Alterations and additions in a Newcastle heritage conservation area

If your house sits inside one of Newcastle’s heritage conservation areas, such as Cooks Hill, The Hill, Newcastle East, Hamilton South or Cameron’s Hill, almost any external alteration or addition needs development consent under clause 5.10 of Newcastle Local Environmental Plan 2012, and the DA must be accompanied by a heritage impact statement prepared to the Heritage NSW Guidelines for preparing a statement of heritage impact (2023). The design rules come from Section E1 Built and landscape heritage of Newcastle Development Control Plan 2023, which expects additions to be concealed from the street and set behind the principal part of the house, read with the character statement for your particular area in Section E2. Complying development is not an option, so the DA, the Statement of Environmental Effects and the heritage impact statement have to do the work.

Who this is for: home owners in a Newcastle heritage conservation area planning a rear extension, second storey, garage or verandah change, who need to know what the DA package must contain before briefing a designer.

Does my house need a DA for alterations in a heritage conservation area?

Clause 5.10 of Newcastle LEP 2012 is the operative control. Subclause (2)(a) requires development consent for demolishing or moving, or altering the exterior of, a building, work, relic or tree within a heritage conservation area, and the wording spells out that “altering” includes making changes to detail, fabric, finish or appearance. Subclause (2)(e) requires consent for erecting a building on land within a conservation area, and subclause (2)(f) for subdividing it. Heritage conservation areas are shown on the Heritage Map and described in Schedule 5 of the LEP.

The practical consequence is that the complying development pathway under the Codes SEPP is closed for external work that is visible, and even where a code might otherwise apply, the Housing Code and the Low Rise Housing Diversity Code contain land-based restrictions for heritage conservation areas. Treat a house in Cooks Hill or The Hill as a DA property from the outset.

Clause 5.10(3) provides a narrow exception. Consent is not required where the applicant has notified council of the proposed work and council has advised in writing, before any work starts, that it is minor or is maintenance and would not adversely affect heritage significance. This covers like-for-like repairs, repainting in an appropriate scheme or replacing a failed gutter; it does not cover a new window opening, a change of roof material or an addition. The common mistake is to assume that because the work is at the rear it is minor. Rear work still needs consent under subclause (2)(a) unless council has confirmed the exemption in writing.

What does clause 5.10 require council to consider?

Subclause (4) requires the consent authority, before granting consent in respect of a heritage item or heritage conservation area, to consider the effect of the proposed development on the heritage significance of the item or area. It applies whether or not a heritage management document has been prepared. Subclause (5) allows council to require a heritage management document assessing the extent to which the development would affect heritage significance, for land in a conservation area or in its vicinity. Subclause (6) allows council to require a conservation management plan for a heritage item where the extent of change warrants it, and subclause (7) deals with archaeological sites, which matters in Newcastle East and the city centre where early colonial and industrial deposits are mapped.

The test in subclause (4) is not whether the addition is attractive. It is whether the significance of the area, as described in the Section E2 statement, is conserved. That is why a heritage impact statement that describes the proposal in detail but never quotes the statement of significance for the area usually draws a request for information.

What does Newcastle DCP 2023 Section E1 require?

Newcastle DCP 2023 commenced on 1 March 2024 and is published section by section on council’s DCP website. Section E1 Built and landscape heritage applies to all development on land containing or in the vicinity of a heritage item and on land within or near a heritage conservation area. Its introduction states that development in a conservation area is to be designed on the site-specific detail in Section E2 Heritage conservation areas, and that the building envelope controls for residential and commercial development do not apply in heritage conservation areas. Section E1 replaces those envelope controls with a set of heritage controls (C) and acceptable solutions (AS).

For alterations and additions the central control is C-2: additions to a heritage item or a building within a heritage conservation area should be concealed and not seen from the street. The acceptable solution is that additions cannot be seen from the street or other public areas other than a lane, and all ground level additions to the side of a building are set back behind the front or principal part of the building. Additions on corner lots may be visible but must be respectful of the host building in scale and placement and must not dominate it or diminish the prominence of adjoining contributory buildings. Acceptable solution AS-6 requires an addition to maintain the prominence of the existing building by setting back behind the front or principal part, moderating height and retaining significant roof form, so that the addition does not obscure the original facades.

Section E1 section 7.0 lists the application requirements. A heritage impact statement is submitted to the level of detail needed to assess the impact on the heritage significance of the item or area and how any impact will be mitigated, and it must conform to the Heritage NSW Guidelines for preparing a statement of heritage impact (2023), Assessing Heritage Significance (2023) and the Burra Charter (2013). Section E1 also carries controls for fences and gates (retain, protect and restore significant fences; reconstruct originals where evidence exists), for materials and colours, and for the treatment of significant roof forms and chimneys.

What does Section E2 add for each conservation area?

Section E2 Heritage conservation areas applies to all land identified as a heritage conservation area on the LEP 2012 Heritage Map. For each area it provides a land application map, a statement of heritage significance with the key period of significance, and a description of the characteristic features that the Section E1 controls are protecting. Cameron’s Hill, for example, is characterised by Federation and inter-war cottages, terracotta tile roofs, timber barge boards and joinery, decorative chimneys, coloured glass, mature garden trees, picket and brick fences and sandstone kerbing. Cooks Hill has a key period of significance from about 1850 to 1940 and a fine grain of terraces and cottages on narrow lots.

The heritage impact statement has to work from that description. If the significance of the area lies in its single storey scale and intact roofscape when viewed from the street, then a second storey addition has to demonstrate, with streetscape elevations and sightline sections from the footpath, that the new work sits behind the ridge and reads as secondary. Where the significance lies in the pattern of front gardens and fences, the assessment has to deal with any new driveway or carport. The common mistake is a generic statement that says the addition is “sympathetic” without tying each design decision to the E2 statement.

What must the SEE and heritage impact statement show?

The Statement of Environmental Effects is the document that addresses section 4.15 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 for council: permissibility, the LEP clauses (5.10 and, where relevant, 4.3 height and 4.4 FSR), the DCP sections, the likely impacts and the suitability of the site. The heritage impact statement is the specialist assessment that supports it. Council will read both, and they should not contradict each other on what is being demolished or retained.

Following the Heritage NSW guidelines and Section E1 section 7.0, a heritage impact statement for an addition in a Newcastle conservation area should contain:

1. A description of the property, its construction date and style, its condition and its contribution to the conservation area (contributory, neutral or detracting), with dated photographs of every elevation and the streetscape.
2. The statement of significance for the conservation area from Section E2, quoted, and an assessment of how the house contributes to each element of it.
3. A clear schedule of works separating demolition, retention, repair and new work, cross-referenced to the drawings.
4. An assessment of each component of the proposal against the Section E1 controls and acceptable solutions, in particular C-2 and AS-6 on visibility and setback of additions, and the fence, roof and materials controls.
5. Streetscape elevations and sightline sections showing what will be visible from the footpath on both sides of the street and from any corner.
6. Consideration of alternatives that were rejected and why, and the measures adopted to mitigate any residual impact (lower ridge, recessive cladding, retention of chimneys, reconstruction of a fence).
7. A conclusion answering the clause 5.10(4) question directly: does the development conserve the heritage significance of the conservation area, and on what evidence.

Where the site is also mapped as an archaeological site, or the work involves excavation in Newcastle East or the city centre, the statement must address clause 5.10(7) and any Aboriginal heritage due diligence. Where a tree that contributes to the area is to be removed, clause 5.10(2)(a) applies to the tree as well.

Where do these DAs go wrong in Newcastle?

Three patterns recur. First, the drawings are prepared before the heritage assessment, so the addition is designed to the site rather than to the significance, and the heritage consultant is asked to justify a decision already made; the fix is to commission a short heritage briefing before sketch design. Second, applicants rely on the height and setback controls in the general residential section and are surprised to find they do not apply in a conservation area; the fix is to design to Section E1 from the start. Third, the SEE and the heritage impact statement describe different schedules of demolition, which forces council to issue a request for information. A single, numbered schedule of works used by both documents removes that risk.

Definitions

Heritage conservation area

An area shown on the Heritage Map and described in Schedule 5 of Newcastle LEP 2012 whose significance lies in the group of buildings, streets and landscapes rather than in any single item.

Heritage item

A building, work, place, relic, tree or object individually listed in Schedule 5 of the LEP.

Heritage impact statement

An assessment report examining how proposed works to or near a heritage item or conservation area may affect its heritage values, prepared to the Heritage NSW 2023 guidelines; Newcastle DCP 2023 uses the term to include a statement of heritage impact.

Heritage management document

The document council may require under clause 5.10(5) of the LEP to assess the effect of a proposal on heritage significance; a heritage impact statement satisfies this in most residential cases.

Contributory building

A building that is not individually listed but that contributes to the significance of a heritage conservation area through its period, form, materials and setting.

Burra Charter

The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance (2013), the conservation principles that the NSW heritage guidelines and Newcastle DCP 2023 adopt.

URBA prepares Statements of Environmental Effects for alterations and additions in Newcastle’s heritage conservation areas and coordinates the heritage impact statement so that both documents address clause 5.10 and Sections E1 and E2 consistently. See our Statement of Environmental Effects service and our Newcastle town planning page, or request a fee proposal for your property.