Lithgow City Council
Private building certifier in Bowenfels
CertifiBuild certifies new homes, extensions, granny flats, garages and sheds in Bowenfels. Many lots slope, so cut and fill and driveway grade are often the first design questions to settle.
NSW 2790
Class 1 homes and Class 10 structures
Local rules
Bowenfels: detached homes on Lithgow's western side
A house suburb
Bowenfels is a residential locality on Lithgow's western side. At the 2021 Census it had 2,049 residents in 908 private dwellings. Stand-alone houses were 90.6% of occupied dwellings, with semis and townhouses at 7.3%. Nearly every enquiry therefore involves a detached house on a lot of its own.
Controls that apply
Zoning comes from the Lithgow Local Environmental Plan 2014, and design rules from the Lithgow Development Control Plan 2021, in force since 1 September 2021. For houses in the R1 and R2 residential zones, the DCP limits wall height to 6.5 metres and overall building height to 8.5 metres. Front setbacks depend on zone and lot size. Lots facing the Great Western Highway get a 10 metre setback under the DCP.
Sloping blocks
Where a design cuts or fills more than one metre, the DCP asks for extra supporting information. Batters steeper than one vertical to two horizontal need a geotechnical or structural report. Urban driveways are capped at a 25% grade.
Underground and fire
Check your lot against the mine subsidence and bush fire prone land maps before designing.
Typical work
Common projects and how they get approved
What owners build here
With almost all homes freestanding, Bowenfels work is mostly household scale. Slope is the common thread through many jobs. Typical projects:
- New houses on vacant residential lots, sited and stepped to keep cut and fill small.
- Rear extensions and decks on existing homes, designed around the natural fall of the land.
- Granny flats on larger lots, within the size limit in the local plan.
- Garages with doors set back 5.5 metres or more from the front boundary, as the DCP asks.
- Sheds and carports within the floor area caps that scale with lot size.
How approval usually works
Many Bowenfels houses, garages and pools can be approved by CDC (complying development certificate, the quick state code route) when the block and plans comply with the code. Steep sites or hazard affected land may need a development application (DA) to council instead. Before lodging, survey the site levels so cut, fill and retaining are shown accurately. Find out if the lot lies in a mine subsidence district, because Subsidence Advisory NSW has to approve new buildings there. Look at the bush fire prone land map, because a mapped lot needs a bushfire assessment. Confirm setbacks for your zone and any highway frontage, and show driveway grades on the plans. CertifiBuild checks these maps and DCP numbers against your lot early, so the plans do not need reworking later.
Our services
From approval to sign-off.
One certifier for your whole Bowenfels job, from the first plan check to the occupation certificate.
Local questions
Questions we hear about this suburb.
No two lots in Bowenfels are the same. Give us your address and we will check every map that affects it.
See the council pageHow high can a new house in Bowenfels be?
In the R1 and R2 residential zones, Lithgow’s development control plan (DCP) caps wall height at 6.5 metres and overall building height at 8.5 metres for houses. Check your zone first, since rural zones and bigger lifestyle lots follow other rules. On a sloping block, height is measured from the ground, so earthworks and floor heights all affect how close you get to those limits. A survey with site levels lets the designer test the numbers early. Front setbacks also depend on zone and lot size, and lots facing the Great Western Highway need 10 metres.
Does my sloping Bowenfels block need a geotechnical report?
It may. Under the Lithgow development control plan (DCP), any cut or fill batter steeper than one vertical to two horizontal needs a geotechnical or structural report. Separately, cutting or filling more than one metre calls for extra supporting information with your application. Many Bowenfels lots slope, so stepping the house to follow the land often keeps earthworks within those limits. Start with a detailed levels survey. Also check the mine subsidence and bushfire prone land maps, since either can affect footings, construction standards and the approval route.
How far back must my Bowenfels garage door be?
The minimum is 5.5 metres back from the street boundary. Lithgow’s design rules set that minimum for doors to enclosed car parking, so a car can sit in the driveway without blocking the footpath. On a sloping Bowenfels block, the driveway itself also matters, because urban driveways are capped at a 25% grade. Show the garage position, driveway levels and grade on the plans. Sheds and carports have their own floor area limits that scale with lot size. Many garages can then be approved through a fast-track complying development certificate (CDC) if the code is met.
Building in this suburb?
Send us the address first.
We check the local maps for your lot, confirm the approval path and quote in writing.