Hines clarifications document - 10th August 2021
In reaction to some more or less public, more or less controlled presentations, Hines issued a clarification statement.
As this document answers some of the questions held at these meetings - it is a good idea to unpick some of the arguments used.
The first thing to say is the document continually references the over 50% of flats which have dual aspect light, and other good features. It is important to remember that the number according to Hines is 51%. There is a consistent failure to address 49% of the development!
Much is made of EU and other norms etc. without providing any actual references to these norms in the document itself.
BTR allows for the building of flats of small sizes previously not permitted in Dublin. To say that 94% of these flats are over the BTR standard, looks good on paper, but is hardly a proud claim. And the extent to which the standards are exceeded is exceedingly small, e.g. for a standard single studio:
That's 0.8m2 larger than the BTR requirement!
As Hines themselves acknowledge, only 18% of the flats pass the buy-to-sell standard.
The document uses the "Average UK/EU" values in its tables and implies that these values are much exceeded in Ireland, and so in this development. An average EU measurement says very little. Do we seek to compare ourselves to Romania or Germany. What is it we expect for ourselves.
6. Studio design
2 people in a single occupancy flat?
Even more interesting is the statement in the document that the studio flats may in fact be occupied by 2 people!
The minimum size requirement for double occupancy in the UK is 50m2 (UK norm see: https://www.designingbuildings... and this webpage already mentions at the top that "Of all EU countries, England has the smallest homes by floor area")
The document includes an image of what is said to be a typical studio flat - but the flat shown is anything but typical.