Heritage Overlays

If your property is within a Heritage Overlay, planning permission will be needed to build or renovate.

Heritage places are a vital part of the City of Boroondara. They help to define the character of the City and provide an important insight into who we are as a community. Future generations will use our heritage places to understand us, and those who lived here before us.

When is a planning permit required?

If your property is located in a Heritage Overlay in the Boroondara Planning Scheme it means that planning permission is required from Council to construct, extend, alter or demolish buildings or structures including the following:

  • domestic services normal to a dwelling if the services are visible from a street (other than a lane) or public park
  • a domestic rainwater tank if the rainwater tank is visible from a street (other than a lane) or public park
  • a fence
  • a domestic swimming pool or spa and associated mechanical and safety equipment
  • a pergola, verandah or deck
  • signage
  • repairs and routine maintenance which change the appearance of a heritage place or which are not undertaken to the same details, specifications and materials.

Heritage Overlay information sheet

How will my application be assessed?

Significance of the individual property

The individual significance and the contribution to the overall significance of a heritage precinct has been assessed for all properties located within a Heritage Overlay. Each property has been given a heritage grading of either 'significant', 'contributory' or 'non-contributory'. The Schedule of Gradings in Heritage Precincts is a comprehensive list of all properties located in precinct-based Heritage Overlays in the City of Boroondara. Any properties which are not listed in the schedule are 'non contributory'.

Schedule of gradings in heritage precincts

Assessment against the Heritage Policy

The Heritage Policy gives clear guidance on demolition, subdivision, conservation and restoration, additions and alterations, and new buildings in heritage precincts. The policy also gives guidance regarding the conservation of heritage places and to encourage sensitive changes to heritage places.

The Heritage Overlay in the Boroondara Planning Scheme contains the following objectives:

Demolition

  • Retain 'significant' or 'contributory' heritage places and not normally allow their total demolition.
  • Permit partial demolition to remove non-original and non-contributory additions to heritage places.
  • Require an application for a new building or works to accompany a demolition application.
  • The demolition or removal of any heritage place or part of a heritage place will not normally be approved until an appropriate replacement building or development is approved.

Additions to 'significant' and 'contributory' heritage places

  • Additions should not change the principal facade or principal visible roof forms of the heritage place.
  • Make use of materials and surface finishes that are complementary to the original fabric of the heritage place but should be discernible as new. Details should be interpretive, that is, a simplified, modern interpretation of the historic form rather than a direct reproduction.
  • Ground level additions should preferably be located to the rear of the building. These additions should be visually recessive and read as a secondary element to the heritage place.
  • Where side setbacks are an important feature in a heritage precinct, ground level additions should have side setbacks that are the same or similar to those of the precinct.
  • Upper level additions should be sited and massed behind the principal facade and principal visible roof forms so they are not visible from the street. Upper-storey additions may be considered to be 'not visible from the street' if:
    • they are sited within an 'envelope' created by projecting a sight line from 1.6 metres above ground level (this being the eye level of an adult person of average height) from a point where the footpath on the opposite side of the road meets the property line directly opposite the site to the top of the front parapet or the ridge of the principal roof form (see Figure 1).
    • they are centrally sited or are sited to ensure that where visible to oblique views, the additions are visually recessive and read as secondary elements to the heritage place and that those views are minimised. Particular regard is to be given to the roof form of the existing building and the location of any driveway on the site as the driveway side setback generally allows for greater visibility of the addition.
  • Applications for upper-storey additions should be accompanied by oblique view diagrams from each side of the property boundary, taken from the point where the footpath meets the side edge of the property boundary on the opposite side of the road and looking towards the proposed addition (see figure 2).
          

New buildings, additions and alterations to non-contributory places in a Heritage Overlay

  • Ensure proposals are respectful of the existing scale, massing, form and siting of 'significant' or 'contributory' places in the heritage precinct, as these places are viewed from the street.
  • Ensure proposals are respectful of the context of adjacent 'significant' or 'contributory' places, the immediate streetscape and the heritage precinct as a whole.
  • Encourage good quality contemporary design and discourage the replication of historic forms and detailing.

Vehicle accommodation, outbuildings and services

  • Minimise new vehicle cross-overs in the case of 'significant' or 'contributory' heritage places or in a heritage precinct with narrow street frontage or where few or no crossovers exist or where rear laneway access is available.
  • Encourage the location of new carports, garages and outbuildings to the rear of the main building, where the character of the heritage place supports that location, or at the side of the building behind the main front building line.
  • Encourage new carports, garages and outbuildings that are visible from the street to use wall openings. Roof forms and materials used should complement, but not replicate the main building or the characteristics of the heritage precinct.
  • Discourage the location of swimming pools in the front setback.
  • Allow the location of rain water tanks, hot water systems, air-conditioning units and other equipment in areas visible from the street only when it can be shown that they will not detract from the heritage significance of the place.

Fences

  • Retain original or early fences of 'significant' or 'contributory' heritage places.
  • Encourage the reconstruction of original fences where historical evidence exists of their form, or encourage the construction of new front fences in sympathy to the period and design of the 'significant' or 'contributory' heritage place.
  • Discourage the construction of high fences that block the view of the main facade of a 'significant' or 'contributory' place from the street or, in the case of non-contributory places, detract from the streetscape of the heritage area.

Pre-application advice

Refer to the checklist to see what you need to provide as part of your application to add to, or alter, a house within a Heritage Overlay area.

If you are undertaking a building project and would first like to speak with a Planning Officer or Council's Heritage Advisor, contact the Planning Department on (03) 9278 4888 to make an appointment.

Every planning application must be accompanied by:

  • completed application form
  • an application fee
  • recent Certificate of Title - no older than 28 days
  • a covering letter explaining your proposal
  • neighbourhood and site description
  • a design response
  • three copies of plans drawn to scale (1:100 or 1:200) and fully dimensioned, as well as an A3-sized set. Plans must show the site, floor layout and elevations.

Links

Making amendments to planning permits

Files

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