A design manual intended to help developers build more own-door, medium-density housing in areas where apartments are unviable remains unfinished, despite a promise that it would be published in early 2024.
Tony Reddy, chair of lobby group Property Industry Ireland, who recently raised the matter at a meeting with Minister for Housing James Browne, said he understands work on the manual has “stalled”.
A spokesman for the Department of Housing said work on the manual is ongoing “having regard to Government priorities and available resources”.
Reddy said he was told “only a month or so” of work is required to complete the manual. A Department spokesman would not confirm when the manual would be completed.
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In 2022, PII and the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland proposed a model for low-rise, medium-density housing to the Department of Housing to help activate more housing projects.
Glenveagh also pushed for the new model in 2022 as it warned the Department existing planning rules made many sites unviable due to the need to build apartments to meet density requirements.
It told the Department of Housing developers were being asked to build apartments in areas where they could not be delivered at affordable prices for home-buyers or renters, which led to projects stalling.
Following a public consultation process in 2023, new compact settlement guidelines were published in January 2024 by the Department of Housing, which introduced fresh standards on garden sizes, separation distances between houses, private open space and car parking.
The guidelines were designed to support more compact forms of housing that featured own-door homes as an “alternative to apartment developments at the right locations”, former minister for housing Darragh O’Brien said at the time.
In January 2024, the Department told local authorities, An Coimisiún Pleanála and the Office of the Planning Regulator that a “design manual detailing best practice” on how to apply the guidelines “will be published in early 2024”.
Reddy, who is also chairman and founder of Reddy Architecture + Urbanism, told The Irish Times progress on the design manual was discussed with Minister for Housing Browne at a recent meeting with PII.
Reddy added that completion of the design manual appears to have “stalled”. A Department of Housing spokesman would not comment on the timeline for the manual’s completion.
“Work on the manual is ongoing and will continue to be progressed, having regard to Government priorities and available resources,” he said.
The Department spokesman added that the manual is being prepared by the RIAI, Irish and UK planning professionals, local authorities, the National Town Centre First Office, and other relevant stakeholders.
Reddy said the laws required to start building low-rise, medium-density housing have been introduced and the industry, local authorities and planners are only waiting on the “stalled” manual to know how they can be applied.
“The manual is just stalled,” Reddy said. “It actually would hugely help the industry and would help the planning authorities if it was finished.”
The RIAI, which is working on the design manual, previously said a low-rise, medium-density housing model would help foster Ranelagh and Stoneybatter-style neighbourhoods nationwide.
It said these kinds of housing projects, which typically have between 30 to 80 own-door homes built per hectare, could be a way for the sector to deliver at scale without the need to build apartments.
