
Example of a pergola
You may need a Planning Permit, a Building Permit or both to build a pergola on your property.
To be a pergola, the structure you are building must have no roof.
A pergola may have a covering of open-weave permeable material which allows water to pass through, such as shade cloth.
To help you work out which permits you need, begin at Step 1 and answer the questions one at a time. You may be asked to measure the area or width of the pergola, or refer to the site plan to see the position of the pergola relative to the building.
If you need help with Planning Permits, contact our Statutory Planning team on 9278 4888 or email Statutory Planning.
If you need help with Building Permits, contact our Building Services team on 9278 4999 or email Building Services.
1. Go to Planning Maps Online and search for the address of your property.
2. Follow the prompts to create and open a free Planning Property Report.
3. On the Report, go to the Planning Overlay section to see whether a Heritage Overlay affects your property.
4. In the Planning Overlay section, look at the map to see the area of your site covered by the Heritage Overlay. Refer to your plans to see whether you will be performing works in that area.
If the property is on the Victorian Heritage Register:
Refer to the report from Planning Maps Online to see whether the works fall in any of the following:
Note that additional overlays may appear. We may refer to the overlay listing at a later stage.
Refer to the report from Planning Maps Online and see whether your zone is listed as either ‘Commercial’ or ‘Public Park’.
Refer to the report from Planning Maps Online and see whether your zone is listed as either ‘General Residential’ or ‘Neighbourhood Residential’.
Refer to the Certificate of Title (available from the Landata website) and calculate the area using the title boundary dimensions.
Measure the distance between the highest point of the pergola structure and natural ground level. See whether the height is under 3m.
Next, measure the distance from the finished floor of the pergola to natural ground level. See whether the distance is less than 800mm.
As the owner of a property in a Mixed Use or Residential Growth Zone, you need to check whether the lot is less than 300 square metres.
Refer to the Certificate of Title (available from the Landata website) and calculate the area using the title boundary dimensions.
Refer to the report from Planning Maps Online and check whether a Development Plan Overlay affects the works.
Refer to the report from Planning Maps Online and check whether a Significant Landscape Overlay appears.
If a Significant Landscape Overlay appears on the report, assess whether the height of the pergola is more than 6m. To do this, measure the distance from the top of the structure to natural ground level.
Refer to the report from Planning Maps Online and check whether you are planning to build a pergola in a Design and Development Overlay.
Design and Development Overlay Schedule Number |
Planning action |
---|---|
DDO4 |
You don’t need a Planning Permit. |
All other DDO schedule numbers |
You do need a Planning Permit. |
Measure the length and width of the pergola to calculate the total area.
Measure the distance from the top of the structure to natural ground level.
Refer to the site plan to see whether the pergola is located to the back of, in line with or in front of, the building’s front wall.
If yes, you do not need a Building Permit. As long as there are no planning restrictions, you can proceed to construct the pergola. You can now exit this guide.
Measure the distance between the front of the pergola and the front wall of the building.
If you have determined that you need a Building Permit for your project:
You can only begin your construction after the Building Permit is granted.
You may exit the guide.
Statutory Planning aims to respond to Planning Permit applications within 60 days, as governed by the Planning and Environment Act 1987.
A Building Permit application is assessed within 10 business days. The response is usually a request for further information that is required before a Building Permit can be issued.