Appropriate housing choices for a whole lifetime – how accessible are new housing proposals in Ireland?

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dc.contributor.advisorMccartney, Kevin
dc.contributor.advisorHarrison, Jim D.
dc.contributor.authorBusby, Kevinen
dc.date.accessioned2024-09-16T13:49:08Z
dc.date.available2024-09-16T13:49:08Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.date.submitted2024
dc.description.abstractThe availability of appropriate accessible housing options in Ireland, in the event of an immediate need, and to also future-proof one’s living accommodation in later years is of paramount importance. The Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) recommend that 90% of all new houses should be designed to lifetime adaptable criteria. [1] Their proposal, in part reflects the reality of an ageing population, living longer but experiencing frailty in old age. “The Place Alliance Housing Audit (2020) found that three-quarters of new builds in England were ‘mediocre’ or ‘poor’. Developers are not incentivised to build well-designed projects.” [2] While there are some encouraging signs of contemporary small developments adopting Universal Design (UD) principles towards a new typology, the significant majority of recently completed housing schemes in Ireland reflect the reality of the above statement from the UK, regarding accessibility. Additionally, a large proportion of the existing housing stock is either unsuitable or too expensive to adapt to the needs of, not only older people to age-in-place, but to all those requiring extra space due to mobility issues. Housing, as one aspect of the Irish built environment, affects and is affected by the decisions of a diverse variety of individuals and organisations, from the housing minister, in government through to the end-user, the resident. State bodies, legislators, advisory groups, developers, and designers all play their part in the process, each with their own priorities and expertise. In the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design (CEUD), Ireland has an impressive grounding in research into UD, influenced by the ground-breaking work of Ron Mace in the 1980s. Recent publications mark significant steps in the understanding of what is required to help older people to age-in-place or to provide a new type of appropriate housing for all of Ireland’s current and future population. This is very helpful instruction for architects, designers and educators, aiming to ensure an acceptable standard of accessibility in new housing design. Questions remain, however, namely: what aspects of current design proposals fall short of UD requirements and are CEUD recommendations being put into practice? The methodology behind the research, informed by an initial study of existing suburban housing, developed into an analysis of a time and location-specific database of recent, new – as yet unbuilt - housing proposals. The designs are considered against a set of lifetime homes criteria given the following 2 scenarios: 1. a wheelchair user or person with significant mobility issues who is trying to buy a new house or has an immediate need to find a rental home to move into. 2. an elderly person, hospitalized after a fall who wishes to return to their new home. The research findings suggest that only a small minority of new housing in Ireland is, at least functionally accessible. Recommendations with regard to policy, legislation, and education form part of the concluding discussion, with a specific emphasis on the professional development of architects and designers. en
dc.description.statusNot peer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationBusby, K. 2024. Appropriate housing choices for a whole lifetime – how accessible are new housing proposals in Ireland? PhD Thesis, University College Cork.
dc.identifier.endpage240
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/16366
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherUniversity College Corken
dc.rights© 2024, Kevin Busby.
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectAccessibility
dc.subjectNew housing
dc.titleAppropriate housing choices for a whole lifetime – how accessible are new housing proposals in Ireland?
dc.typeDoctoral thesisen
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen
dc.type.qualificationnamePhD - Doctor of Philosophyen
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