Minister for Housing James Browne has issued new guidelines on building apartments which will see changes to minimum sizes, will allow for the reduced provision of private open spaces and will preclude local authorities from requiring communal, community and cultural facilities as mandatory for individual apartment schemes.
Issuing the guidelines, the minister said Government was “taking decisive action, without compromising on any essential regulations, to ensure apartments are viable to build”.
“We are acting in response to a housing crisis,” he said.
“There are blockages to apartment building in the regulations we have, we can see that in the slow down in our much-needed pipeline of apartments.”
Mr Browne said that changes “compare favourably with European norms” and “will likely result in some cases in an average of €50k and up to €100k cost reduction per unit”.
He said that the supply of apartments was critical to meeting housing needed and that these changes would “get apartment building moving … without compromising on disability, fire regulations, or environmental requirements”.
The new ‘Planning Design Standards for Apartments, Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2025)’ set out revised standards for apartment development in relation to matters including apartment mix; internal space standards for different types of apartments; dual aspect ratios; floor to ceiling heights; stair/lift core ratios; storage spaces; and amenity spaces including balconies/patios.
Last night, Dublin City Council passed an emergency motion accusing central Government of “overreach” and “gutting” its provision for community and cultural spaces in large scale apartment complexes.
Under the 2022-2028 Dublin City Development Plan apartment complexes that are built in Strategic Development Regeneration Areas and those of 10,000 square meters or more have to give 5% of their space to cultural or community uses.
Speaking on his way into Cabinet, Mr Browne said that Government supported “cultural spaces, but not in this manner”.
“We want to do both, we encourage both, but this is not the way to do it, because ultimately we’re in a housing crisis I’m treating as a housing emergency,” Mr Browne said.
However under the new guidelines the need for these communal, community and cultural facilities cannot be required as mandatory for individual apartment schemes.
Green Party Councillor Claire Byrne, who with Labour’s Darragh Moriarty tabled last night’s emergency motion, said the minister’s plan was a “vicious attack on local government and our city development plan processes”.
