Lane Cove Council
Private building certifier in Riverview
Tree lined Riverview is almost all family houses, and the college headland heritage listing reaches further than many expect. Across Riverview, CertifiBuild certifies new homes, upper storeys, pools and backyard structures.
NSW 2066
Class 1 homes and Class 10 structures
Local rules
Riverview houses beside the college headland
Almost all detached homes
All of Riverview falls in Lane Cove Council. Separate houses dominate, with townhouses or flats numbering only a handful. Around 62% of the land is zoned R2. Every mapped building height here is 9.5 metres. Lots are mapped at a minimum of 550 square metres. Sites drop toward the water at Tambourine Bay and along the Lane Cove River, so cut and fill frequently shapes the design.
One heritage item, a big footprint
St Ignatius' College is a single local heritage item, yet its mapped area takes in roughly 25% of Riverview. The college has no State listing. Riverview also lacks any conservation area. Even so, homes close to the college can be caught by the heritage rules for neighbouring sites. In that case council's DCP wants a heritage impact statement supplied.
Other mapped layers
Some 6% of Riverview is bushfire prone land. A similar share has acid sulfate soil mapping, some of it class 2. Council has not mapped a foreshore building line anywhere in this suburb.
Typical work
Common projects and how they get approved
What owners build here
The college campus is outside our scope, so Riverview work for us centres on family homes on sloping streets. Typical projects are:
- Upper floor additions that respect the council's two storey cap and its 35% landscaped area minimum.
- Knockdown rebuilds on sloping lots, where limits on digging and filling set the floor levels.
- Pools, decks and terraced retaining walls on blocks falling towards the water.
- Granny flats and dual occupancies on larger lots, once the lot size thresholds are checked.
- Garages and carports set behind the established street line, away from the front garden.
How approval usually works
Most Riverview houses face no conservation area, so a CDC (a fast-track approval under state rules) is often worth testing first. The catch is the mapped layers on each lot. Bushfire prone land, class 2 acid sulfate soils or closeness to the college item can each push a job to a DA. Before you lodge, measure the lot's distance from the college on the heritage map, and review bushfire and soil mapping if you plan to dig. Council's dual occupancy minimums, 750 square metres attached or 900 detached, are far larger than the mapped lot minimum. Riverview is also the peninsula suburb most within reach of Lane Cove's town centre for the newer state housing rules. CertifiBuild maps these issues on day one and gives owners clear, prompt answers.
Our services
From approval to sign-off.
One certifier for your whole Riverview job, from the first plan check to the occupation certificate.
Local questions
Questions we hear about this suburb.
No two lots in Riverview are the same. Give us your address and we will check every map that affects it.
See the council pageIs St Ignatius’ College on the State Heritage Register?
No. Council lists the college as a local heritage item under the Lane Cove Local Environmental Plan (LEP) 2009, not a State Register entry. What surprises many owners is the size of its mapped area, which takes in about a quarter of Riverview. That one item explains why so much of the heritage map is coloured here, even though Riverview has no conservation area. Because the protection is local, council handles work affecting it under its own LEP and design rules. Check the heritage map to see how close your lot sits to the college’s mapped area.
My house is a street away from the college. Does that matter?
It can. Council considers how nearby development might affect a listed item, and its development control plan (DCP) wants a heritage impact statement supplied when work sits close to one. There is no fixed distance, so whether your Riverview lot counts is judged case by case, looking at views, scale and setting. Proximity to the college can also push a project from a complying development certificate (CDC) to a development application (DA). Measure your lot against the mapped college area early, and allow for a heritage consultant if it is close.
How much can I dig into my sloping Riverview block?
Generally no more than one metre of cut or fill under Lane Cove’s development control plan. A deeper excavation is only argued where a two storey house could not otherwise fit the slope. Many Riverview blocks slope down to Tambourine Bay or the river, so this limit often sets the floor levels. A split level layout that steps with the land usually works better than one big platform. Check acid sulfate soil mapping too, since roughly 6% of Riverview carries that mapping, partly class 2, which matters for deeper works.
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.