Where to start????

youngfella

Hi Guys,

i've just purchased a site subject to planning. It's difficult to know where to start when drawing up plans. I'm from the area and there are plenty of dormers in the area so hopefully planning won't be a problem (we plan to build a dormer). I know a guy who's drawn hundreds of plans of houses so he said there's no problem looking at them to get ideas.I've also been looking at irish house plans online and have seen one or two that i really like the look of.

Has anyone got any ideas or suggestions that might help,

Thanks in advance!!!!

ircoha

There are loads of people much more experience on this forum than me so I will be brief

good luck, u will need it:
1: loads of ideas on this forum, the key ones are engage the appropriate professionals when and as required.
2: have a pre-planning application meeting with the local planners.

You REALLY need to be sure u will get over the local residential requirements before u spend any more money as most professionals will charge for drawings etc regardless of whether u get planning: most will in fact expect payment before the plans are submitted, which is fair enough as the work is done.

Loads of things to think about, one which occurs is check out how the sewage will be dealt with, is site suitable etc:

eire1977

What county are you building in?
We're just about to build in Galway and in the Galway County Council web site you can look at all planning and house drawings. We just drove around, taking note of the houses that we liked and then had a look at them on the website - great for ideas. Maybe your county has a web site similar to this???

One other thing - houses look well different in real life than they do on paper. If the guy you know has drawings, make sure you see the houses in their complete form... nothing worse than finding out half way through a build that you don't like the look of your house!!!

youngfella

I'm building in county roscommon, i'd a look there at the galway county council site and couldn't find the plans, do you know exactly where it is eire1977?

250882

I would always advise anybody building a house to hire an architect but there will always be nay sayers. Buy a copy of grand designs magazine or extend and renovate or self build ireland any magazine really that shows different designs for houses and room layouts. find ideas that you like, cut them out and make a scrap book. Show this to an architect and you should get a good proposal. Generally if everything stacks the same a planner will look more favourably at granting a contemporary modern or traditional cottage design than a bungalow bliss house.
The house design is not the most important issue regarding planning. If you are fitting your house into a line of houses then you could be creating a Ribbon development which in a rural location is a big no-no.
Make sure that the site is suitable for building on (a good test is to drive your car into the field on a dry day and if you get stuck then there may be problems with getting adequate percolation on the site:D)
Access onto the road can also be an issue, can you achieve adequate line of sight from the proposed entrance.
But probably most importantly (especially in Roscommon) do you have a housing need and can you justify it (why do you want to build in this location at this time etc.)

Mellor

eire1977 wrote: »

What county are you building in?
We're just about to build in Galway and in the Galway County Council web site you can look at all planning and house drawings. We just drove around, taking note of the houses that we liked and then had a look at them on the website - great for ideas. Maybe your county has a web site similar to this???

One other thing - houses look well different in real life than they do on paper. If the guy you know has drawings, make sure you see the houses in their complete form... nothing worse than finding out half way through a build that you don't like the look of your house!!!

How a house looks externally has no effect on the internal house and how good it is.
THe plans will show good layouts etc, and elevations will give you the idea of finished look. Finished materail is trival and any materials can be used on any plan. If have doubts of your ability to visualise what the finished house will look like from the plans (which is fine, as of people can't), then I would reconsider taking on the role of drawing the plans yourself or even evaluating houses from plans

eire1977

Youndfella,
Here's the link to the Galway co co web page:
http://http://www.galway.ie/en/Services/Planning/PlanningQuerySystem/
...click on the map link and away you go.......

Mellor,
I see where you are coming from and totoally agree with you but it is nice to see the size, shape and angles of houses to give you ideas that you can incorporate into you own design.

Mellor

Oh of course, I wasn't trying to go against what you said. It has to be done, but wanted to point out that its not the only thing to look for and that the OP shouldn't get hung up on it.
Not every house that looks good will be good inside, and the reverse is also true.

AckwelFoley

Nows the time to think about your heating system.

Are you going to consider a heat pump instead of oil? or at least Solar Thermal for your hotwater needs?

archtech

Mellor wrote: »

Not every house that looks good will be good inside, and the reverse is also true.

However a well designed house will do both.

If one starts with the plans (and internal layout)and they work well, in terms of interaction, orientation etc, it is generally easier to make the elevations work/look well, rather than trying to shoehorn a layout into a particular external appearance.

House orientation on the site is important and should be looked at, large north facing patio doors won't be help the energy efficiency of the house, nor the BER.

mikewest

I don't know whether to start a new thread or partially hijack this one on a closely relared topic. Mods please move if necessary.

Has anyone out there got any experience of pre-planning meetings in Co. Roscommon. I am finally in the process of preparing a planning application and expect to encounter difficulties due to the area I want to build in (heritage). Are the pre-planning meetings any good becuase I know of a close neighbouring farmer who could not get planning for his house but could build a slatted house for his cattle. Do they give any real guidance etc etc? I finally sorted out some sort of arrangement regarding site and transfer of ownership etc with family and have got the go ahead to start the planning process. As far as local needs go, my case is pretty dang near perfect so here goes.

mikewest

mikewest wrote: »

I don't know whether to start a new thread or partially hijack this one on a closely relared topic. Mods please move if necessary.

Has anyone out there got any experience of pre-planning meetings in Co. Roscommon. I am finally in the process of preparing a planning application and expect to encounter difficulties due to the area I want to build in (heritage). Are the pre-planning meetings any good becuase I know of a close neighbouring farmer who could not get planning for his house but could build a slatted house for his cattle. Do they give any real guidance etc etc? I finally sorted out some sort of arrangement regarding site and transfer of ownership etc with family and have got the go ahead to start the planning process. As far as local needs go, my case is pretty dang near perfect so here goes.

I had an informal telephone conversation with the planner and found it quite useful.
I initially sent in some (basic) site layout plans aith a simple description of what I intented to do, then phoned at a pre arranged time (I lived in the UK at the time).
With my plans there were no issues raised as it happened, very straightforward.

bakerbhoy

When i was getting my planning permission the first thing i did was arrange a preplanning meeting and persuaded the planner to visit the proposed site for advice (not a term they like to use).There was an other site visit by the head of planning arranged by a councillor.He met my father and a three hour exchange of views later he indicated that they would look favourably on a low profile house in the agreed area of the site.
I then went to my arcitect with my ideas and the paramaters given by the planner.He first draft is more or less the house been built at the moment.
One rfi and planning was through in 3 months.
The previous posts are giving you sound advice.

250882

There are certain areas in Roscommon under the control a certain planner that are notorious. Definately try and get a pre-planning meeting but a favourable outcome will not guarantee a planning permission. with regards to the sheds, some catogories and sizes are planning exempt but in general they are looked at in a different way to houses.