Randwick City Council
Private building certifier in Matraville
CertifiBuild certifies house extensions, semi alterations, pools and outbuildings in Matraville. Near the port, the first question is surprising: does Randwick’s local plan even apply to your land?
NSW 2036
Class 1 homes and Class 10 structures
Local rules
Matraville's homes beside the port lands
Two planning instruments
Randwick's 2012 local plan leaves around 24% of Matraville unzoned. Instead, the port's industrial land and its special purpose land fall under the state's Transport and Infrastructure planning policy, which sets separate heights. Within council's zoning, low density housing land takes up about 43% of Matraville and cemetery land about 10%. Semis, terraces and townhouses make up a bigger share of homes here than anywhere else nearby.
Light heritage cover
The conservation area around Bunnerong Power Station takes in roughly 1.4% of Matraville. There are eleven local heritage items and nothing on the State Register. Two listings recall the area's soldier settlement history: a house on Somme Way and the old Menin Road public school. If your home is near one of them, check whether heritage controls reach your lot too.
An industrial past on record
No other suburb nearby has entries in the state's contaminated land register. Matraville has six sites. All carry past notices, and none is current. One was a refinery and two were fuel terminals. The register lists notices, not a full site history.
Typical work
Common projects and how they get approved
What owners build here
Most of our Matraville work is on houses and attached homes. Typical jobs include:
- Back additions and new upper levels on free-standing houses.
- Semi and terrace renovations, where common walls need fire and acoustic detailing.
- Pools, sheds, garages and roofed alfresco areas in the backyard.
- Carports and decks on narrower attached-home lots.
Warehouses and port buildings fall outside Class 1 and 10, and a certifier licensed for that work must take them on. Homes close to the industrial edge may also need early checks on contamination history before any digging starts.
How approval usually works
Start with the planning certificate. It names the instrument that governs your land, and near the industrial area that may be the state policy, not the council plan. On a house block, a CDC (fast-track approval under state rules) is frequently available, though mapping has the final say. When the codes cannot be met, you need a development application (DA). If your lot or a neighbour had an industrial use, raise it early, because a consent authority has to consider past contamination. Near the shops, note that the Matraville Centre chapter of council's design rules was kept from the 2013 plan and is due for review. CertifiBuild reads the governing instrument for your address before work starts, so your designer is not working from the wrong rulebook.
Our services
From approval to sign-off.
One certifier for your whole Matraville job, from the first plan check to the occupation certificate.
Local questions
Questions we hear about this suburb.
No two lots in Matraville are the same. Give us your address and we will check every map that affects it.
See the council pageIs my Matraville land zoned by council or by the state?
It depends on where your lot sits. Randwick’s 2012 local plan leaves about 24% of Matraville unzoned. That port land, used for industry and special purposes, is governed by the state’s Transport and Infrastructure planning policy instead, with separate maps and heights. Council’s own zoning covers the rest, including low density housing land, roughly 43% of Matraville. Order a planning certificate first, since it names the instrument that governs your address. Then your designer can work from the right set of rules rather than guessing from a neighbour’s project.
Could old contamination affect my Matraville block?
It could, so check before any digging starts. No other suburb nearby has entries in the state’s contaminated land register, while Matraville has six sites, all with past notices and none current. One was a refinery and two were fuel terminals. Because the register only logs official notices, not everything that happened on a site, an absence of entries does not prove a block is clean. Read your planning certificate first. If your block or a neighbour had an industrial use, raise it early, because the approval authority must take past contamination into account.
Does the chapter for Matraville’s centre still apply?
Yes, for now. Randwick carried the Matraville Centre chapter forward from its 2013 plan while a later review stage is finished, and a replacement is expected. Treat it as current but temporary: before finalising a design, compare anything you plan to rely on with the latest published version. If you are planning a house extension or semi renovation near the shops, first find out whether the chapter’s map takes in your lot. Your planning certificate and that map answer the question, and we can go through them with you.
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.