How to find the floor plans and room sizes for a new build in Ireland

Last reviewed: 24 September 2026

For a new build, the floor plans are usually in the estate's planning application on the council's planning register. Search by the development's name or address, open the permission, and look for the drawings for your house type: floor plans, elevations and the site layout. They show room sizes, window positions and the layout of the estate. Check with your solicitor whether any later permission changed the house type, and remember the finished house can differ from the drawings.

Brochure plans vs planning drawings

A brochure floor plan is drawn to sell the house. It is often simplified, and it may not show which way the house faces or what is behind the back wall.

The drawings in the planning file are the ones the council assessed when it decided the application. They usually show:

• each room with its dimensions
• window and door positions on every side of the house
• the site layout: where your plot sits, which way it faces, and what is next to it

One buyer on Askaboutmoney, buying a new build with no layout document, asked: "How could I know what is the exact plan of the house I'm buying?" (Askaboutmoney, 5 Feb 2022). For most new estates, the planning file is the answer.

Finding the estate's permission

Every planning application is public. You can view them online through your county or city council's website, or through Planning.LocalGov.ie (Local Government Ireland).

Three ways to find the right one:

1. By map. The National Planning Application Map on myplan.ie shows planning applications received in the past ten years. Zoom to the estate and click the application areas.
2. By name or address. Search the council's register for the development's marketing name, the road it is on, or the townland. Dublin City Council's search, for example, works by reference number, location, description, name and date (Dublin City Council).
3. By reference number. If the developer's agent or brochure gives a planning reference, use it. It is the fastest route.

A large estate may be built under several permissions, one per phase, plus later amendments. Check the map for every application that covers your part of the estate.

New applications take a little time to appear in full. Dublin City Council says the full planning file will normally be available online within 10 working days (Dublin City Council).

Finding your house type in the drawings

Developers give each design a house type code, such as "Type A" or "B2". The brochure and the sales agent use the same codes.

In the planning file:

• The site layout drawing shows every plot, usually numbered, with its house type. Find your plot number and its type.
• The house type drawings show the floor plans and elevations for each type. There may be a separate drawing for each type, or several types on one sheet.
• A schedule of accommodation, where one is filed, lists each unit type with its floor area and number of bedrooms.

Check whether your plot is a mirror image ("handed") version of the type. The rooms are the same, but windows and the garden face the other way.

Reading the drawings

Floor plans show each floor from above: rooms, doors, windows, stairs. Room sizes are usually written in each room, in metres.

Elevations show each side of the house. They tell you where the windows are, and so which rooms look onto the garden, the road or the neighbours.

Sections cut through the house and show ceiling heights.

The site layout shows the house on its plot, the garden, the parking, the neighbouring houses and the north arrow.

A tip on scale: drawings are made at a set scale on a set paper size. If you view a PDF on screen or print it at a different size, measuring with a ruler will be wrong. Use the dimensions written on the drawing, or the scale bar.

The planner's report: the most useful document most buyers never open

The council planner's report explains how the application was assessed. It is usually a few pages long and written in plain language. It often covers:

• whether the design meets the development plan's standards
• overlooking and the distances between houses
• open space, parking and access
• anything the planner asked the developer to change

Then read the decision and its conditions. Some conditions ask for revised drawings or details to be agreed with the council later, so the final design can differ from the application drawings.

Overlooking and daylight

Overlooking. National planning guidelines published in January 2024 say at least 16 metres must be kept between opposing upstairs windows of habitable rooms at the back or side of houses, duplexes and apartments. Less can be accepted where there are no opposing windows and privacy measures are designed in. The guidelines note that 22 metres had been the usual suburban standard, and development plans can no longer require more than 16 metres (Sustainable Residential Development and Compact Settlements Guidelines, section 5.3.1 and SPPR 1). On the site layout, look at the houses behind and beside your plot and where their upstairs windows face. The planner's report often says whether overlooking was considered acceptable.

Daylight and sunlight studies. Some applications include a daylight and sunlight study. The same guidelines say a detailed daylight assessment is not needed in every case: the question generally arises where buildings are close together, taller, or otherwise blocked. Where one is needed, they point to standards including the BRE guide Site layout planning for daylight and sunlight (BR 209, 2022 edition; guidelines, section 5.3.7). A study reports whether rooms and gardens meet its tests.

Not every application has one. Look at the list of documents in the file: if there is no daylight or sunlight report, none was filed.

When there is no study, you can still work out which way the garden faces. Find the north arrow on the site layout drawing, or look at the plot on an online map. This shows which way the garden faces; it is not a light assessment.

Drawings vs what gets built

The drawings show what was permitted. They do not show what was built.

• Your snag surveyor or engineer inspects the finished house and lists defects before closing (Irish Examiner, 18 Nov 2023).
• Your solicitor seeks evidence of planning permission for the house and, where appropriate, an architect's or engineer's opinion that it was built in accordance with it (Law Society, 30 Jun 2002). Ask them too whether any later permission changed your house type.

One buyer who regretted their purchase listed "the layout, the orientation and lack of natural light" and "the very tight size" (Askaboutmoney, 26 Jan 2026). Reading the drawings before you sign will not answer everything, but it answers the size and layout questions early.

For the full list of checks on a new build and who does each one, see buying a new build or off-plan home in Ireland. To see what is planned on the land around the estate, see what's planned near a new home.

Where PropertyBuddy fits

If you would rather not dig through the file yourself, a PropertyBuddy report does it for you. Essential includes the house dimensions and measurements from the drawings. Comprehensive adds overlooking from the layout drawings and, where a daylight and sunlight study has been published, what it says. Where no study exists, the report does not comment on light or orientation. It does not check the house as built or its planning compliance; those stay with your surveyor and solicitor.