to which that landmark function extends beyond the local area. The Urban Development and Building Height Planning Guidelines (DHLGH, 2018) provides the following classifications for landmarks:
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028205Quality Design and Healthy Placemaking (QDP) à Metropolitan Landmarks, that is, landmarks with a function at the scale of the relevant City / Town; à District Landmarks, that is, landmarks with a function at the level of the District / Neighbourhood / Street; and à Local Landmarks, that is, landmarks with a function at the level of the Site / Building. There is potential for misunderstanding around the designation of Metropolitan Landmark within the South Dublin County Council administrative area given the entire County is located within the wider Metropolitan Area of Dublin as set out in the RSES. As such, for the purposes of discussing proposals for proportionate increases in building height relative to the scale of the landmark, this Development Plan and South Dublin County’s BHDG, instead uses the following classifications: Primary Landmarks Primary Landmarks are landmarks with a function at the scale of the urban centre. An example would include the general increase in building heights in Tallaght Town Centre to signal the civic function and the specific increase in building height of the south-west block in the Belgard Square West development to mark the location of the Luas terminus. Height increases in the primary landmark example did not preclude an increase in building height within the development block between Cookstown Way and Belgard Square West south of the civic centre. The vertical expression of the increase in building height serves a function at the urban scale to identify the town centre area from the N81 to the south.
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028206Quality Design and Healthy Placemaking (QDP) Secondary Landmarks Secondary landmarks are landmarks with a function at the neighbourhood scale. An example would include the amplification of height and vertical expression of the mixed-use building on Adamstown Avenue signalling the gateway to the new neighbourhood. The gateway nature of the site justifies a secondary landmark at the neighbourhood scale. However, the extent of height increase is limited and setback from the primary massing along the Adamstown Avenue streetscape. The gateway function is primarily achieved by means of the vertical expression of a limited articulation of height.
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028207Quality Design and Healthy Placemaking (QDP) Local Marker Local landmarks are landmarks with a placemaking function within a streetscape or development area. An example would be the expression of the tower form in the Carnegie Library on Monastery Road Clondalkin to signal the public function of the building. The height of the tower element is no different to the general building height of the library. The local marker function has been achieved by articulation of secondary mass from the main building and its distinct vertical expression. It follows from the above that not all increases in building heights will connote landmarks and that not all landmarks will justify an increase in building heights. Therefore, in applications for landmark type buildings or for amplified heights akin to a landmark, the onus will be on designers and applicants to satisfactorily demonstrate that the proposal is contextually appropriate but also that the proportionate function of the landmark justifies it, having regard to the sample primary, secondary and local landmark classifications set out above.
Source South Dublin County Council: South Dublin County Development Plan 2022–2028 – Written Statement (2022–2028) · 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.