Site plans for Melbourne, Victoria: drawn in minutes
Need a site plan for a shed, patio, carport, deck, pool or granny flat in Melbourne? Site plans and assessments in minutes, drawn over the real lot.
Building in Melbourne
Parkville is where change is coming in the City of Melbourne: an amendment to apply the Heritage Overlay to properties there, from the Parkville Heritage Review, has been on exhibition. If it goes ahead, external works on those properties would usually need heritage assessment first.
The residential schedules already hold height down in a few places, such as South Yarra by the Royal Botanic Gardens and South Parkville, and other schedules set their own height limits while leaving setbacks, site cover and open space to the state. One schedule switches off the minimum garden area requirement. The City of Melbourne planning permit register lists lodged applications.
What we hold for Melbourne
For Melbourne we hold the council’s own rules for:
- sheds, garden sheds, garages and carports
- patios, pergolas, louvred roofs, decks and shade sails
- pools, fences and retaining walls
- granny flats
- driveways, water tanks and shipping containers
At each lot we check the state’s mapping for flood, bushfire, landslide, heritage and native vegetation. We also read the council’s application register for past applications on the lot.
Last checked
How approval works in Victoria
In Victoria a building permit comes from a registered building surveyor, either the council's municipal building surveyor or a private one. A small structure can be exempt from a building permit, but it still has to meet the siting rules. Where a structure cannot meet a siting rule, the building surveyor asks the council for its report and consent before issuing the permit. A planning permit from the council is a separate application, needed where the zone or an overlay on the block calls for one. The building surveyor reads the site plan for the structure's distance to each boundary, its height near the boundary and what else stands on the lot. The siting rules decide most small structures, as per the Building Regulations 2018 and, where a planning permit is needed, the single home code.
Drawing the plan
Type the property address, the lot’s real boundaries load from official land records in Victoria, and you place the structure over the aerial view. The plan prints to scale with boundary lengths, setback distances, a north arrow, a legend, a site coverage table and a title block, as the site plan for a building permit or a planning permit.
What a certifier in Melbourne will ask you
Is the carport open, or closed in?
How open the carport is changes whether it needs a fire rated wall near the boundary, and a roller door or a later enclosure reopens the question. A shed never takes the open carport exemption.
How high can a retaining wall and a fence go?
Each takes its own height test, and a retaining wall carrying a fence has its own approval. Both heights go on the sheet for the certifier to read together.
Is the lot in an overlay, and what is the zoning?
A flood, bushfire, heritage or character overlay can bring a planning approval on top of the building approval, and the zone decides which of the council’s rules apply. The mapped overlays are read at the lot as the structure goes on the plan.
How big can a granny flat be, and how far from the house?
The council caps a granny flat’s floor area, and some councils also limit how far from the house it may stand. The sheet prints the floor area and dimensions the distance to the house.
The figures for your own lot are read in a minute, from its address.
Every question a certifier asks is on the Victoria page.
Changes on the way
Rule changes announced for Melbourne, for Victoria and for the whole country, the state and national lines in full on the Victoria page, each with the page that says so and the day we read it.
In the next 90 days
Nothing due in the next 90 days that we know of.
Later
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ABCB Housing Provisions 2025 (with NCC 2025)
Source abcb.gov.au, read
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AS 1926.1:2024 Swimming pool safety barriers
Source ncc.abcb.gov.au, read
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NCC 2025 Housing Provisions Part 10.8
Source ncc.abcb.gov.au, read
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NCC 2025 Housing Provisions Part 9.2
Source ncc.abcb.gov.au, read
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NCC 2025 Volume Two Part H6, Specification 42 and Housing Provisions Section 13
Source ncc.abcb.gov.au, read
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NCC 2025 Volume Two Part H8
Source ncc.abcb.gov.au, read
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Planning Amendment (Better Decisions Made Faster) Act 2026
Source planning.vic.gov.au, read
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Building Regulations 2018 (sunset and remake)
Source vic.gov.au, read
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National Construction Code, residential pause
Source treasury.gov.au, read
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National Construction Code, next edition
Source abcb.gov.au, read
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No date yet
Melbourne Planning Scheme Amendment C444melb
Applies the Heritage Overlay to properties in Parkville from the Parkville Heritage Review
Source planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au, read
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No date yet
AS 3959:2018 Construction of buildings in bushfire prone areas
Source store.standards.org.au, read
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No date yet
AS 4678-2002 Earth retaining structures
Source store.standards.org.au, read
Date passed, next step not seen yet
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Building Amendment (Siting and Other Matters) Regulations 2026, S.R. 173/2026, and Building Amendment (Small Second Dwellings) Regulations 2026, S.R. 174/2026
Source content.legislation.vic.gov.au, read
What we changed for Melbourne
The rules we hold for Melbourne, each brought up to date from the page it names, newest first. The summary above reads from them.
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Council rules
Read from Melbourne GRZ6 zone schedule
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Council rules
Read from Melbourne GRZ5 zone schedule
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Council rules
Read from Melbourne GRZ7 zone schedule
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Council rules
Read from Melbourne GRZ3 zone schedule
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Council rules
Read from Melbourne Planning Scheme GRZ1 schedule
Council notices
No story for Melbourne yet.
The sources we read for Melbourne
9 sources read for Melbourne, the newest on , each below with the day it was last read.
Planning schemes and codes
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No change
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No change
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No change
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No change
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Melbourne Planning Scheme GRZ1 schedule
Changed since the read before
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Melbourne Planning Scheme NRZ1 schedule
Changed since the read before
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Melbourne Planning Scheme NRZ2 schedule
Changed since the read before
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Melbourne Planning Scheme NRZ3 schedule
Changed since the read before
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Melbourne Planning Scheme NRZ4 schedule
Changed since the read before
Follow Melbourne in a feed reader: www.rapidsiteplan.au/site-plan/melbourne/feed.xml. Every council and state has one, listed on rule changes by council and state.
RapidSiteplan is design software: you confirm details, measure on site and your certifier or council makes the approval decision. The rule above is general information, not building or legal advice. Boundaries shown are indicative, a surveyor is recommended where exact positions matter.
Serving postcodes 3000 and surrounds.
Plans for the job
Questions people ask
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