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Building On The Gold Coast

The state government’s plans to meet the housing needs of the Gold Coast over the next two decades will transform the city.

The South East Queensland Regional Plan, also known as Shaping SEQ, sets mandatory housing targets that councils in the region, including the Gold Coast City Council, must meet.

New Home Build Targets

The plan has set the target of 100,254 apartments in towers of nine storeys or more by 2046. That’s 4010 more apartments on the Gold Coast every year.

Meanwhile, 11 per cent (17,787) will be detached housing, 17 per cent (27,489) low-rise homes and 10 per cent (16,170) medium-rise apartments.

Build Height Restrictions

The bright pink lots on this city map show areas where there is no height restriction – the sky is literally the limit.

The Gold Coast has blocks with an HX designation, which means there is no height limit for buildings.

It’s one of the reasons why the Gold Coast is home to Australia’s tallest building — Q1, which sits among an array of skyscrapers — despite having a population eight times smaller than Sydney or Melbourne. 

With Australia’s housing crisis showing no signs of easing, more residential towers, and taller ones, are set to increase along coastal strip.  

Building on The Gold Coast

The Gold Coast has reasonably lenient planning restrictions in relation to residential design. Many larger cities in Australia have codes for heritage conservation, building aesthetics, right to views, over shadowing etc but on the Gold Coast there is a great deal more freedom.

Below are some of the key building code and planning constraints that must be taken into account when designed a free-standing home on a typical residential lot on the Gold Coast.

Zoning

There are numerous zones within the City of Gold Coast covering the construction of private residential dwellings. The online City Plan interactive mapping site offers an easy way to check a property’s zoning using the street address or title description.

This will produce a City Plan property report confirming the site’s zoning and related planning guidelines. This review is based primarily on building within the low-density residential zone (LDR).

Some properties within specific residential estates may also be subject to additional planning covenants.

Setbacks

Setbacks are governed by both the National Construction Code (NCC – formerly known as the Building Code of Australia – BCA) and the City Plan.

The NCC is principally concerned with fire safety, health and amenity, safety and sustainability issues, whilst the City Plan primarily addresses the impact of building form on public and private amenity.

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Street Setbacks

The standard setback requirement is 6m. Some structures including carports and gatehouses can be built within this setback zone up to the property boundary with minor relaxation approvals.

Corner lots with dual frontages typically allow a reduced setback of 4.5m or more to the secondary street.

Estate covenants may relax or increase these setbacks, and often dictate that the face of the garage is setback further than the front of the house itself.

Side & Rear Setbacks

The NCC permits zero setbacks with specified fire rated construction, and 900mm with standard construction.

The City Plan mandates 1.5m for single storey buildings up to 4.5m high, 2m for buildings between 4.5m – 7.5m high (2 storey), and an extra 0.5m for every 3m height exceeding 7.5m.

Waterfront Setbacks

To minimise the risks of inundation to properties on the Gold Coast, extensive flood modelling has been undertaken. This is based on the ability of flood waters to spread over a portion of waterfront land to disperse the excess water without creating a damming effect upstream.

The existing profile of the waterfront land cannot be built up unless an equivalent volume of land is excavated. Modification to the land profile is subject to hydraulic modelling which must confirm no adverse impacts result.

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All waterfront properties are subject to a specified setback based on this modelling which varies depending on the property’s location. These prescribed setbacks can be accessed via the City Plan’s interactive mapping.

Golden Opportunities

Homecorp offer innovative, modern builds that make investing in real estate on the Gold Coast easy so you can enjoy the journey to ownership with less stress, hassle, and confusion.

Interested in building on the Gold Coast? Talk to Homecorp today!