Self Assessable Disasters!

Self-Assessable Dual Occupancies Disasters!

As many of you are aware, Dual Occupancies (i.e. Duplexes) under the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014 are Self-Assessable development (now referred to as ‘Accepted’ development under the new Planning Act 2016) in particular areas and therefore do not require a planning approval from Council. Although this is allowing for these relatively small-scale developments to progress quickly and avoid the cost and time associated with the DA process through Council, this is often leading to major post-construction issues.

We are aware of numerous examples of fully constructed Dual Occupancy developments being the subject of costly rectification works, due to either the initial design or the construction methods failing to comply the relevant planning scheme requirements. It is often not until the ‘Plan Sealing’ stage that these issues are being picked up, resulting in rectification works being required and in some cases, total redesign and lodgement of a development application. The most common issue we are seeing is non-compliant access, driveways and parking areas being constructed, which results in these having to be removed, redesigned and re-poured. As you can imagine, this often leads to some uncomfortable conversations between the builder, the certifier and the developer.

It is important that designers, builders, certifiers and developers are aware that although Dual Occupancies are Self-assessable (or Accepted) in many cases, there remains key planning and engineering design requirements that must be met.

In order to reduce the number of these ‘Self-Assessable Disasters’, it is strongly recommended that developers, designers and builders seek specific town planning and engineering advice confirming that any Dual Occupancy design is actually compliant, before commencing construction.

We provide a service to review Self-Assessable Dual Occupancies and provide specific Town Planning and Engineering Certification confirming compliance (including RPEQ certification of accesses, driveways and parking areas), to ensure there are no costly changes or rectification works post-construction!

If you are interested in this service, contact one of our planners for further information.

07 5313 7705
admin@astpd.com.au