In this video, Colin Fragar, our founder and CEO, shares his thoughts granny flat designs and tips for approval.
Click on the “Play” button below to watch now:
Or for those that prefer to read, here is a transcript of the video…
So you might have come onto this page specifically looking for Australian granny flat designs. My name is Colin Fragar from Council Approval Group. If you’re thinking about designing a granny flat, there’s important considerations particularly for Australian climate and the Australian context.
Considerations for Granny Flat Designs in Australia
So unlike other countries there are a few key considerations. The first is that granny flats actually need to be designed in a way that not only meets the climatic considerations of the area but, importantly, the character of the area. So often people mistakenly think because it’s a granny flat means it doesn’t need to have any design. They think it could just look like a shed or can just kind of be prefabricated.But what we’re finding after having done thousands of these is that councils are actually now quite focused on making sure it’s quality design in the granny flat.Whether you’re going through a council approval process or it’s through a certification process, there are now actually design elements around a granny flat. It’s not just the basics of meeting the height and floorspace ratios, for example, and there’s other things in there.
The second thing in terms of a granny flat design in Australia are the climatic considerations. For example, in New South Wales it does need a BASIX certificate. This is the energy rating, the thermal comfort, and the water efficiencies. Those things are required even for granny flat.
Some things that I’ve done personally, this is one of my own personal projects, I’d like to actually show you now. You’ll see this granny flat here has a lot of northern light. So these doors, they’re facing north. There is a lot of northern light that’s coming to this. This is one that my wife and I did together.
You’ll be able to see also, as an example, there’s a veranda. Okay, so think about outdoor living. One awesome opportunity for granny flats is the verandas and the decks, those outdoor living spaces, are not included in the floor area calculations which means you can actually get a larger feeling even though it’s the same footprint for the house itself.
Take the Next Steps
If you want to talk to somebody about the designs that you have in mind for your granny flat, whether or not you can achieve them, and what we would recommend as the best path for approval, please contact us. Also grab Your Ultimate Guide To Council Approval. This is something very special. We’ve put together a whole bunch of tips and tricks in here for achieving council approval for granny flat.And if you really have a project in mind and you would like someone to talk to, we would like to offer you a free 30 minute consultation. You can make that on our website councilapproval.com.au. My name is Colin Fragar from Council Approval Group.
Article Last Updated: 28 June 2024