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Is your home an iPhone or a Model T Ford?

The Model T - 'Any colour... so long as it's black'

Back in 1909, when Henry Ford was asked what colour his new motor car – the Model T – was available in, he replied, ‘Any customer can have the car painted any colour he wants, so long as it’s black.’

A hundred years later and things have moved on. It’s the age of the iPhone – a multi-media communication system that can be an entertainment centre, with access to our favourite music & movies, or a mobile office, allowing us to conduct business whenever, wherever – all at the click of a button. Now, what colour of button would you like?

Unlike ole Henry, Apple puts the customer firmly in the driving seat – we pick the phone, choose the applications – hey presto, we get what we want.

When it comes to buying our homes, however, we’re not so lucky. New research by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) shows that much of new housing built in the UK is not fit for the demands of 21^st Century living. When we spend the largest part of our lives in our homes, isn’t it about time we approached the way we design and build them less like a Model T Ford and more like an iPhone?

: Courtesy of Apple iPhone

According to the survey, based on 2,249 new houses built in the UK from 2003 – 2006, 44% of owners found their kitchen too small for cooking, 37% don’t have enough living space and a whopping 57% don’t have enough storage space in their homes. Providing adequate storage in new housing has long been a bugbear of mine, so don’t get me started. British houses are now the smallest in Europe and the CABE report identifies a need for higher space standards enforced by local planning departments.

But are bigger houses really the answer?

Building bigger presents other problems in a time of scarce materials, rising fuel costs and an increasing need for sustainable use of land. In a recent post, The Elephant in the Room 2: Spaced Out, I talked about a 40sqm apartment in Paris that is home to a family of 4 and their dog – it’s a beautiful home that has been designed to work for them and where every square inch of available space is put to good use.

: Courtesy of Apartment Therapy

Is the problem then with new housing lack of space or simply poor design?

CABE point to physical size as the culprit here yet the survey itself is not based on the vital statistics of houses but on how homeowners feel about the space they have – it measures the quality of the experience of living in their homes, not their size.

And when has size ever been a measure of quality, anyway?

The way we read space can be changed and manipulated, even if we don’t realise it. A room with a dark colour on the walls will appear smaller than one with a light colour; lots of natural light makes a small room look spacious and low ceilings make a large room seem cramped. The current trend for bulky ‘corner’ sofas is a case in point – it may give off the sophisticated Manhattan loft vibe, a la ‘Friends’, in the furniture showroom but in the average home it becomes more like an assault course on the Krypton Factor.

Light and dark affect our visual perception of a space

The way we feel about the space we live in is another moveable feast, influenced by factors that often have very little to do with its size:

Did we live in a larger or smaller house prior to this one?
Are we experiencing lifestyle changes that also change our expectations from our home – getting married, the birth of a child, becoming self-employed or unemployed?
Do we like the neighbourhood and the neighbours?
Have the neighbours we don’t like just extended their house to make it twice as big as ours?

Any one of these can change how we feel about our home on a given day.

Another problem with minimum space standards is that there is more variety in our lifestyles than ever before and this is not addressed by the traditional labels we put on our homes – bedroom, living room, dining room. When our housing options include studio apartments, lofts, work-live units, houseboats, warehouses, community housing and countless other unorthodox types of home, do we need to think about ‘rooms’ at all?

I remember reading once about a man who bought a broom cupboard in the Dakota Building, overlooking Central Park in New York (the building, that is, not the cupboard) – it had enough space for a bed & his clothes and that was all he really needed for his City stopovers. It’s a great example of lateral thinking and for the fraction of the cost of an apartment he lays his head and collects his mail at one of the most exclusive addresses in Manhattan!

Location Location Location!

It may seem extreme, even a little Harry Potter-esque, but he’s not alone. TV programmes like Channel 4′s ‘Relocation, Relocation’, with Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer, focus exclusively on homeowners down-sizing in city locations to create a higher quality (there’s that word again) of life for themselves in the countryside. Shouldn’t we, as buyers have the choice to opt for compact living arrangements, particularly in areas with highly competitive housing markets, if that’s what works for us?

The challenge now, as it has always has been with housing, is how to:

create home environments that we enjoy living in, regardless of size -
that work the way we need them to work -
are sensitive to environmental issues, both at a local and a global scale -
are flexible enough to meet the wide range of demands and expectations we have of them (these varying from person to person and changing all the time) -
and do all of this across different age groups, family sizes, income levels and social brackets…

Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? Well, the typical housing developer would most likely agree and few of them even try. It’s more cost-effective for a developer to build as few ‘types’ of house as possible and much easier to convince us to buy what they build, than to figure out how to build the kind of houses we might want to live in – and still make a profit. Developer-built modern housing is the Model T Ford – not what we want but what choice do we have?

One –off housing, designed for a specific owner, is more successful in hitting the quality criteria and often more innovative in its approach. Japanese architect, Kazuyo Sejima, designed ‘House in a Plum Grove’ in Tokyo, ignoring traditional room conventions, and arranging the layout around the number and type of activities that would take place there, instead. Each activity space is linked so the whole house acts like one large room with lots of smaller spaces off – the family can interact or withdraw, as they choose.

Photo by Axel Vansteenkiste (via www.denda.be)

House in a Plum Grove, Tokyo (Photo by Axel Vansteenkiste)

Our Future ‘iHomes’ probably lie somewhere in between – where developers will construct the exterior of a building, we’ll choose how much space we want based on square footage instead of rooms – rather like slicing up a cake – and then customize the inside to suit our own needs, more than likely using flat-pack ‘room pods’ we’ll buy off-the-shelf at IKEA.

Imposing minimum space standards based on the number of ‘rooms’ in each type of ‘house’ doesn’t create higher quality homes or come close to addressing the complexity of the issues involved in designing modern housing – that requires a different type of thinking altogether. If we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always got – only bigger.

We may not have the answers yet, but – with the housing market on pause and housing developers no longer dominating the conversation – it’s the perfect time to be asking the question:

Where do we want to live?

Did you find this article useful? Do you have any any pet peeves about housing? Please leave a comment with your thoughts on this subject or any other home improvement or design issues you’d like to know more about.

Elephant in the Room 2: Spaced Out

Published July 6, 2009 Design Tips , Extending , Housing - Architecture , Housing - General , The Elephant in the Room 2 Comments
Tags: adding space, creating more space, Extending, extending a home, house design, house extension, natural light, small homes, storage

In the first of the Elephant in the Room series, I talked about common problems to watch out for with home extensions. This week, I’m looking at the problem of lack of space – it’s the No. 1 reason given by homeowners for moving or extending but often the real problem lies in the type of space we have and how we use it.

When it comes right down to it – how much is enough?

There’s a famous quote by architect Mies Van Der Rohe – ‘Less Is More’ – I take this to mean there is a richness and a quality in simplicity. It’s a mantra that can be applied to your home, how you dress, even how you live your life. A former boss of mine was fond of quoting it in reverse – ‘Too Much Is Never Enough’ – and in a way this version is more revealing and says more about how we live our lives today.

It always makes me think about how, whenever I got a pay rise in the good old days, it didn’t put more money in my pocket because I’d automatically adapt my lifestyle to suit the new level of wealth, however small that increase might be! The same principle applies to our homes – the more space we have, the more we adapt to fill the space, creating a ‘need’ for even more space!

Simplicity is about making choices – it’s as much about what we don’t have, as what we do. In the good times, we don’t have to choose and so we indulge, we accumulate, we expand. In doing so, we lose the ability to evaluate between one choice and another.

When we experience constraints in life – and who isn’t feeling the pinch, at the moment – our choices are reduced and we prioritise those things that are fundamental to our well-being or our values. In many ways it is a positive experience – by stripping the excess away we put greater focus and value on what remains.

Less becomes more.

Fewer available choices re-tunes our ability to decide what is of most value to us but more importantly, it teaches us to tackle our problems from a more creative point of view.

I’m seeing a lot more ingenuity in how people design and / or use their homes at the moment and, in particular, how they tackle the problem of making more out of less space.

Take this apartment in the Marais district of Paris, where 2 adults, 2 children and a dog live in a home measuring only 40sqm..

Courtesy of Apartment Therapy

When Apartment Therapy published this article, it sparked a raging debate amongst readers about whether it is possible, legal, moral for a family to live in such a small space and even if it was cruel to the children, the dog or both!

For me there are three key criteria that contribute to the success of this home:

The owners recognise that some activities require space to function properly and others can do without – so the living area is a large multi use room and other rooms become small and functional.
The integrated storage means that everything has a place and by building it right up to the ceiling the space is used efficiently – see below how creative they’ve been in using every available inch.
The apartment is located in one of the most sought after areas of Paris with excellent amenities and, presumably, the owner’s work environments, all within walking distance.

Courtesy Apartment Therapy

The owners have clearly made informed choices (and sacrifices) in opting for this type of home but they haven’t sacrificed style, quality or creativity.

The Paris apartment has lots of ideas for making the most of a small space and this is another favourite project – The Remainder House in British Columbia by Openspace Architecture – where big value has been leveraged out of a small home.

Courtesy Openspace Architecture

Have you ever walked into a room or a house and there was something about it that was instantly appealing? Some spaces just feel right and often it has nothing to do with the size of the room but the quality of natural light. A small room with good natural lighting is much more pleasant to be in than a large room with poor light.

Although the footprint of The Remainder House is modest (under 110sqm) it achieves the sensation of space by doing something rather clever – it borrows it from the outside. Instead of creating a large living room, for example, it has a cosy living space with full height windows that blur the boundary between inside and out – the outdoor space then becomes part of the indoors without the expense of building additional floor area!

Courtesy Openspace Architecture

In this case, the dramatic forest landscape adds significantly to the experience of using the living room but there is no reason why this idea wouldn’t work in an urban or suburban house project, creating a dynamic connection between house and garden.

So here are some things to consider if you feel you need more space in your home:

De-cluttering – a simple way to create space is simply to get rid of the things you don’t need. Think charity shop, Freecycle or earn a few extra pennies by selling items on E-bay or taking them to designer exchange outlets;
Storage Space – by creating dedicated storage space for your possessions you can prevent them from cluttering up rooms. Don’t forget to use all the space available – recesses, space under stairs, high level storage options etc.
Natural Light – is there enough light in the room and can you create more? The ideal is to have light coming from 2 directions, eg. 2 different walls or a wall and the roof. If it is a main living area, look at creating the illusion of more space by using full-height glazing to connect the room with the garden.

For more ideas on making the most of your home, take a look at our article on Home Potential in the new issue of ‘Decorate & Improve Your Home’ Magazine.

Did you find this article useful? Do you have any pet peeves about housing design? Please leave a comment with your thoughts on this subject or any other home improvement issues you’d like to know more about.

Does your Home need more Space?

Published April 30, 2009 Extending , Housing - Architecture , Housing - General , Planning Leave a Comment
Tags: adding space, competition, Extending, extending a home, house extension, housing, housing design, Ireland, Planning, property potential

If you’re feeling the squeeze and would like to discover how to make the most of your home, then there’s still time to enter our competition in the Spring issue of ‘Decorate Extend and Renovate’ magazine.

We’re offering a free Property Potential Report to one homeowner and the chance to be featured in a future edition of the magazine. The winner will have their home assessed and receive an individually tailored report that examines how their spatial needs can be met based on the type of property and local planning criteria. The report includes sketch design drawings showing the possible transformation, a breakdown of any planning issues and an assessment of the costs required to carry out the work – take a look at a typical report here: www.livingroom.ie/report

If you’re thinking of extending and would like to find out if your home can be adapted to create that extra bedroom or the kitchen of your dreams, then tell us what discovering that potential would mean to you – send it along with a photo of your home & a brief description, to:

Decorate Extend & Renovate Magazine,

119 Cahard Road,

Saintfield,

Co. Down.

BT24 7LA.

The competition is open to homeowners throughout Ireland – North & South. Entries should be marked WIN 3 and arrive by 29th May 2009.

Elephant in the Room 1: The Bad Extension

Published April 22, 2009 Buying , Design Tips , Extending , Housing - Architecture , Housing - General , The Elephant in the Room 2 Comments
Tags: adding space, Architect, buying a home, compliance certificates, Extending, extending a home, house extension, housing design, natural light

Earlier today, I watched a great talk by Seth Godin (entrepreneur, author and self-styled ‘agent of change’), called ‘This is Broken’, where he highlighted various ways that people or businesses design around a problem rather than fix the problem itself.

It made me think about housing design and the kind of problems that I come across time and time again – things that are ‘broken’ and with a little bit more thought and care could be designed out, so that they are no longer a problem.

I came up with so many examples that I’m preparing a series of posts highlighting the issues to watch out for when buying or extending a home.

The Bad Extension

Many of the enquiries I have received lately have been from homeowners who bought a home in the past few years that had already been extended but now, having lived in it for a while, they find doesn’t actually work.

Often, they have lots of space but the rooms are too dark or are in the wrong place or there is no natural flow between rooms and some become corridors.

Does this sound familiar?

The No. 1 culprit in the Bad Extension category is the extension that has been built across the full width of the back of the house, blocking all natural light to what were the main rooms and making these spaces almost unusable.

This bad boy will have the worst impact on a terraced house, where there are no side walls to add new windows and bring natural light back in. If you have a semi-detached or detached home, there may be the possibility of introducing new windows on the side elevation, to light those middle rooms, but if you also have a neighbouring house only a couple of metres away, these windows will have only a limited effect.

It is a double-whammy, cost-wise – not only do you end up with space you can’t use but you’ve paid extra for that space and will have to shell out again to get it fixed.

The other main offender is the ‘Designed (and possibly Built) it Myself’ extension, whose distinguishing features include a warren of small rooms that have either no or limited use, rooms that become through-routes to the next room and rooms that aren’t connected but should be.

These are sometimes enhanced by ribbons of boxed in pipework where kitchens or bathrooms have been moved around, without considering existing water and drainage outlets and single skin external walls without insulation that retain little or no heat and will increase heating costs.

It is not always necessary to use an architect, if you are carrying out work – but would you have the know-how to recognise if your project is a simple or a complicated one? An architect will usually save money – and earn their fee – by identifying the most cost-effective way to extend your home, reducing the build costs and ensuring that the final result enhances your home and protects its value.

When buying a house that has already been extended, make sure your solicitor requests Compliance Certificates from the seller – these are documents, signed by an architect or engineer, confirming that the extension complies with the appropriate Planning & Building Regulations.

It is perfectly feasible, however, that an extension could be granted planning permission, built to the correct standards and still be a ‘bad extension’, as described above. Planning criteria relate to the impact of new building work on neighbouring properties and the surrounding area – not the quality of the space created in the building itself.

The lesson then, if you are extending, is avoid these mistakes and you will be on your way to creating a pleasant and functional home. If you are considering buying a previously extended house and spot any of the above tell-tale signs – approach with caution.

Did you find this article useful? Do you have any pet peeves about housing design? Please leave a comment with your thoughts on the subject and also any other home improvement issues you’d like to know more about.

The Pros & Cons of Exempt Development

Published March 16, 2009 Extending , Housing - General , Planning Leave a Comment
Tags: adding space, Architect, exempt development, Extending, extending a home, extending without planning permission, house extension, Irish planning system, Planning, planning permission in Ireland

If you’re thinking of extending your home and can’t decide whether a Planning Application or Exempt Development is the right route for you, here are some of the benefits and drawbacks of Exempt Development – extending without the need for a Planning Application – to consider:

The Pros:

It’s Faster – If the changes you want to make to your home meet the requirements of the Exempt Development guidelines, you can begin work straight away (subject to submitting the correct notices). The planning process takes a minimum of 12 weeks and can take up to 6 months or longer, if there are objections or appeals – for more info, see How Long Does Planning Permission Take?

It’s Cheaper – You can save money on planning fees, a newspaper advert, Ordnance Survey maps, possible appeals and professional or consultant fees for preparing the planning application submission.

It’s Private – There is no requirement to advertise under Exempt Development – neighbours and interested third parties will not have an opportunity to lodge observations or objections, although we would always recommend keeping your neighbours informed, as a goodwill gesture. Building is a slow process and you may need access from your neighbour’s property or their permission for something along the way, so best not to cut the lines of communication right at the beginning!

It’s Legit – If you are going down the Exempt Development route and want peace of mind that everything you are doing is legal and above board, you can apply to your local Planning Department for confirmation that your proposals are compliant with the guidelines, by means of a Section V Exemption Certificate – currently €80.00 and takes 4 weeks. If you apply for the Exemption Certificate, the application may be available to view in the planning department’s on-line database, but the aforementioned restriction on objections and observations still applies. The Certificate is a very useful document to have, as any future buyer of the property will want assurance that any additional work you have carried out either has Planning Permission or meets the Exempt Development criteria.

The Cons:

It’s Limited – Well, there had to be a catch.. There are restrictions on the type and extent of work you can do when extending or improving your home, usually relating to size, height and scale – these issues come under the blanket heading of residential amenity – the ability to enjoy living in your home or neighbourhood. For example, you can only add up to 40sqm and, typically, only 12sqm can be added at first floor level, subject to the height of the roof and distances from neighbouring properties.

It’s Complicated – As mentioned above, the Exempt Development doesn’t give you carte blanche to extend your home – for everything that you are permitted to do, there are a number of qualifications restricting how you are able to do it. It’s important to make sure that the changes you make to your home, without applying for planning permission, comply with the guidelines, as breaches can be prosecuted (see below). This is why we always recommend working with an Architect, even if you do not plan to make a formal application.

It’s the Law – If you exceed the Exempt Development guidelines, the planning authority can stop your work and you may have to submit a planning application to retain the work you’ve already completed – this costs 3 times as much as a standard application and, even then, permission is not guaranteed. The local authority can also prosecute breaches in planning law, with the possibility of fines and even imprisonment.

To weigh up these factors against the option of extending with Planning Permission, take a look at ‘The Pros & Cons of Planning Permission’.

Did you find this article useful? Please leave a comment to let us know your thoughts on the subject and also any other home improvement issues you’d like to know more about.

The Pros & Cons of Planning Permission

Published March 9, 2009 Extending , Housing - General , Planning Leave a Comment
Tags: An Bord Pleanala, Extending, extending a home, house extension, housing design, Irish planning system, Planning, planning appeal, planning application, planning objection, planning observation, planning permission, planning process

Want to extend your home and still feeling unsure about whether you should apply for Planning Permission or explore your options without planning, also known as Exempt Development?

Here’s a summary of the benefits and drawbacks of going down the full planning permission route.

The Pros:

Its Comprehensive – There are fewer restrictions on the type and extent of work you can do when applying for planning permission, allowing you to fully explore the potential of your home – attic conversions, garage conversions, larger extensions at ground and first floor level, changes to the front of a property etc. The restrictions that will apply to this type of work are described in your local Development Plan and are designed to protect residential amenity.

It’s Transparent – When you make a planning application, the requirement for a site notice and a newspaper advert means that everyone is informed, and the opportunity to make an observation means everyone can have their say. The planning decision is then made taking everyone’s views and comments into consideration, along with the planning requirements for that location. If you or any other interested party are not happy with the decision, it can be appealed to An Bord Pleanala, for review.

It’s Conclusive – The Planning Application process gives you 2 opportunities to achieve Planning Permission – firstly, through the local planning department and secondly, through An Bord Pleanala. If you achieve a Grant of Permission through this process, it can only be challenged through the courts – an outcome that is very unlikely in a domestic planning application!

The Cons:

It’s Time Consuming – The standard Planning Application process takes a minimum of 12 weeks and can take up to 6 months or longer, depending on whether there are objections or appeals – take a look at How Long Does Planning Permission Take? for more info.

It’s Expensive – There are fees for submitting a Planning Application – more if you want to either make or fight an Appeal – costs for submitting a newspaper advert, buying Ordnance Survey maps and putting up a sign at the front of your property. There is additional work for your Architect in preparing the planning application drawings and documentation, which may increase their fee. And there is no guarantee that your application will be successful, although working with an experienced and competent Architect will greatly improve your chances.

It’s Conclusive – Yes, this is a double-edged one… As above, the Planning Application process gives you 2 opportunities to achieve Planning Permission – firstly, through the local planning department and secondly, through An Bord Pleanala. If you achieve a Grant of Permission through this process, it can only be challenged through the courts – an outcome that is very unlikely in a domestic planning application! If you are refused after going through both these processes, then it’s back to the drawing board..

To weigh up these factors against the option of extending without Planning Permission, take a look at ‘The Pros & Cons of Exempt Development’.

Did you find this article useful? Please leave a comment to let us know your thoughts on the subject and also any other home improvement issues you’d like to know more about.

How Long Does Planning Permission Take?

Published February 11, 2009 Extending , Housing - General , Planning 2 Comments
Tags: housing, Planning, planning application, planning approval, planning objection, planning observation, planning permission, planning process

In this article I’ll tell you about the planning process itself - the timescales involved and the various scenarios that can arise along the way. If you’d like to learn more about what should actually be submitted as part of a planning application, please take a look at the article entitled, ‘Making a Planning Application’.

The typical timescale for a Planning Application is 12 weeks, which breaks down like this:

Week 0:

Submit Planning Application

Week 1-2:

Application is verified by planning office. If the application does not include all the necessary information as laid down in the Planning Acts, then it and the planning fee will be returned and a new submission will be required.

Week 1 – 5:

Planning Application is available to view at Planning Office and, depending on local authority, on-line. This is the period of time that allows neighbours and other interested parties to inspect the application and make objections / observations to the planning authority – these are known as Third Party objections or observations. The fee for making an observation is €20.00.

It is also a requirement that the Planning Application Site Notice remain in place at the front of the property and visible from the public footpath throughout the initial 5 weeks – the planning office will check at some point during this period. If the sign is not in place, has been defaced or is illegible, the planning application will be returned and a new submission required.

It is possible to appeal this – if the sign has been in place and been subjected to vandalism – but this will require proof, eg. letter from neighbour or photographic evidence. It’s a good idea to take a photo of the site notice in place with the time and date printed, when the sign is first erected, and regularly after that until the 5 week period expires – the notice should be removed at the end of this time.

If a number of objections or observations have been made during the 5 week period, the applicant can respond to these points by also submitting an observation and paying the required fee, as long as it is submitted within the 5 week period.

Week 5 – 8:

The planner will review the application along with any observations or objections submitted. He / she may also invite comments from other interested local authority departments – usually the Roads & Drainage departments will have some input. The planner prepares a report and makes their recommendation for review and issue by the Planning Department.

At the end of the 8 week period, the applicant will receive a Notification of one of the following responses:

Application Approved;
Application Rejected;
Request for Additional Information.

What happens next will depend on which of these circumstances arise, as follows.

Application Approved:

Week 8 – 12:

Any third party who made observations or objections to the application can, if they choose, make a further Appeal to An Bord Pleanala, at a cost of €200.00. The Board will then consider the existing application and invite further information from the applicant, the objectors and any relevant parties (including the planning department) in order to make their decision – this takes a minimum of 16 weeks.

If there have been no objections to the application, the formal Grant of Approval will be issued at the end of the 12 weeks.

Application Rejected:

Weeks 8 – 12:

The applicant can, if he chooses, lodge an Appeal to An Bord Pleanala, as above – this is known as a First Party Appeal.

Alternatively, the applicant can choose to take on board the comments made in the planner’s report and modify the proposals to make a new application.

Request for Additional Information:

If the Planning Department requests additional information, the applicant has a period of 6 months in which to reply. When this information has been submitted, the Planning Department will respond within a period of 4 weeks.

Again, the possible reponses are Approval or Rejection (with timescales and options, as above) or they can request Clarification of the Further Information submitted. Clarification will relate exclusively to the issues highlighted in the Request for Additional Information, and not raise new queries to be addressed. Once submitted, the Planning Department will make a final decision within 4 weeks.

If the applicant fails to submit the Additional Information or Clarification of Additional Information within 6 months of the request, the application will lapse and a new Planning Application will be required.

Permission Granted – What Next?

Once Planning Permission has been obtained, any conditions stipulated in the Grant of Permission by either the Planning Department or An Bord Pleanala will have to be addressed prior to commencing with building work and may require a further submission, known as a Compliance Submission.

A Notification of Commencement of Building Works should also be submitted prior to proceeding with building work.

Did you find this article useful? Please leave a comment to let us know your thoughts on the subject and also any other home improvement issues you’d like to know more about.

What’s Involved in Making a Planning Application?

Published February 11, 2009 Extending , Housing - Architecture , Housing - General , Planning Leave a Comment
Tags: Architect, extending a home, house extension, Planning, planning application, planning permission, planning permission in Ireland

What's Involved in Making a Planning Application?

So you want to extend or make changes to your home and you know that the work will require an application for Planning Permission – what happens next?

Whether you are making changes to your home under the Exempt Development guidelines (without the need for a formal application) or applying for Planning Permission, the purpose of the planning system is to protect your local built environment and its residential amenity (the ability to enjoy living there), which is why there are restrictions and guidelines in the first place. The main issues are described in your local Development Plan, which is usually available to view on-line and also at your local planning office.

Remember that your proposals not only affect yourself and your home but will also have an impact on those around you, so think about how you would react to a neighbour making the same changes to his or her house. The more respectful and sympathetic you are to your neighbours homes when making your plans, then the better chance you have of getting planning permission and avoiding a long drawn out planning process to say nothing of a difficult and fraught building process!

I would always recommend working with an Architect to develop the design proposals for your home and prepare the Planning Application, as they will bring expert knowledge and experience to your project. Whether the Architect needs to be involved for the whole project or only part of it will depend on what you want to achieve:

Do you have very limited space?

Is there an existing extension to be taken account of?

Do you want the new space to integrate seemlessly with the existing house?

Do you want to maximise natural light?

If you’ve answered yes to any of the above questions then using an Architect is likely to bring greater value to your project.

The Architect will help you to develop a Brief – this a detailed description of the changes you’d like to make and what you hope to achieve from the proposed changes to your home, taking account of your needs, timescale and budget. He / she will carry out a detailed survey of the property – plans, elevations and sections – and use this information to prepare drawings of the house as existing which will then form the basis for the new proposals. He / she will also advise you of the various regulations that may apply to your project – the most common ones are Planning, Building Regulations and Health & Safety.

Sketch drawings are prepared for discussion and, when you are happy with the proposals, these are developed into the architectural planning drawings.

So what’s actually required for a Planning Application?

Although complex projects may require more information in order to explain the proposals more clearly and the planner can also request more information, as part of the process, these are the basics:

Planning Application form;
Site Notice (to be erected at front of property for first 5 weeks of application period and a copy included with the application);
Newspaper Notice – original & a copy of advert;
OS Maps – these have to be originals and can be purchased from Ordnance Survey outlets in the form of Planning Packs, which cost around €55.00
6no. copies of the architectural drawings showing the existing house and the proposed changes – site layout, floor and roof plans, elevations and sections, proposed drainage routes ( if appropriate) along with a description of the materials to be used or design specification.

The site notice and newspaper notice can be erected / published up to 2 weeks prior to submitting your application. Your local planning office will have a list of newspapers that are acceptable for your area – local weekly papers are often less expensive but will require your notice to be submitted approx. a week in advance whereas national newspapers can usually print within a day or two of receiving your notice. The site notice must be visible from the public footpath at the front of your house – it’s a good idea to have it mounted just beyond the reach of anyone passing, to prevent vandalism.

If you’d like to find out about the Planning Application process itself – the timescales involved and what they could mean to your project – take a look at How Long Does Planning Permission Take?

Did you find this article useful? Please leave a comment to let us know your thoughts on the subject and also any other home improvement issues you’d like to know more about.

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Your home… with living:room

Archive for the 'Housing – General' Category

Is your home an iPhone or a Model T Ford?

Elephant in the Room 2: Spaced Out

Does your Home need more Space?

Elephant in the Room 1: The Bad Extension

The Pros & Cons of Exempt Development

The Pros & Cons of Planning Permission

How Long Does Planning Permission Take?

What’s Involved in Making a Planning Application?

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