Design guide · Wicklow County Council
Single Rural Houses Design Guidelines (County Development Plan, appendix 2)
The council's guidance on siting and designing a house in the countryside.
Wicklow County Council · 38 pages
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Answers come only from the text of Single Rural Houses Design Guidelines (County Development Plan, appendix 2), each claim linked to its page. They are not advice; check the page itself.
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- MANAgINg CONTOURS D A On sloping sites, the principal axis of the house should ideally have stepped floor levels reflecting the contours. B Where excavation cannot be avoided, narrow plan houses with minimised cut and fill are recommended. Excavated soil can be redistributed as naturalistic landscape mounds. C Avoid deep plan over scaled houses set on large platforms with urban planting schemes. D Avoid unsuitable dwelling styles with parking to the front. Absence of natural planting with excavated soil not graded to suit site contours. IMAgES OF MANAGING CONTOURS: On sloping sites, houses will normally be required to be built into the slope of the site, so that the finished floor level of the house is not more than 0.15m above the existing ground level to the front of the house. However, deep excavations should also be avoided as these in themselves can cause a scar on the landscape. Where steeply sloping sites cannot be avoided, design solutions must be considered to minimise the impact, including for example the use of stepped or split level housing. A B C
- RURAL INFILL B i) The site must be large enough to comfortably accommodate the existing and additional house(s) and their associated facilities such as independent gardens, car parking, effluent disposal facilities etc. The new house(s) should be so positioned on site to have a ‘relationship’ with the existing structures. In this regard, the end result should not be two (or more) distinct houses sitting at the opposite ends of the same site or a new house directly behind an existing one. Consideration must be given to clustering or the creation of courtyard type development, reminiscent of a vernacular farmstead layout. i) ii) iii) The new house should not result in adverse impacts on the amenities (e.g privacy, light) of adjacent properties. B ii) C B iii) main road Site divided by hedging creating two distinct spaces. Shared courtyard. Where the proposed development site currently forms part of the site of an existing dwelling (i.e. it is proposed to subdivide an existing plot), the following considerations must be taken on board: A B C
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- 03 HOUSE DESIgN D E S I G N C O N S I D E R AT I O N S
- 06 High quality design will be required for all sites and the design of any house will be required to be developed taking cognisance of the site location and characteristics and prevalent style of dwellings in the area; however, this does not mean that a poor house design will be considered because similar inappropriate designs have been permitted in the same area in the past. Designs lifted from another site and from a formulaic ‘pattern book’ will not be accepted, nor will poor historical imitations. Designs should reflect traditional rural house design form and concepts, but contemporary interpretations of traditional styles are acceptable where the site can accommodate and suitably absorb the design. Design proposals should respect the characteristics of the site and its environs by working with, rather than against natural features, such as boundaries, contours and flora.
- Consider the scale, mass, external finishes and context of the proposed dwelling and its effect on dwellings in close proximity. This house is appropriately scaled for the site DWELLINg SCALE As a result of modern demands for larger houses and Building Regulations which require higher ceiling height, rural dwellings have become larger in scale. However, insufficient care has been taken in mitigating the impact of this larger scale and many new dwellings appear very out of scale with surrounding traditional buildings and with the landscape itself. In this regard, dwellings should be sized according to the current and future needs of the occupant. A large dwelling will require a large site and needs to be set within a ‘large landscape’. An area characterised by small field patterns and low level vegetation is unlikely to be suitable for a large dwelling which will dominate the area. However, where existing vegetation is mature and abundant and the views are long, there may be scope for a larger dwelling. Consideration must also be paid to other dwellings that may be in close proximity to the proposed development site. A new dwelling that does not respect the existing scale and vernacular in an area or results in impacts on surrounding dwellings with regard to overlooking or overshadowing will not be permitted. This house’s scale is disproportionate to the site Appropriately scaled houses with simple dominant form near Arklow, County Wicklow. 07 08
- • Large excavation to accommodate house. • Absence of natural landscaping. Exposing the site to the elements increasing weathering and heat loss. • Completely circling the house with hard surfaced areas / paths – where possible, planting should be brought right up to the house. • Suburban house designs and planting schemes. • Locate house on flatter ground on the site, reducing excavation. • Use internal floor changes to absorb contours of the site. • Tuck house into the site boundary allowing the landscape to protect from natural elements. • Localised planting close to the house to absorb the development into the local landscape. 05 05 09 PRINCIPLES OF GOOD RURAL DESIGN 10 11 AVOID DO Traditional-style cottage using planting as protection. Hollywood, County Wicklow Contemporary extension to rural cottage adapting site contours into the design. Bespoke design responding to site contours in an innovative manner.
- DWELLINg HEIGHT The majority of new rural dwellings in County Wicklow in the last 20 years have been single storey or dormer bungalows. In many cases, the sensitivity of the landscape allows only for a single storey dwelling, but where additional height can be absorbed, the majority of applicants have proposed a dormer style rather than a 2-storey dwelling often in the belief that the passage through the planning system would be easier with a dormer bungalow than a 2-storey house. Well designed dormer bungalows are hard to achieve, as the style of windows and roof mass often distort the shape of the house and form incongruous features. Generally, a high quality 2-storey house will be preferred to a lower quality dormer bungalow, the key parameters being the ability of the site and landscape to absorb the house. DWELLINg FORM/SHAPE The key requirement for rural houses is that they be absorbed by the landscape. Dwellings should thus blend in and not dominate the local landscape, or stick out by reason of scale, form, or detail. Dwellings should be simple in form and shape and an excessive number of block shapes and heights, roof pitches, addons, wings, protruding windows (such as bay windows), porches, conservatories etc should be avoided. The main body of the house should be the dominant element and be clearly distinguishable, and if necessary, one or a number of smaller, suitably designed projections attached to the main house may be provided to break up the overall mass of the structure. ‘Deep plan’ houses (i.e. houses that are two rooms ‘deep’ with a central dividing corridor) should be avoided, as this format overly constrains the options for the format, design, roof style and glazing layout of the house and also results in poor use of natural lighting. While symmetry is not required, houses should be well ‘balanced’. This will mean that any projections to the main body of the house will require to be sensitively designed and located and not cause the house to look ‘lop-sided’.
- NARROW PLAN DOUBLE DEEP PLAN Traditional flat-fronted narrow design form with naturalised planting absorbing the design. Avoid double deep dormer designs with PVC clad dormer windows and suburban gardens. Only 50% of the house can benefit from solar gain and light penetration. SUNPATH winter summer winter summer This design encourages a good ratio of glass to masonry, efficient light penetration, potential extensions and a 30% reduction in heating costs from solar gain.
- DWELLINg SHAPE EXAMPLES Recommended dwelling shapes. Generally, the following characteristics should be integrated into a new dwelling - low eaves - 35-55 degree roof pitch - sturdy and solid - narrow plan - vertical emphasis to gables - flat fronted Doubled and slipped Valley roof Long 2 Storey Simple gable roof Narrow plan hipped roof Simple gable roof and tin/slate lean to Dormer windows extending upwards out of main walls Lean to Cross gabled
Source Wicklow County Council: Single Rural Houses Design Guidelines (County Development Plan, appendix 2) · 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.