New rules on size of apartments

New regulations which would compel developers to increase apartment sizes in Dublin by up to 25 per cent in order to secure planning permission are due to be approved by Dublin City Council tonight.

The new apartment guidelines stipulate minimum standards in relation to floor size, ceiling height, storage space and play areas etc. However, they stop short of laying down conditions in relation to the size of schemes and building heights.

The guidelines, published last May, were released for public consultation and must now be ratified by the council.

About 90 per cent of all new homes in the city will be apartments, the council said, and new regulations were necessary because of "high levels of dissatisfaction" among current apartment residents in relation to the size and quality of their homes.

In future, the council will only grant planning permission if one-bedroom apartments have a minimum floor space of 55 sq m (currently 45 sq m). Two-bedroom apartments are to have a minimum of 80 sq m (currently 65 sq m) and three-bedroom apartments a minimum of 100 sq m (currently 80 sq m).

The guidelines also stipulate that the number of one-bedroom apartments in any new development should be reduced from a maximum of 45 per cent to just 20 per cent and all apartments should be provided with storage within the development.

Storage facilities within apartments will have to be a minimum of 3 sq m for one-beds and up to a 9 sq m minimum for three-beds. This is a significant increase on current storage levels, which require 2 sq m for one-beds and just 4 sq m for three-beds.

Safe and easily-accessible storage for larger items such as bicycles will also have to be provided.

Minimum room sizes in the old regulations have been scrapped in order not to be overly-prescriptive in terms of design. However, the guidelines state that bathrooms should be large enough to bath a child. It also wants at least half of all apartments in a complex to have windows in their kitchens. Ceiling heights are to be increased from 2.4m to 2.7m.

In relation to high-rise complexes the guidelines state: "In assessing building heights, the planning authority will take a flexible approach."

The council wants complexes of 500 apartments or more to be viewed as small to medium-sized towns which would have the necessary social and infrastructural services.