May 2023

Message from the Chair of the State Planning Commission

The Design Standard for Residential Driveway Crossovers will outline requirements for new driveways, such as setting a safe distance from existing infrastructure and ensuring there is space for a street tree and to put bins out in front of the property. Impacts on on-street carparking and maintaining the character of the surrounding streetscape will also be considered.

This design standard will not only provide developers with greater certainty about development application requirements but also provide councils with a useful reference for assessing driveway crossover development applications.

The commission is excited to be leading this work and, with input from councils, developers and state government agencies, is preparing a draft design standard for consultation.

I look forward to working with councils, planning industry professionals and the South Australian community throughout the process of preparing and implementing these new design standards in the coming months.

I'm also pleased to share that work to prepare our country regional plans is well underway and I look forward to hearing feedback from our community on the draft plans later this year.

The Greater Adelaide Regional Plan Discussion Paper is also progressing well and set for release mid-year, marking the first step in an ongoing discussion about how we strengthen the sustainability, liveability and prosperity of a growing Greater Adelaide region to 2030.

Craig Holden
Chair, State Planning Commission

Message from the Executive Director, Team PLUS

The Planning and Design Code contains the planning rules and policies that guide what can be developed in South Australia and it’s important that all changes to the Code are carefully considered.

There are a range of factors that the Minister may consider when determining a Code Amendment to ensure proposals are compatible with surrounding land uses and support sustainable long-term growth in the right places, at the right time.

During the past 12 months, 17 Code Amendments proposed by developers, landowners and government have been determined by the Minister for Planning and, of these, 9 proposed amendments were finalised and 8 were declined.

If you are interested in learning more, all of the Minister’s decisions are available to view under finalised and declined Code Amendments on the PlanSA website, including information about the proposal and a copy of the Minister’s letter outlining reasons for his decision. The State Planning Commission’s advice to the Minister on Code Amendments is also publicly available. 

Sally Smith
Executive Director, Planning and Land Use Services

Supporting flood-affected communities to build back better

To help aid flood resilience, the Department for Trade and Investment’s Planning and Land Use Services (PLUS) division is investigating possible amendments to the Planning and Design Code.

Flood-affected councils throughout the Murraylands and Riverland, working with PLUS, have identified a number of improvements that could be made to the Code to help mitigate future flood risk and support resilient redevelopment, such as: 

• more accurate finished floor levels to avoid inundation in future flood events
• greater flexibility in building height allowances (this involves review of current policy that seeks to restrict building heights above ground level for amenity purposes)
• types of suitable building materials for underfloor structures.   

Data on floodwater levels in the recent 2022/23 event and the extent of inundation is currently being collated by government and will be considered in forming changes to the Code.

That process would provide the opportunity for community consultation, especially in affected communities, to ensure their voices are heard.

Due to the urgency of providing clear rules to support flood-resilient redevelopment, the Code Amendment is expected to be initiated soon, confirming the scope of the changes.

Guidelines and support material to outline the process for rebuilding in flood-affected areas, including design, materials, risk mitigation and approval processes to support communities are currently being developed.

In addition, the Minister for Planning has established the Housing and Construction Flood Recovery group to engage and identify key issues with industry and expedite flood recovery.

The group includes the Master Builders Association of South Australia, the Housing Industry Association, the Urban Development Institution of SA, Riverland and Murray Councils, the Local Government Association of South Australia, Department for Environment and Water, Property Council, SA Unions, local MPs and State Government Flood Emergency Recovery Coordinator, Alex Zimmermann, who is assisting with the government’s wider recovery response.

This initiative will be supported by the creation of long-term housing and infrastructure regional plans across the River Murray to help affected communities rebuild.

For more information about PLUS’ work to support flood recovery, read our Re-building after the River Murray flood FAQs, email PlanSA@sa.gov.au or call 1800 752 664.

New building standards to improve home accessibility and energy efficiency

The South Australian Government is introducing building requirements for new homes that will boost energy efficiency and introduce new livability standards.

From October 2024, new home designs will be more accessible, including improved entry and spaces inside homes, such as wider doors and corridors and step-free access, making it easier for people with disability and older South Australians to find suitable housing and for all South Australians to visit family and friends.

Requirements to reinforce a bathroom and toilet wall during construction will also reduce the cost of future modifications, such as installing handrails, enabling residents to continue living in their home as they age.

Higher energy efficiency standards for newly constructed homes will also reduce energy use and lower power bills for homeowners and rental tenants, which is predicted to offset initial construction costs.

The majority of new homes will need to achieve a 7-star energy efficiency rating, up from 6 stars, seeking to lower greenhouse gas emissions and provide year-round comfort in the home.

These new requirements were agreed nationally at the Building Ministers’ Meeting and have now been included in the building rules under the National Construction Code (NCC 2022), which commences in May 2023, with transitional arrangements in place for these provisions to commence in October 2023.

The South Australian Government has agreed to an implementation date of 1 October 2024 for the new energy efficiency and livability requirements, ensuring new residential constructions from this date increase the standards of our state’s housing stock.

The commencement date for South Australia acknowledges current pressures on the construction and building sectors, including market capacity, supply chain disruption and workforce uncertainty, along with the additional pressures of rebuilding following the River Murray floods.

The unique circumstances facing South Australia required the National Construction Code provisions to be tailored to our state by introducing a two-year transitional period and will include a range of exemptions.

The decision to implement the National Construction Code’s new provisions has been formed in conjunction with housing industry, climate, disability and ageing sector stakeholders and follows a period of considerable consultation.

The South Australian Government and the Australian Building Codes Board, who drafted the new energy efficiency and Livable Housing Designs provisions, will continue working with the building and development industry, disability advocates and other stakeholders to enable seamless implementation of the new provisions.

Extra support to assist cladding replacement

Applications are now open for South Australians to access government support to help fast-track the replacement of combustible panel cladding on eligible private buildings, including residential apartment buildings.

The combustible Aluminium Composite Panel Cladding Loan Scheme will provide building owners with financial assistance to replace cladding on buildings with an extreme or high South Australian Life Safety Assessment risk rating. Buildings with a moderate risk rating will be considered on application.

The scheme allows eligible owner corporations to secure a concessional loan with a fixed interest rate and term of up to 10 years, with no application fee – enabling vital safety works to be carried out without the need for residents to cover up-front costs.

Loans of up to $15 million will be offered at the rate of government borrowing and are available to community and strata corporations seeking to start required remediation works or have an existing commercial loan in place and wish to re-finance.

At-risk buildings were identified through a state-wide audit conducted following the devastating 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London and Melbourne’s Lacrosse building blaze in 2014.

The loan scheme will be backed by changes to community title group rules making it easier to get combustible cladding removed from apartment buildings in South Australia.

An amendment is now in effect to allow remedial works to take place with the support of 75 per cent of lot owners – previously, community title groups needed to secure unanimous agreement amongst residents to remove cladding where the cost exceeded $5,000 per apartment.

Council building fire safety committees will assess proposed remediation work to ensure it results in standards and building safety improvement.

Visit the South Australian Government Financing Authority website for more information, including guidelines and the application form.

Miscellaneous Technical Enhancement Code Amendment approved

Proposed technical amendments which aim to enhance the general performance and operation of the Planning and Design Code have been approved by the Minister for Planning.

The Miscellaneous Technical Enhancement Code Amendment is primarily focused on addressing technical and operational elements within the Code, as opposed to changing policy intent or outcomes. It represents the first of what will be a regular review and “tune-up” of any technical or operational aspects of the Code based on stakeholder feedback.

Areas covered by this Code Amendment include:

• technical matters
• policy clarity and interpretation
• consistency with drafting principals
• system efficiency and procedural matters.

Initiated by the State Planning Commission, this Code Amendment is informed by valuable feedback received from local council, planning industry professionals and other users of the Code in its first year of operation.

The Miscellaneous Technical Enhancement Code Amendment was further edited and refined following feedback received during public consultation which ran from July to September 2022.

Thank you to all those who provided feedback during consultation.

Further information about this Code Amendment including a copy of the final approved Code Amendment and the Engagement Report can be found on the PlanSA website.

The Miscellaneous Technical Enhancement Code Amendment will come into effect on the day that it is deployed into both the electronic Planning and Design Code and the South Australian Property and Planning Atlas. It is anticipated that this will occur in May.

For council and industry professionals, the PLUS Code Amendment team will be running through the changes at upcoming PlanSA User and Policy forums in May.

Subscribe to receive Code Amendment updates

You can now subscribe to receive email notifications of proposed changes to the Planning and Design Code and code amendment updates.

This new PlanSA feature will help South Australians keep up to date on code amendments they are interested in and learn about opportunities to have their say on proposed changes to the Code.

To receive emails, click the ‘Subscribe to be notified’ button on the Code Amendments initiated, on consultation or consultation completed pages and customise your notifications based on whether code amendments are state-led, in your local area or state-wide, or to follow the progress of a particular code amendment.

Providing email notifications for Code Amendments – in a similar way to development application register email updates – aims to improve transparency and community access to information about planning rule updates across South Australia.