Minimum apartment sizes, car parking, separation distance between houses, building height, private open space and density. The figures that apply everywhere in the State, taken from the guidelines themselves, and how they stand against the county development plan before and after Part 4 commences.
Most people assume the county development plan is the rulebook. For a large and growing number of residential standards it is not. Certain provisions of the Minister's guidelines, called Specific Planning Policy Requirements and now National Planning Policies and Measures, apply instead of the development plan wherever the two differ. That override rests on section 34(2)(ba) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, and section 34 is replaced when Part 4 of the 2024 Act commences (deferred on 9 October 2026; new date to be notified), so the date an application is lodged is likely to matter. The position before and after is set out below.
Section 34(2)(ba) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 provides that where a Specific Planning Policy Requirement differs from the provisions of a development plan, the requirement "shall, to the extent that they so differ, apply instead of the provisions of the development plan".
On that wording, a plan standard that is more demanding than the national one does not survive. Several of the newer requirements go further again and say that a development plan shall not specify a standard exceeding the national figure at all.
Section 28 of the 2000 Act was repealed on 2 October 2025. Section 27 of the Planning and Development Act 2024 kept the existing guidelines in force on that date, and existing Specific Planning Policy Requirements became National Planning Policies and Measures. The standards themselves were not changed, and section 34(2)(ba) continues to apply to decisions made under section 34.
The position changes on the day Part 4 of the 2024 Act commences and section 34 is replaced by section 86. Section 86 does not reproduce section 34(2)(aa) or (ba). Instead, an authority is to have regard to the provisions of a National Planning Statement that are not already the subject of a provision in a plan (s.86(1)(a)(ii)), and section 86(5) allows a decision to be inconsistent with a National Planning Statement provision in a material respect, provided the authority identifies the provision and states its main reasons. On the face of the new Act the automatic override of the development plan does not appear to survive. This has not yet been tested, and the figures below continue to be the national standards either way.
An application lodged before Part 4 commences is, on our reading, decided under section 34, so a national requirement applies instead of a conflicting development plan provision.
An application lodged on or after that date would be decided under section 86, where the development plan is a mandatory consideration. On our reading, a scheme meeting the national standard but breaching a more restrictive plan standard would become a material contravention of the plan, requiring a resolution of not less than three-quarters of the elected members under section 99. The national standard matters there: section 99(2)(b) allows that resolution only where the development is consistent with the National Planning Policies and Measures dealing with the same subject, so a scheme that breaches both could not be passed at all. The likely effect is that meeting a national standard would move from being an entitlement to being the argument that makes a vote available. The planning authority can confirm how it is treating a particular application. If a scheme depends on a national standard applying instead of a plan provision, the lodgement date matters. See what changes after Part 4 commences.
These guidelines replaced the 2009 residential guidelines and the Urban Design Manual, both now revoked.
| Standard | National figure | What the requirement says |
|---|---|---|
| Separation distance between opposing windows | 16 metres | Development plans shall not require more than 16 metres between opposing windows serving habitable rooms at the rear or side, above ground floor level. Less than 16 metres is acceptable where there are no opposing habitable room windows and privacy is designed into the scheme. There is to be no minimum separation specified at ground level or to the front at all. SPPR 1. The traditional suburban standard was 22 metres. |
| Private open space, one bed house | 20 m² | Minimum private open space for a new house. Up to half may be substituted with high quality semi-private open space, provided at least 50 per cent remains private. SPPR 2 |
| Private open space, two bed house | 30 m² | As above, with up to 15 m² substitutable. SPPR 2 |
| Private open space, three bed house | 40 m² | As above, with up to 20 m² substitutable. SPPR 2 |
| Private open space, four bed house or larger | 50 m² | As above, with up to 25 m² substitutable. SPPR 2 |
| Public open space in a residential scheme | 10 to 15 per cent | A development plan requirement must be for not less than a minimum of 10 per cent of net site area and not more than a minimum of 15 per cent, save in exceptional circumstances. Sites with significant heritage, landscape, recreational or nature conservation features fall outside the range. Policy and Objective 5.1 |
Issued in July 2025. An amended draft National Planning Statement published on 4 September 2026 is intended to replace these, and is reviewed separately. The figures below are the ones that apply today.
| Standard | National figure | What the requirement says |
|---|---|---|
| Studio, one person | 32 m² | Minimum floor area, measured internally wall to wall. Development plans shall not specify minimum floor areas that exceed these figures. SPPR 2 |
| One bedroom, two person | 45 m² | As above. SPPR 2 |
| Two bedroom, three person | 63 m² | As above. SPPR 2 |
| Two bedroom, four person | 73 m² | As above. SPPR 2 |
| Three bedroom, four person | 76 m² | As above. SPPR 2 |
| Three bedroom, five person | 90 m² | As above. SPPR 2 |
| Units exceeding the minimum | 25 per cent by 10 per cent | At least 25 per cent of units in a development shall exceed the minimum floor areas by 10 per cent. This does not apply to schemes of fewer than ten units, to building refurbishment schemes on sites of any size, or to urban infill schemes on sites of up to 0.25 hectares. |
| Dual aspect | 25 per cent | A minimum of 25 per cent of units must be dual aspect, and development plans shall not specify a requirement exceeding that. Corner units and units accessed from open air walkways count as dual aspect. SPPR 3 |
| Floor to ceiling height at ground level | 2.7 metres | Minimum at ground level, and a plan may not require more. SPPR 4 |
| Units per floor per core | No requirement | There shall be no requirement within a development plan or within an individual scheme as to a minimum number of units per floor per core. SPPR 5 |
| Apartment mix | No restriction | No restrictions in development plans on the mix of unit sizes or types, and no minimum or maximum number of units with a given number of bedrooms. Social housing, Part V units and schemes for older persons are excepted. SPPR 1 |
| Community and cultural facilities | Plan-led only | Required only in specific locations identified in the development plan, and not on a blanket threshold basis in individual schemes. SPPR 6 |
| Co-living | Presumption against | A presumption against permission for shared accommodation or co-living development unless it meets a specific demand identified by the planning authority through a Housing Need and Demand Assessment. SPPR 7 |
The general apartment standards do not apply to purpose-built student accommodation. A separate and much shorter set applies.
| Standard | National figure | What the requirement says |
|---|---|---|
| Single study bedroom without en-suite | 8 m² | Minimum required area. Development plans shall not specify requirements that differ from or exceed these. SPPR 8 |
| Single study bedroom with en-suite | 11.5 m² | As above. SPPR 8 |
| En-suite provision | No requirement | There shall be no requirement or restriction in relation to the provision of en-suite bathrooms for single study bedrooms. SPPR 8 |
| Kitchen, dining and living area | 3.6 or 3.3 m² per person | 3.6 m² per person where serving 10 persons, 3.3 m² per person where serving 12. SPPR 8 |
| Part V social and affordable housing | Does not apply | Development solely for the purpose of providing purpose-built student accommodation is not subject to Part V of the 2000 Act or Part 7 of the 2024 Act. |
Planning authorities shall identify, through their statutory plans, areas where increased building height will be actively pursued, and shall not provide for blanket numerical limitations on building height. The guidelines set two default expectations: at least three to four storeys outside city and town centre areas, including suburban areas, and at least six storeys at street level as the default objective in city and town centre areas.
Residential density is expressed as ranges in dwellings per hectare, net, varying by settlement and by location within it. These are policy and objective rather than Specific Planning Policy Requirements, but development plans are required to apply them.
| Settlement and location | Density range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dublin and Cork, city centre | 100 to 300 dph | A presumption against densities exceeding 300 dph on a piecemeal basis. Above 300 is open for consideration on a plan-led basis only. |
| Dublin and Cork, urban neighbourhoods | 50 to 250 dph | Includes town centres designated in the plan and lands around high capacity transport nodes. |
| Dublin and Cork, suburban and urban extension | 40 to 80 dph | Up to 150 dph open for consideration at accessible locations. |
| Limerick, Galway, Waterford, city centre | 100 to 250 dph | |
| Limerick, Galway, Waterford, urban neighbourhoods | 50 to 200 dph | |
| Limerick, Galway, Waterford, suburban and urban extension | 35 to 50 dph | Up to 100 dph open for consideration at accessible locations. |
| Metropolitan towns, centre and urban neighbourhoods | 50 to 150 dph | |
| Regional Growth Centres, centre and urban neighbourhood | 50 to 150 dph | Suburban and edge 35 to 50 dph, up to 100 at accessible locations. |
| Key Towns and Large Towns, 5,000+, centre | 40 to 100 dph | Suburban and urban extension 30 to 50 dph, up to 80 at accessible locations. |
| Small and Medium Towns, 1,500 to 5,000, edge | 25 to 40 dph | No numerical range is set for the centre of these towns. Development should respond to the scale, form and character of existing development and the capacity of services. |
| Rural towns and villages, under 1,500 | No range set | Tailored to the scale, form and character of the settlement and the capacity of infrastructure. |
In our experience this is the change most often missed. The national standards set the maximum rate of car parking provision for residential development, and only where such provision is justified to the satisfaction of the planning authority. The applicant is required to provide a rationale for the number of spaces proposed, particularly when close to the maximum. The maximums include visitor parking, and exclude car club bays, designated short stay electric vehicle charging bays and accessible spaces.
| Location | Maximum | How the location is defined |
|---|---|---|
| City centres and urban neighbourhoods of the five cities | 1 space per dwelling | Provision here should be minimised, substantially reduced or wholly eliminated. Car free development is permissible and must be disclosed in sales and marketing. SPPR 3 |
| Accessible locations | 1.5 spaces per dwelling | Lands within 500 metres of existing or planned high frequency urban bus services, meaning a ten minute peak hour frequency. SPPR 3, Table 3.8 |
| Intermediate and peripheral locations | 2 spaces per dwelling | Intermediate is 500 to 1,000 metres of a high frequency bus service, or within 500 metres of a service at a fifteen minute peak frequency. Peripheral is everything else, and expressly includes all lands in small and medium sized towns and in rural towns and villages. SPPR 3, Table 3.8 |
| High capacity public transport node | Highest densities apply | Within 1,000 metres walking distance of an existing or planned DART, high frequency commuter rail, light rail or MetroLink node, or within 500 metres of a BusConnects Core Bus Corridor stop. Table 3.8 |
| Cycle parking | 1 space per bedroom | A general minimum for units without ground level open space or with smaller terraces, plus visitor parking. In a dedicated facility of permanent construction, with secure cage or preferably locker facilities, and provision for cargo and electric bikes. SPPR 4 |
"Planned" public transport means infrastructure in a Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy, or where the National Transport Authority, Transport Infrastructure Ireland or Irish Rail has published the preferred route option and stop locations.
A distinct and considerably more flexible set of standards applies to two categories of scheme.
Across the current apartment and residential guidelines, the same two categories attract relaxations from a series of standards, each on a case by case basis and subject to overall design quality:
the requirement for 25 per cent of units to exceed the minimum floor areas does not apply at all; dual aspect may go below the 25 per cent minimum; ground floor to ceiling height may go below 2.7 metres; internal storage may be relaxed in part; private amenity space may be relaxed further; communal amenity space may be relaxed in part or whole; and the private open space standard for houses may be relaxed in part or whole.
A quarter of a hectare is a little over half an acre. For anyone looking at a backland site, a corner site, a yard or a building over a shop in a town or city centre, whether the site falls above or below that figure is likely to change the standards the scheme is assessed against. So does whether the proposal is a refurbishment of an existing building rather than new build, and for refurbishment there is no site size limit at all.
Every figure above is a national standard, and every one of them is only the starting point. Whether a scheme succeeds turns on things a table cannot capture: the zoning and the receiving environment, the capacity of the water and wastewater network, flood risk, appropriate assessment, the character of the area, access and traffic safety, and the way the particular development plan is drafted.
There are also standards on this page that interact with each other in ways that are not obvious. The number of lift and stair cores is in practice driven by the dual aspect ratio. The density range is refined by accessibility and then again by character and amenity. Parking is graduated by the same accessibility bands that permit density uplifts. Getting one figure right and another wrong can produce a scheme that satisfies neither.
Several of these standards are also about to move. An amended draft National Planning Statement on apartment standards was published on 4 September 2026. A draft statement on rural and Gaeltacht housing is at policy direction stage and is intended to replace the 2005 rural housing guidelines. Neither is in force, and both are drafts that can change before they issue. When they do issue, each is expected to apply to any application determined after that date rather than only to applications lodged after it, so a file already in the system could be decided against a standard that did not exist when it was lodged.
The practice advises on the national standards as they apply to residential and mixed-use schemes, at appraisal, application and appeal.