Minister told new apartment guidelines are ‘insanity’

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

The Housing Minister has been told his plan to lower the cost of apartments by reducing their size is “insanity”.

The Cabinet signed off on new guidelines for apartment building brought by Minister James Browne on Tuesday.

It includes a reduction in the minimum size of studio apartments from 37 square metres to 32 square metres.

In an attempt to improve delivery costs of apartment schemes, the Government would also remove any restrictions on apartment mix.

The stated aim of the measures is to improve the viability of apartment building.

Mr Browne said his proposals will reduce costs by between €50,000 to €100,000 per unit.

It is also proposed to remove any limitation on the number of units per lift and stair core per floor, subject to compliance with building regulations.

It also reduces the guidelines for the number of apartments required to have dual aspect windows.

The minister has insisted the changes will not compromise disability, fire safety, or environmental requirements.

At the Housing Committee on Tuesday, Mr Browne committed to providing members with the data behind the 100,000 euro figure on savings.

It came after Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin O Broin heavily criticised the proposals.

Mr O Broin said: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results – and that’s exactly what you and your colleagues in Cabinet are doing today.

“For the third time, a minister of Fianna Fail/Fine Gael Government has brought forward regulations to undermine and reduce standards of apartments.”

Mr Ó Broin said the new guidelines would allow for “smaller, darker apartments in sub-optimally planned residential developments”.

He added: “The irony, of course, is these are going to going to be the most expensive apartments, because these are the apartments that will have no protections whatsoever as you gut rent pressure zones.

“It will also push up land values – and I’m sure your officials have advised you of this – if you increase the density of a plot, it increases the price of the land, and that will impact on viability.”

Mr Ó Broin said the minister had also created “huge uncertainty” in the planning and development sectors.

He added: “What I don’t understand is the claim that you’ve made – albeit with some caveats in your press release – that these changes will result in some cases of a reduction in cost per unit of 50,000 to 100,000 euro.”

Mr Ó Broin said he did not see any scenario from Department reports that reducing square meterage of one-bed apartments and studios would lead to those savings.

He said the Department’s own reports showed that a reduction of three-to-seven square metres would result in a saving of just 9,000 euros per unit.

Asked specifically to explain the claim, the minister said the savings also arose out of other measures including apartment mix, as well as the new rules on lift and stairwells.

“When you add it all up in terms of staircases etc, the number of lifts, you will get an offer of more units onto the same square footage on the envelope of the apartment block.

“And then when you divide that back down, you will find that there is significant savings.”

Pressed on whether he could provide data to support his claim to the committee, the minister said he would share the Departmental figures with the committee.

Meanwhile, Social Democrats housing spokesman Rory Hearne asked if analysis had been undertaken to assess the impact of light reduction under the guidelines.

Mr Browne said “careful consideration” had been given to the changes.

Asked if he could hand over such a report to the committee, Mr Browne said he was not sure what sort of analysis could be provided.