High density calls for top quality design

Designing a good environment - that's what it's all about, according to the draft planning guidelines for residential development issued last week by the Department of the Environment. It is not - indeed, ought not to be - a question of simply building twice as many more houses on any given site.

Unless the local authorities are very careful about how they apply the new guidelines on how to design higher density housing, we could end up with another batch of planning disasters even more appalling than the suburban sprawl which was spawned by the standards applied over the past 30 years.

That's the most serious challenge facing planners over the next few years as the pace of housing provision picks up speed. And the truth is that few enough of them are qualified to make the acute judgments now required; just six city or county councils have a chief architect at managerial level, for example.

It is also a fact that most suburban housing, at least in the private sector, is not even designed by architects. The use of engineers, technicians and tried-and-tested formulas are the norm for perhaps a majority of speculative developers, while those building the bungalow of their dreams tend to rely on pattern books.

Higher density housing, if it is to be successful, will require a much higher level of design input. If the new guidelines are implemented - and local authorities have been told to take them on board straight away - developers will have to start thinking about seeking out the best possible professional advice.

It needs to be said again and again that high density housing is not equivalent to high rise housing. Ballymun, the most notorious Irish experiment in high-rise living, is a low density housing estate of high-rise towers and "spine blocks" in a windswept parkland (ie, wasteland) setting; it is about to be demolished.

What's on the agenda now is somewhat more sophisticated. Of course, the primary objective is to deliver an increased supply of housing from the available bank of zoned and serviced land. But it should also improve our environment and quality of life by cutting down on travel, according to the Department of the Environment.

Many existing trips on the road network are made by people hopping into their cars to go to the nearest shop or pub or to drop their kids off at a distant school. If everything can be made more compact and located within easy reach of public transport, so the theory goes, it can be a "win-win" situation for everyone.

The draft guidelines were prepared by Fergal MacCabe, the well-known architect and planning consultant, in association with McCrossan O'Rourke Architects and Jones Lang Wooton. They are open to public consultation until April 30th, after which a final version will be issued as statutory guidelines to all planning authorities.

The Department of the Environment first indicated that it favoured higher housing densities in April, 1997, in its sustainable development strategy. This was followed in May of last year with a circular letter encouraging the local authorities to promote the new policy. Consultants were later appointed to prepare the guidelines.

What they have come up with is fairly conservative, rather than a radical review of existing standards. In outer suburban areas removed from public transport routes, for example, the consultants say car-parking provision "must reflect the desire for mobility and accessibility without compromising sustainability objectives".

In other words, they would appear to be quite content to see local authorities imposing such onerous requirements as two off-street car parking spaces per house. They do say, however, that grouped and even underground car parking should be examined to make more efficient use of land and leave more space for landscaping

The consultants also say that higher residential density "will not be appropriate in every circumstance" and, though highly desirable on infill sites in inner urban areas, it "must not be achieved at an unacceptable amenity cost to the surrounding dwellings," and future residents.

They see city and town centres as having "the greatest potential for the creation of sustainable patterns of development". In these areas, particularly on "brownfield" sites (such as Docklands), the consultants say "there should, in principle, be no upper limit" on the number of units per site, subject to a number of conditions.

"In residential areas whose character is established by their density or architectural form, a balance has to be struck between the reasonable protection of the amenities and privacy of adjoining dwellings, the protection of established character and the need to provide residential infill". Great ingenuity will be required here.

The consultants also favour the sub-division of larger houses, saying their conversion to multiple occupancy should be promoted as a policy objective, as well as the redevelopment of lands currently in institutional use - by religious orders, for example - providing that "some" of their open space character is retained.

"A higher quality of design and layout and a good quality living environment, including the availability of proper shopping, transport and leisure infrastructure, are essential if increased densities are to be acceptable," according to Mr MacCabe and his colleagues.

"Firm emphasis must be placed by planning authorities on the importance of qualitative standards in relation to design and layout in order to ensure that the highest quality of residential environment is achieved," they all say, adding that pre-planning discussions with developers would be helpful in this regard.

The consultants insist "The achievement of higher densities must be coupled with a higher standard of residential environment and thus the provision of higher quality public and communal open spaces is of paramount importance."

To get the message across, however, the Department will need to go beyond merely issuing a new set of guidelines. A series of teach-ins would surely be required to raise consciousness among the local authority officials involved in assessing planning applications on how they should apply the new regime.