Drafting in Sydney: How do heritage listed items and building affect your home extensions project in Sydney

Heritage Conservation Area (HCA) is an area recognised and valued for its special historical and aesthetic character. Items of heritage significance may include architectural buildings, trees, gardens and kerbs.

When looking to build a new home or a home extension - make sure to check whether your dwelling or land is heritage listed, or within the heritage conservation area. If it is, it may mean that special considerations to what is being designed or built, will have to provide minimium impact to the heritage distinct. It might mean that there are certain of components of the building will not be able to be removed or altered. 

Now talking about the design itself, properties identified within a heritage conservation area requires to include an assessment of its heritage significance, the collective nature of the building/s and/or components, as these may contribute to the quality of the local area and streetscapes.

This includes the historical subdivision pattern, consistency in building form, siting and scale, materials or common age of building stock which reflect a particular period/s in the history and growth of the area. Therefore, the design generally needs to be kept consistent with the rest of the dwellings to retain its original appearance.

Before doing a design, it is always recommended to speak to your local council and understand what is there that is being protected under the heritage guidelines. It is also important that you speak to a home building designer or a specialised residential drafting consultant to assist you in determining what you can do with your home project.