Rural Design Guidelines

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   Westmeath Rural Design Guidelines Part 1 Landscapes of County Westmeath Part 2 Rural Building Forms in the Landscape Part 3 Designing for the Future

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   Westmeath Design Guidelines Westmeath Rural Design Guidelines Westmeath County Council Planning Department County Buildings Mullingar County Westmeath Tel (044) 32000 www.westmeathcoco.ie iCON Architecture and Urban Design Delphine and Philip Geoghegan Ballymurrin House, Kilbride, Wicklow, County Wicklow Tel (0404) 48206 [email protected] June 2005 House by Henchion and Reuter Architects Intro 2

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   Westmeath Design Guidelines Introduction The Westmeath Rural Design Guidelines have been prepared to offer support and guidance to those in the County who may be contemplating building a house in the countryside. They were prepared by Delphine and Philip Geoghegan of iCON Architecture and Urban Design for Westmeath County Council, in support of the Council’s County Development Plan. A project team from the Planning Department, which included Senior Planner, Terry McCague, Senior Executive Planner, Dolores McCague and the County Architect, Bernadette Solon, supervised the work of the consultants. The study is divided into three parts, as follows: Part 1 deals with the landscape qualities and capacity of the County, setting out the identifying features of Landscape Character Areas and their capacity to accept new building. Part 2 examines the Westmeath rural building forms and shows how good design is better informed by appreciation of the building traditions of both past and present day, highlighting those positive, as well as not so good, examples of modern development. Part 3 sets out the building design guidelines, to assist in the process of choosing a site and designing a building appropriate to the local conditions and character of place. The guidelines should be seen in the context of the County Development Plan, and Government policy on rural development. They are intended to guide and assist the process of planning, to establish approaches to design which will be valuable to planners in the County as well as those intending to build a house in the countryside. Most of the photographs were produced by the authors, but we are grateful to our architectural colleagues who responded to our request for examples of modern buildings in the countryside. Their names and the page numbers of photographs supplied are listed in the appendix at the end. Philip and Delphine Geoghegan, iCON Architecture and Urban Design April 2005 Foreword Westmeath Rural House Design Guidelines The preparation of these guidelines has been a two-stage process, which commenced with the commissioning by Westmeath County Council of a Study of traditional house design including siting and boundary treatment and building materials use, in rural areas of Co. Westmeath. The Study of rural housing, which was completed in late 2002, contains a detailed description of what is characteristic and distinctive about rural house type in Co. Westmeath. It also provides a historical and cultural context of rural building traditions of the county, which are relevant to informing new development and building design in the county. The content of the rural house study has greatly informed the process in preparing these design guidelines. Good design has implications for reducing the impact of development on the landscape; and by ensuring that new housing development in rural areas integrates well with its physical surroundings. Design cannot be considered separately from location but rather as part of a context which includes siting and orientation. This Design Guide does not directly address the issue of eligibility in regard to permitted housing development in the countryside. This matter will be determined by reference to County Development Plan policies and relevant government guidelines. Prospective applicants are advised to refer to relevant policies of the County Development Plan in relation to development in rural areas, preservation of amenities, heritage and environmental protection, before formulating a planning application. T. McCague, Senior Planner Intro 3

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   Contents Part 1 Landscapes of County Westmeath 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Landscape - an Overview 1.2 Landscape Capacity 1.3 Landscape Character 1.4 Landscape Character Areas in Westmeath and Key Issues for Landscape Protection Part 2 Rural Building Forms in the Landscape 2.0 Introduction 2.1 Traditional Buildings 2.2 Farm Buildings and Farm Clusters 2.3 Contemporary Buildings 2.4 Making a Roadway Entrance Part 3 Designing for the Future 3.1 Design with the Landscape 3.2 Design with the Site 3.3 Designing the Building Form 3.4 Design in Detail 3.5 Designing the Frontage

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   Westmeath Rural Design Guidelines 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Landscape - an Overview 1.2 Landscape Capacity 1.3 Landscape Character 1.4 Landscape Character Areas in Westmeath and Key Issues for Landscape Protection Part 1 Landscapes of County Westmeath

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   1 Landscapes of County Westmeath 1.0 Introduction The landscapes of Westmeath are rich and diverse. They incorporate an outstanding combination of lakes and hills, drumlins and boglands, pastures and woodlands and the man-made corridors along which movement in the County has happened over the years: roads, railways and the Royal Canal. Landscapes embody a cultural tradition as well as their topographical and natural qualities. Patterns of settlement date back to prehistoric times. They are reflected today in the lively centres of the major towns, and the smaller hitherto market towns dispersed around the County, which together with the villages, play an important role as nuclei for the dispersed rural habitation which developed, in support of working the land. By studying the landscape and its layers of memory, it is possible to ensure that the current layer of development does not sweep away its earlier footprint, and that the landscape is protected in its adjustment to change. The policy of government is unambiguous in promoting a localised, structured rural 'sustain and renew' settlement policy. The National Spatial Strategy proposes 'a settlement framework that responds to the various spatial, structural and economic changes taking place while protecting the important assets rural areas possess'. The Strategy also emphasises 'the importance of locating new housing in a way which fits in with the traditional settlement patterns and strengthens existing patterns of housing'. The purpose of this section is to set the particular context for sitesensitive design in the landscapes of County Westmeath, recognizing that not all areas are the same and that the capacity of the landscape to accept new development varies according to the local character of the countryside. The Guidelines recognise that an appreciation of landscape is a key factor in successful design in the countryside. Identifying local landscape character will help the designer to pinpoint essential ground rules before committing the design. The following descriptions of landscape character should help to focus on issues pertinent to the locality in which development is being considered. The purpose is to ensure that design with the landscape is the starting point and that, while the positioning of buildings is unlikely to demand that they are hidden, they should be unobtrusive and visually appealing in their setting.

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   Westmeath Rural Design Guidelines 1.1 Landscape - An Overview Landscape is an inseparable element in the structuring of settlement patterns and the location and distribution of its dwellings. * Landscape form has been created by the forces of nature. * Patterns of movement and settlement in the landscape have been created as a result of inhabitation of the landscape. * Movement is facilitated by an intricate road structure, supplemented historically by railways and the canal system. * Towns, villages, and small settlements form the nuclei for the population in rural areas. * Estates with large houses, farmsteads and workers cottages have traditionally provided the pattern of dispersed habitation in support of working the land. * Agricultural development has created many elements of the landscape; field boundaries, grass pastures, plantations of trees, drainage systems, property boundary walls and hedges. The landscape of County Westmeath has been shaped within an unimaginably long timescale. Initially, over three hundred million years ago, it underwent a process of gentle folding of the limestone rock base. Much more recently, about one-and-a-half million years ago, the onset and impact of the ice age was to create the base structure of the landscape which we know today. The moulding of the landscape underneath the ice created mounds and ridges of glacial deposits, with * drumlins; small, rounded hills, * eskers and kames; ridges created under the ice by glacial drift and, * moraines; larger ridges created at the end of the advancing ice sheets. Thus, in Westmeath, we see predominantly a post-glacial landscape, with lakes and bogland, tree-covered eskers and drumlins. The drier ground topography West of Mullingar is formed by Carboniferous Limestone. The vegetation derives from the growth of peat bogs after glaciation, and the development of enclosed pasturelands across the County. This is a cultural landscape, the fruits of labour through countless generations of human efforts to exploit and develop the land. Thus, it is possible to characterise the extraordinary local quality of much of the landscape: * In the North of the County, centred on Castlepollard, the lakes combine with a hilly landscape, reaching into the drumlins of the northern counties * The lakeside areas of Westmeath are among the most scenic landscapes in Ireland, with a remarkable diversity between them * Low-lying areas alternate between raised boglands and gently undulating landscapes which create short horizons and enclosed, intimate-scaled countryside * To the East, the plain is relatively flat and relies on its vegetation of hedgerows and groups of trees to create a local environment * The Royal Canal provides a remarkable passage through undisturbed landscape. It should be seen as a corridor where any development should be treated with great care to maintain the undisturbed quality of the land through which it runs * Cultural Landscapes are those which incorporate significant archaeological or historic remains, demesne landscapes and field boundary patterns, or cultural associations * The main roads should be seen as landscape corridors where development is treated with special care, if only to maintain a good image of the County for passing travellers. Landscape characteristics will vary according to the location of the roads. 3

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   1.2 Landscape Capacity The capacity of the landscape to absorb development is clearly an important factor in the protection and cherishing of its local qualities. * Open uplands will not easily shelter or hide development, although they frequently afford the backdrop of a varied skyline. * Undulating landscapes have skylines which are easily broken by building at horizon level, interrupting the natural enclosure of the landscape. They are, however, capable of absorbing well-sited single buildings because of the complex undulations which create short horizons and visual diversity. * Flat landscapes rely on softening the impact of development by welldeveloped boundaries and vegetation which can help to stitch new development into the existing structure of the landscape. 1.3 Landscape Character Landscape character definition depends on a wide range of factors, including natural influences such as geology, landform and land cover, and cultural influences, including archaeology, settlement and building character. The description of the Westmeath landscape in 1.1 identifies some of these issues, and allows a working definition of Landscape Character Areas to assist in the process of reconciling new development with the existing landscape. Landscape Character Assessment for the County is currently in preparation. More guidance on this issue will be available when the Landscape Character Assessment for the County has been completed. Cultural Landscape; the inhabited countryside, with a village in a landscape setting

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   Westmeath Rural Design Guidelines 1.4 Landscape Character Areas and Key Issues for Protection 1 Northern Hills and Lakes Character This area is centred on the town of Castlepollard and includes the major lakes of Lough Derravaragh, Lough Lene and the southern edges of Lough Sheelin. The landscape follows the South East direction of glacial drift with gentle, rounded hills dividing the lakes. The valley, which contains the mediaeval village and historic remains of Fore abbey, is designated as a Special Heritage Area. Key Issues for Landscape Protection Much of this landscape has an open hillside character with large areas of pasture land, although there are significant groups of trees around Lough Derravaragh and Lough Lene. It is vulnerable to building, both in the upland zones of the area, where buildings are conspicuous in the landscape, and also in lakeside proximity, where the unspoilt quality of much of the landscape is remarkable. The landscape would not survive concentrations of individual houses, yet within the 'building zones' between low-lying lakeside areas and the uplands, there is adequate capacity for rural needs. Concentrations of dwellings are best grouped in or beside existing settlements. Undulating, hilly landscape near Multyfarnham 5

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    Westmeath Rural Design Guidelines 2 Lakeside Areas Character The lakes, with the exception of Lough Iron, and including Lough Owel, Lough Ennell amd Lough Ree have already been designated as Areas of High Amenity. They are, in many places, areas which have not been disturbed by development and act as havens for wildlife, especially birds whose habitats are in close proximity to the shoreline. 3 Undulating Landscape Character There are large tracts of countryside in Westmeath where the land is lowlying but with an undulating topography. It means that there is visual containment in the landscape, created by elevated areas and glacial kames, irregular ridges or mounds of gravel deposited by melting glaciers. Lough Ree- a shoreline Natural Heritage Area Lough Ree and the Shannon Corridor present a distinct landscape in terms of their scale, navigational character and the unique habitat of the Shannon Callows, an area of semi-grassland adjacent to the river. This area also has significant conservation status. Key Issues for Landscape Protection Lakes and their surrounding lands are designated as Areas of High Amenity and/or Natural Heritage Areas. Some of the lakes are important water supply sources. The demands for amenity and recreational uses, public water supply, and the protection of natural heritage all need to be met. It is necessary, therefore, to strictly control development in these areas. Lake management plans, being prepared, will provide for a more comprehensive and integrated approach to development control. Esker, ridge caused by glacial deposits, near Mount Temple 6

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