This article first appeared as a readers question about average size of new home builds in Cork in the Irish Examiner.
Q. Hi Kieran
We are just about to start designing our forever home in Cork.
Can you tell me what the average square foot of a new house is these days?
Thank you,
Phoebe
Glounthaune
A. Hi Phoebe
As a politician once said, I’m glad you asked me that question! But before I answer it, let me give you a little background into how house size has developed in recent times. House size has in fact changed a lot, particularly in the last 10 years and the reason for this may surprise you. It’s due to the global financial crisis and the bursting of the Celtic Tiger bubble in Ireland but not because we needed cheaper houses. It’s because different people started designing them. Let’s take a deeper look.
When we think of the first houses in Ireland (apart from the Crannogs!), we generally think of the traditional Irish Cottage. There was a relatively established design for the simple dwellings; a large open kitchen area with an open fire for cooking and heat, a parlour, a pair of bedrooms and perhaps a loft. The design was as simple as the construction and this house type endured through the famine years and throughout the 19th century. These houses were built of locally sourced stone and lime and had a simple thatched roof initially.
In the 20th century things began to change as new building technology began to emerge. The advent of the concrete block and sawn timber roof structures meant building design became much more versatile. This century saw two huge World Wars and the independence of the Irish Republic so our needs, wants and indeed our outlook bore little resemblance to the Irish of the 1800’s. This post war era heralded a new optimism and, along with a move towards towns and cities, a demand for new housing grew. The new houses were a combination of block built housing estates and one-off block built homes, not unlike what we see today in many respects.
When we look at the one-off homes, these were really a combination of bungalows and 2 storey houses. In the late 20th century and even into the early 21st century, a lot of these houses were designed by engineers and draftspeople. Yes there were architects involved for the more high-end and exclusive one-off homes but this was not as commonplace as it is today. So, what changed?
In the Celtic Tiger years (say the years leading up to 2008), there were up to 90,000 houses being built annually in this country (imagine that!). We had a hugely bloated construction and property industry and we couldn’t build fast enough. Architects were designing the occasional luxury one-off home and high-end extension but were largely involved in the huge commercial property sector. When the bubble burst the whole construction sector had to reinvent itself. The only remnants of this industry that remained was the bespoke one-off house sector. This sector was about to benefit from a huge improvement in design and indeed build quality.
Now the best of Irish architects were concentrating their talents on the one-off market and this brought about huge change. I remember, growing up, one-off houses were huge. They weren’t particularly fancy in terms of design but they were massive. You had huge hallways and double height ceilings. Some rooms were very big, some were very small and there was no shortage of circulation space. In those days size was everything. The bigger the better. When architects design houses and extensions, however, they typically take a very different view. They tend to be much more space efficient. This design approach is about quality not quantity. Houses became smaller but better.
To answer your question, if we look at a 4 bedroom house. In the old days this house could have been as big as 3,000 square feet, maybe even bigger but not anymore. If a new house is designed by an architect I would see this house being somewhere in the 2,000 to 2,400 square foot range with the median being about 2,250 square feet. What tends to drive the area range is the little things like a pantry, a home office, a boot room or perhaps an extra ensuite. All these little design flourishes add space. At least when you are weighing up the value of these final additions, you can rest assured that you are working from a much more efficient modern floor plan design.
Kieran McCarthy is a building engineer and director of KMC Homes bespoke A-Rated new home builder, serving Cork and Limerick. He is also presenter of a new RTE tv show showcasing deep retrofits in Irish homes due out later this year.
Follow Kieran on instagram @kierankmc for more home building information, tips and Q&A advice.
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