Designing for the next hundred years.

The preservation of the remaining character housing style in designated areas is managed through the local government planning laws.

Design from a ‘Traditional’ perspective includes respectful exterior cladding, colour schemes, rooflines and street frontage (heights, setbacks, fencing, access, finishing details). A ‘pre-war’ house will have stricter development constraints than a ‘post-war’ house. Specific constraints to works being undertaken on a home in a ‘Character Housing Overlay’ are prescribed in the local government planning law.

Design from a ‘Heritage’ perspective is much more prescriptive, with fewer variations in choice when it comes to overall look and finishes, and may require specialist mastercraftsmen to recreate aspects as originally built. Heritage listing is applied to buildings that are truly magnificent in their own right, and thoroughly deserve the extra level of preservation and care due to their longevity or significance to the region.

We are superbly proud that our work on Ipswich character homes is used as an example by the local government to demonstrate respectful development within the character overlays.