Era of 'matchbox' apartments to end

New rules will see the average dwelling grow in size by up to 25pc

THE spread of 'matchbox' apartments without room to swing the proverbial cat is coming to an end in the capital.

New guidelines that will increase the size of apartments in Dublin by up to 25pc have been recommended by Dublin City Council and will be approved shortly.

The rules are expected to halve the number of new one-bedroom apartments in the city.

Apartments must in future be bigger and cater for families.

The plan, being put out for a four-week public consultation period, follows years of complaints about developers being permitted to build apartments that are too small, even for single people.

City council officials say the guidelines are needed to encourage more families to live in apartments.

An Bord Pleanala has recently refused planning permission for multi-million euro high-rise developments involving hundreds of apartments because they are too small.

Following a vote of approval by councillors, the guidelines are due to come back before the city council in July for final approval.

Higher ceilings, bigger floor space and more variety are just some of the conditions that Dublin City councillors have recommended.

The new standards are stricter than those currently imposed by the Department of the Environment.

It is estimated that 90pc of all new homes being built in the city are apartments and a special report commissioned by the city council has found "residents are highly dissatisfied with the availability of internal storage space, the lack of open space, the quality of noise insulation kitchen size and layout and the view from the dwelling".

But, unsurprisingly, analysis prepared by the Economic Social Research Institute has found that the average apartment size throughout the city depends greatly on the location.

Southside areas such as Dublin 2 and 4 have larger and more spacious apartments than Dublin 1 and 7.

A survey of Dublin residents has revealed that 55pc of city apartment dwellers were likely to move at least once in the next five years.

It also found that only 25pc of people living in city apartments see themselves living there in the future.

Bedrooms

Included in the recommendations are that the minimum floor area in each apartment bedroom will have to increase by at least 10 square metres.

In the case of three-bedroom apartments, each room will be required to have a floor area of at least 100 square metres.

The minimum floor to ceiling height of 2.7 metres shall be required, up from 2.4 metres.

Storage area will also have to be greatly increased while "additional storage area shall be provided outside the apartment".

Another obstacle to be placed in the way of developers will be a "Housing Quality Assessment" which will be carried out at the planning state.

The assessment will look at specified criteria such as "children's needs, provision for information and communication technology and noise levels in the area".

Fine Gael councillor Gerry Breen (FG) said: "For too long certain developers have dominated the market in matchbox apartments."

These new standards will move the market into line with European norms for apartments.

The Construction Industry Federation criticised the draft guidelines, saying they would drive development out of the city.

Treacy Hogan
Irish Independent