Houses
In Brisbane, several types of houses require town planning approval
Houses that may require town planning approval include:
- New small lot houses
- Extensions and renovations to a small lot house
- A new house in a character zone or traditional building character overlay (TBC Overlay)
- Extension and renovations to a character or pre-1946 house
- Partial demolition to pre-1946 houses
In the case of small lot houses, the Dwelling house (small lot) code provides a specific set of rules to follow. These are known as acceptable outcomes or AOs. If you can comply with all the AOs, you will not need a town planning approval.
Character houses are houses constructed in 1946 or earlier. In many areas of Brisbane, building works to character houses require a town planning approval from Council. The main areas that can trigger a town planning application include:
- Building work at the front or side of a character house
- Building work forward the highest and rearmost roof ridge
- Partial demolition of parts of a character house. This includes decks, windows, roofs and walls.
- Raising a house and building in underneath in some parts of Brisbane
Many architects and building designers will not check that your house design complies with the small lot or character codes. If you are designing your dream home, finding out that your house does not comply after you have spent thousands with your architect is not going to be the best feeling.
We help by briefing your architect or designer before they start or by undertaking a plan review at the concept phase. If required, we then lodge a development application (the DA) that may be needed to achieve Council approval.
In all cases, we highly recommend that you consider adding us to your team early to provide expert guidance and advice to help with the design process.
Questions?
If you have a specific project you wish to discuss, please book a call below.
