JJ Rhatigan and Spanish firm launch legal battle against Department of Housing
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Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘We should be making homes, not units': Smaller apartments plan could lead to more planning delays and few savings, experts warn
'This is a dumbing-down of standards that should be about making homes, not units. I fear what kind of world we're making.' Architect Gerry Cahill, who has worked on social and affordable housing developments for more than 40 years, is not impressed by the new apartment guidelines issued by Minister for Housing James Browne on Tuesday. 'The fear is that if you create a society of one-bedrooms, where do you go from there? How do you make a family? It works to get you out of your parents' box room, but where next?' Cahill asks. The new guidelines allow for greater density and smaller units in apartment blocks, aimed at closing a viability gap between what they cost to build and what developers can sell them for. READ MORE They will 'get apartment-building moving' and 'ensure [they] are viable to build', Browne said on Tuesday. The guidelines reduce the minimum size of a studio apartment to 32sq m, down from 37sq m. There will also be no restrictions on the specific mix of units within a development. Previously the number of one-bedroom apartments or studios within any apartment scheme was restricted to 50 per cent, with no more than 25 per cent of the entire scheme allowed to be studios. Apartment complexes can also have fewer windows, and there will be more units using one lift. Graphic: Paul Scott The Department of Housing claims the changes will result in an average saving of between €50,000 - €100,000 per unit. But will it work in driving down costs and ramping up construction? And what could be the unintended consequences of this loosening of standards? Many discussions over the last number of days focused on how exactly the department came to this cost savings figure of €50,000-€100,000 per unit, and how accurate it might be. The department said it comes from engagement with the Land Development Agency (LDA), the State's affordable-housing delivery body. Work by quantity surveyors within the LDA showed that when all of these measures were combined they could result in these savings per home, department sources said. The Minister was asked on Wednesday if he would publish these costings, and he said he would - but no such evidence has been produced so far. Other housing experts have crunched the numbers and have come to a very different conclusion. Paul Mitchell, director of construction consultants Mitchell McDermott, ran the numbers on all of the changes combined and says the real savings are €28,000-€39,000 per unit. Taking the newly designed studio as an example, the measures resulting in the largest savings are the reduction in floor space - which makes a saving of between €6,000 and €7,000 - and the reduction in windows, which saves another €4,000 to €8,000. All of which goes to say that a figure of between €50,000 and €100,000 seems a long way off what industry professionals expect to save. Another factor is that land values could increase because it will be possible to build many more units on the same site. 'I think the risk here now is developers will all revalue their sites on the basis of fitting more studios which are much more lucrative. That then increases the site value, and it stops anything else happening except small units,' Orla Hegarty, assistant professor at the UCD School of Architecture, says. Concerns had been raised that this change to standards would result in further delays to building, as developers would have to resubmit planning applications to benefit from them. There was a belief that this in turn would clog up the planning system, put a pause on building and ultimately result in higher costs. The Department of Housing had clearly thought about this, and believes it has a solution: an amendment to planning laws to allow changes to be made to plans without the need for a fresh application. The Minister is expected to bring forward the amendment to the Planning and Development Amendment Bill (2025) next week. This will allow developers who currently have planning permission to submit revised drawings and have their amendments expedited through the planning system and automatically granted on a 'permitted alteration' basis without being subject to an entirely new planning process. There could be a fly in the ointment, however: any change to a planning permission would restart the clock for judicial review appeals to be made, legal sources say. Also, the amendment itself could be challenged in court, the guidelines could be challenged and an individual development could be challenged. 'These aren't minor modifications - you're talking about increasing the density of the development, which means more gardens, more electricity connections, more traffic, more people. There's a constitutional right to participate in the planning system if the development could have a significant effect on you,' explains a legal source, who did not wish to be named in case they were involved in future cases. Then there's the question: what will they be like to live in? It is hard to underestimate just how small a 32sq m studio is for a home, but picture this: you can fit eight of them into a tennis court. [ Apartments with fewer windows sound okay, until you live in one Opens in new window ] Now imagine there is no limit to how many of them can be gathered around one lift shaft, or how many of them are in one apartment block. Designing a block this way often means long, dark corridors not unlike a hotel, with dozens of doors off one hallway. 'If you're that close to your neighbours, you can smell every meal that's cooked. You can hear every argument. It's very bad for your mental health to not have privacy and to have that level of intrusion,' Hegarty says. 'In a space this small there is only one place to put your bed, one place to put your sofa. There's nowhere to put a cot. There's hardly a place to put a washing machine in the kitchen, and if you have to fold a pram or use a walking frame, there's no space,' Hegarty says. 'I always think of Irish families and where they will go for Christmas. There's a presumption that this is just temporary, and they all have middle-class parents who'll take them, and they're only there for a little while. But that's not the case. These are people's homes forever,' Hegarty says. There is a fear among many architects that this high-density, small-space living is unsustainable and does not serve the long-term needs of anyone except those who have no other choice. 'How do you live in one space where you are cooking, cleaning, sleeping; where you can't escape from yourself or your partner?' Cahill asks. 'We're not creating units, we're creating homes, and we need to think about the best way to achieve that.' He designed a development with Sr Stanislaus Kennedy called Stanhope Green in Stoneybatter which converted an old convent into housing for people who were previously homeless. Sr Stanislaus Kennedy at The Sanctuary in Stanhope Street, Dublin. Photograph: Alan Betson The project was deemed a great success, providing a communal garden called The Sanctuary, a library and other community spaces. 'Sr Stan's approach was that everyone deserves a home, not a unit. Stanhope Green was a model for communal living,' Cahill says.
Irish Times
19 hours ago
- Irish Times
Living in a small apartment: ‘It's claustrophobic ... you can't get away from each other'
New guidelines allowing for smaller apartment sizes were announced on Tuesday by Minister for Housing James Browne. Aiming to cut costs and increase construction, the plans will reduce the minimum size of studio apartments from 37sq m to 32sq m. For those living just within or even below the current legal space requirements, the thought of living somewhere even smaller is difficult to comprehend. Criodán Ó Murchú (27) and his fiancee, Laura (27), currently live in a mobile home in Galway. It measures just under 37sq m, and is on Laura's parents' property. He says their current living space is 'unsustainable and incompatible with the life we want to live'. The couple are 'quite limited in the amount of things we own and use', and had to get rid of their kitchen table as it 'occupied far too much space'. Criodán Ó Murchú (27) and his fiancee, Laura (27) live in a mobile home in Galway, measuring just under 37sq m Mr Ó Murchú says he cannot imagine making this space any smaller, as it would be 'mentally taxing'. He feels the housing market continues to outpace the couple's capacity to save for a bigger home. While he's not surprised the Government is considering reducing apartment sizes, he is against it. 'We want to start our family, and have children. However, that is indefinitely on pause until we move to a space larger than here.' Family planning for Brendan Thornton and his partner Katie Byrne has also been put on hold due to their cramped living space. They live in a small two-bedroom bungalow in Dundalk with their three-year-old son. Mr Thornton was in a road traffic collision in 2001 which left him requiring a wheelchair. He was provided the bungalow two years later through Clúid, a non-profit housing body. He says the space suited his needs when he lived alone, but it is not big enough to accommodate three people. He keeps his medical equipment and parallel bars in his son's room. The couple also removed the doors between their kitchen and livingroom to create more space. The couple 'would love to have a second child' but are limited by the size of their home. Mr Thornton noted he uses a small wheelchair, and says someone with a larger or electric wheelchair would struggle to move around in his home. He thinks a reduction in minimum apartment sizes would 'make things more difficult for people', limiting the options of those planning on having a family. Brendan Thornton in his bungalow Pamela Kavanagh, head of communications at the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) says wheelchair users will be further pushed out of the housing market if the minimum size of a studio apartment decreases. She notes there is 'very minimal housing stock available for people with disabilities', whether they are looking to privately rent or purchase a wheelchair-accessible home. 'Housing is one of the biggest issues' for wheelchair users, acting as 'the main barrier towards true independence', she says. Ms Kavanagh says the IWA has yet to be consulted on the guidelines. Ciara Gavin (26) and her partner Morgan Hegarty have been living in a small apartment in Cork for the last three years. Ciara Gavin (26) and her partner Morgan Hegarty have been living in a small apartment in Cork for the last three years. Photograph: Ciara Gavin Ms Gavin describes her living space as 'quite claustrophobic' but the couple 'would almost be used to it now'. 'When we first moved in here it was a struggle. My partner and I get on very well but if we were to have a fight, there's nowhere. You can't really get away from each other in that space.' Working from home is 'not ideal' in these conditions, Ms Gavin, who is a PhD student, says. 'If there's anything else going on in the flat you couldn't really sit and focus. I couldn't take a meeting here if my partner was working from home as well, that would be completely impossible.' Despite the drawbacks of the apartment's size, she said they feel fortunate to have found any property to rent. 'We were only looking for a few weeks ... The housing market in Cork, it is impossible to find somewhere, so this was an incredible stroke of luck.' Daniel Heneck lives in a 25sq m studio in Dublin Daniel Heneck (26) from South Africa has had a more positive experience in his 25sq m studio in Dublin. Living in a studio gives Mr Heneck a 'freedom' that can't be found when sharing a space with housemates. 'I can cook, clean and shower whenever I want without having to co-ordinate.' He never feels 'completely isolated', as 'there's always some background buzz in the building, even if it's just strangers chatting in the hallway'. He says it can be 'harder to meet people' when living alone. 'It seems like those living in shared apartments make connections more naturally, while those in studios are left hovering a bit on the fringes.' 'Alice' (44), who chose not to use her real name for fear of intimidation from her landlord, has lived in a 33sq m apartment in Dublin 8 for five years. She says she feels trapped in her housing situation, for which she pays almost €1,000 a month. She avails of the Homeless Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) support scheme. Alice said the 'feeling of claustrophobia' has negatively impacted her mental health. Other stressors surrounding her housing situation – including the presence of mould, rats, constant noise from neighbours and construction and a difficult relationship with her landlord - led her in the past to being prescribed anti-anxiety medication. Government plans to reduce the legal minimum apartment size limit are 'scandalous,' she thinks. 'It's going to encourage current landlords to start renting out cupboards and wardrobes to people so they can live in them. Places that are stupidly small and don't have facilities. This apartment that I'm in now isn't facilitated to have a bathroom on my floor.' 'I've never felt safe here. I've never felt healthy here ... I hate coming home,' she says. Maisy-Rose Keane (22) has started online counselling to help deal with the stress of living in a cramped space. She moved into a small studio apartment in north Dublin with her partner in September. It is their first-ever space together; 'bedroom, kitchen and bathroom all rolled into one'. While they enjoy sharing a space, Ms Keane notes the size of their home has 'impacted both our quality of life and our relationship'. Her partner's work requires a large computer set-up, which the apartment's size does not allow for. This has left him commuting to his family home in Wexford to work, in between attending college in Dublin. She said if they were to lose 5sq m of their apartment they wouldn't have a bathroom. 'Unfortunately, those making this decision will likely never have to experience living in a windowless 32sq m [apartment], and I hope for their sake they never do. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.' Maggie Kobick (35) has also struggled with her mental health as a result of her lack of space. She pays €860 a month for a 19sq m apartment in Rathmines, which measures well under the current legal minimum requirement. Having lived there for seven years now, she describes the experience as 'very degrading'. 'I have become increasingly anxious because I feel physically confined and trapped,' she says. However, relocating doesn't seem financially viable, with bigger studio apartments on the market being 'double the price'. She finds herself 'constantly' bumping into furniture. 'I'll whack into a door frame, the sink, the table.' The lack of space has also limited her access to hobbies and creative outlets such as music and pottery. 'I tend to have hobbies that require storage and I just can't do any of them there. There's no space for spreading anything out.'
The Irish Sun
19 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Eight great ‘summer sippers' from Lidl, including 5-star €7.99 bargain wine that's ‘super alternative to Pinot Grigio'
THE arrival of Aldi in 1991, and Lidl the following year, was just the kind of kick up the rear the Irish retail market needed at the time. In the years since - Advertisement 9 Variety of wine for tasting on table in vineyard Credit: Getty Images - Getty That customer stand-offish attitude – one might say childish snobbery – quickly evaporated. My interest in both companies has always been about the wine ranges they offer to Irish wine lovers. How do they service some 350 outlets across the land with affordable wines? Well, I got a chance to answer some of these conundrums on a trip to Advertisement Read more in Wine It included a two-day stay in Rioja, followed by another two in Ribera del Duero, two of Spain's major wine-producing regions. It's a wine producing nation known for innovation and the ability to deliver very quaffable reds, whites and rosés vintage after vintage. But could they consistently deliver the goods to some 12,360 Lidl stores across Europe and beyond, including the 180 Irish outlets? That question was conclusively answered in visits to Marqués de Carrion in Rioja, and Bodega Felix Solis in Valdepeñas. Advertisement Most read in The Irish Sun Exclusive These are state of the art wineries. More than capable of supplying all the Spanish regional wines Lidl requires. At Valdepeñas the winery boasts one of the finest and most modern processing and bottling plants in the world – with a total capacity for 330 million bottles, a bottling capability of 150,000 an hour, and an aging cellar capable of holding 130,000 oak barrels. Wow! Jose Mourinho launches new side hustle alongside Fenerbahce job as John Terry vows to be first customer Back in Rioja, at Marqués de Carrion, the production figures are just as incredible: annual bottling capacity of 50 million, with 20,000 American and French oak barrels where the wines rest before bottling. The cellar has a capacity for one million Rioja Crianzas, Reservas and Gran Reservas. Above all, what impressed me most was the hygiene in place in both of these wineries, two of the biggest in Spain. I can remember two decades ago when visiting Spanish bodegas that hygiene, and health and safety regulations, were mainly non-existent. Spain has come a long, long way. Advertisement What is so important for Lidl is that the logistic departments at both companies are among the best, thus alleviating any worries about deliveries. One final note on this most educational trip… in recent years, particularly the 2022 to 2024 vintages, I have seen a gradual increase in quality of the Lidl wines – more weight on the palate, more rounded and more characterful wines. And a little more adventurous in their choice of wines. Well done, Lidl. Below are eight of my favourite wines tasted on the trip, with two outstanding five-star bottles. Advertisement Cepa Lebrel Rioja Reserva, 2020 (ABV 13.5%) 9 €8.99 everyday price @ Lidl stores Grape: Tempranillo A REAL, long-time favourite with Lidl shoppers. A medium garnet colour when poured, with aromas of blackberries, cherries and just a whiff of vanilla. Advertisement The palate is well integrated, with nice layers of ripe dark fruit and cherries, along with notes of spice, leather, and dark chocolate. The tannins are supple and softening nicely, which helps deliver an exceptionally smooth finish. Enjoy with: Roast leg of spring lamb (when the price drops!) Star rating: **** Gavi 2023 (ABV 12%) 9 Advertisement €9.99 everyday price @ Lidl stores Grape: Cortese GAVI, for many years, has been a wine I found instantly forgettable – but this was a delightful surprise, from Piedmont, Italy, and at a super price. A medium straw colour, it has an enticing floral, citrus and Granny Smith apple bouquet. Advertisement The palate is bone dry and refreshing, with a nice streak of minerality, great acidity and perceptible notes of melon, peach and apple. Punching well above its weight. Enjoy with: Salmon pasta. Star rating: **** Hachon Ribera del Duero DO Reserva, 2020 (ABV 14%) 9 Advertisement €10.99 everyday price @ Lidl stores Grape: Tempranillo THIS generous and very more-ish, ruby red wine is medium bodied and has excellent structure. A brooding, deep ruby colour, it has aromas of soft, squishy black summer fruits, like blackberries and blackcurrants, along with a lick of blueberries. Advertisement The palate is well balanced with concentrated black fruit flavours, with notes of stewed plum and coffee, and nicely drying tannins. Super length. Enjoy with: Beef and mushroom pie. Star rating: **** RSV Picpoul de Pinet AOP, 2024 (ABV 13.5%) 9 Advertisement €7.99 everyday price @ Lidl stores Grape: Picpoul FROM the sun-soaked Mediterranean coast in the south of France, comes this light, aromatic and crisp white wine – a super alternative to Pinot Grigio. A pale gold colour, with light green reflections, the nose is quite intense with a mix of citrus, lemon, pineapple and floral notes, leading into a palate that has great acidity, citrus fruits and a nice streak of salinity. Advertisement Enjoy with: Perfect pairing with oysters or light salads. Star rating: ***** Breath of Paradise Cotes de Provence Rosé, 2024 (ABV 12.5%) 9 €11.99 everyday price @ Lidl stores Advertisement Grape: Grenache WHISPER it softly, this elegant rosé wine, is half the price, and twice as good, as better known Provencal pinks. Nice pale salmon pink in the glass, with strong aromas of strawberries, with delicate herbal and peach notes. The palate is very dry and particularly delicate with good acidity and length. Advertisement Enjoy with: Pan fried Lemon Sole Star rating: **** Chianti Reserva, 2021 (ABV 13%) 9 €10.99 everyday price @ Lidl stores Grape: Sangiovese Advertisement EXTREMELY quaffable and fresh Chianti Riserva, at a rather agreeable price. This medium ruby Tuscan red is a serial vintage pleaser, with dark, soft fruit aromas (think blackberries), with just a little floral and coffee bean note on the nose. The palate is wonderfully polished and refined, with notes of dark cherry, plum, blackberries and spice, with good acidity and a rounded smooth finish. Dangerously seductive sipper. Enjoy with: Midweek pasta dish Advertisement Star rating: **** Castillo de Albai Rioja Blanco, 2023(ABV 12/5%) 9 At Lidl stores from July 10 @ €7.99 Grape: Viura Advertisement THERE has been a welcome resurgence of interest in white Rioja in recent years. Little is produced, but many bodegas are taking these wonderful wines seriously again. White production in Rioja is less than ten per cent, but gradually growing. The best are prohibitively expensive, so it's great to try this bargain basement Blanco. A medium straw yellow colour, as it opens up in the glass it reveals nice tropical fruit and green apple aromas. The palate is fresh, crisp and nicely rounded, with notes of pear, citrus and stone fruit. Good length. Advertisement Enjoy with: Paella Star rating: **** Tulga Joven D.O. Toro, 2023 (ABV 14%) 9 €8.49 everyday price @ Lidl stores Advertisement Grape: Tempranillo FROM the small, demarcated Toro region, situated north west of Madrid, comes this full-bodied red which really impressed me at recent tastings. A deep, seductive ruby colour when poured, it has cherry, raspberry and plum aromas. The palate is dry, with a bowl of red fruit flavours – raspberries, cherries and blackcurrants. It also has a peppery note and a little oak. Medium length on the finish, with silky tannins. Super sipper. Advertisement Enjoy with: Grilled lamb cutlets. Star rating: *****
