Apartment living abroad may have similarities to here, says Edel Morgan

Am I the only one who has been labouring under the impression that while we have an unsophisticated, fledgling apartment culture, many European and international cities with a long history of apartment living have it sussed?

If I had a cent for every time I've heard a market commentator or local authority official say we are lagging way behind European "norms" and international standards when it comes to apartment living, I'd be the owner of a very plush penthouse by now.

It would be naive to suggest that many of these countries aren't streets ahead of us in terms of their attitude towards apartment living but after putting together today's apartment supplement (see page 17) I'm not sure there are "norms".

I've learned from Lara Marlowe and Paddy Agnew's pieces about apartment living (page 19) that even in cosmopolitan European cities, people can live in cramped conditions in poorly sound-proofed apartments. Just like here, they complain about rising service charges and argue about how money is being spent at residents' meetings.

A colleague married to an Italian and who spends a lot of time in Rome told me that the thin walls of a typical modern apartment there mean "you'll have little problem getting to know the neighbours". He tells stories of an entire apartment block being kept up all night by teething babies and loud snorers and a neighbour reciting the rosary at a very unsociable 3am.

In an another European country featured, which is not in the EU, the emphasis is less on how an apartment complex looks and more on providing units with lots of functional, flexible space for families.

In Ireland our apartment culture has almost become defined by the pokey, badly lit apartments that were thrown up without any thought to how they would stand the test of time.

But slowly a new generation of apartments is emerging and this has led to a slow but perceptible shift in the attitude of families towards apartment living. Some of the families I spoke to never dreamt they would live in anything other than a house but were sold when they saw the space, design, storage and utility space of their apartments.

The pressure is now on developers to comply with Dublin City Council's new guidelines for sustainable apartment living which say that apartments must be 25 per cent bigger, with two-bed apartments up to 80-90sq m (861-969sq ft) and three-beds up to 100sq m (1,076sq ft). Even before these guidelines were introduced some local authorities were insisting on a quota of family-sized apartments in larger developments. Some developers have been delivering on this - albeit reluctantly in some cases - and there are now examples of good apartment design around the country. The sluggish market has also encouraged developers to up their game and provide better fittings and finishes to trump the competition, discovers Fiona Tyrrell (see page 20).

While we're starting to get it right in this country, the principles of good apartment design have been around for a long time. In her article about the future of apartment living Emma Cullinan (page 23) first looks back to some of the great architects of the early and mid 20th century who knew the vital ingredients of a first rate apartment complex.

Lastly, a new profession has emerged on the back our new apartment culture - the in-house concierge.

They generally make life easier for residents by booking taxis, collecting post and watering plants for people on holiday. The sting, however, is in the service charge.