Randwick City Council
Private building certifier in La Perouse
CertifiBuild certifies alterations, additions, pools and outdoor works on La Perouse’s few residential lots. We start by asking whether your land allows housing in the first place, since parkland covers so much of La Perouse.
NSW 2036
Class 1 homes and Class 10 structures
Local rules
Building in a national park suburb
Very little housing land
Only a sliver of land, under 6%, carries a housing zone. About 43% is national park and roughly 45% public recreation land. A height limit of 9.5 metres, covering around 4% of the land, is the only standard mapped anywhere. So a street address in La Perouse gives you little sense of what is buildable.
Heritage at every turn
Just over half the suburb, about 52%, is inside a heritage conservation area named after the Kamay national park. Ten items carry listings. Among them are Bare Island Fort, the old Cable Station, the Macquarie Watchtower, the Mission Church and Père le Receveur's grave. The fort and the church are also State Heritage Register items. In June 2024 the state added Gooriwal, the cultural landscape around Yarra Bay and Frenchmans Bay, to that register, so older searches may miss it.
Aboriginal land and culture
Locally, the relevant body is the land council based in La Perouse itself. The state's special Aboriginal land planning provisions only cover specifically mapped land, and La Perouse is not mapped. Council's ordinary planning rules apply.
Typical work
Common projects and how they get approved
What owners build here
Work here is small in number and often heritage sensitive. On the residential land, typical jobs are:
- Changes and additions to houses already standing.
- Swimming pools, sheds and outdoor works.
- Decks and pergolas sized to the small lots.
Building on or near a listed item follows a different path led by heritage, often with Heritage NSW involved. Community buildings and public works along the reserve and foreshore mostly fall outside Class 1 and 10. Those generally go to a certifier holding the matching class of registration. For a house job, expect heritage and Aboriginal cultural checks to sit alongside the usual building steps.
How approval usually works
A CDC (fast-track approval under state rules) is rarely simple in La Perouse, because heritage mapping and zoning cover so much land. Most jobs will need a development application (DA). Before lodging, get the planning certificate and confirm the zone. Then check heritage. Any work touching the Mission Church or the fort on Bare Island needs Heritage NSW to approve it under the Heritage Act, separate from any planning or building consent. Allow for Aboriginal heritage too. If Aboriginal objects or sites could be affected, known or newly found, council's plan sends it to the land council for comment. A separate permit under national parks law may also be needed. CertifiBuild checks zoning and heritage layers for your lot first and keeps your house project moving once approval is in place.
Our services
From approval to sign-off.
One certifier for your whole La Perouse job, from the first plan check to the occupation certificate.
Local questions
Questions we hear about this suburb.
No two lots in La Perouse are the same. Give us your address and we will check every map that affects it.
See the council pageIs a new home allowed on my La Perouse lot?
Only if your lot carries a residential zone, and less than 6% of La Perouse does. About 43% is national park and roughly 45% public recreation land, and houses cannot be built on either. Get the planning certificate first to confirm the zone. Where housing is allowed, the only mapped standard anywhere is a height cap of 9.5 metres, but heritage shapes almost everything else: just over half of La Perouse lies in the conservation area named after the Kamay national park. Expect a development application (DA) rather than a fast-track approval.
Does Aboriginal land in La Perouse have its own approval path?
No. The state’s special planning provisions for Aboriginal land cover only certain mapped sites, and La Perouse is not among them. Projects here go through Randwick City Council’s ordinary planning rules. Where Aboriginal objects or sites could be affected, whether already known or newly found, council’s plan sends the application to the land council based in La Perouse for its comments. A separate permit under national parks law may also be needed. Allow time for both when planning any work.
What if we find Aboriginal objects while digging?
Stop work in that part of the site and get heritage advice before going further. Disturbing Aboriginal objects needs a permit under national parks law, which is separate from your planning approval or construction certificate, and council’s plan also brings in the land council based in La Perouse. In a suburb with such deep cultural history, plan for this before digging begins rather than reacting halfway through. Ask about known sites early, and note that Gooriwal, around Yarra Bay and Frenchmans Bay, joined the State Heritage Register in June 2024.
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.