Page 4188 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 23 October 2019
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Residential blocks are now required to be oriented and proportioned so that a house can be designed with the daytime living areas facing north and areas of sunlit private open space, while limiting the overshadowing of adjoining residential blocks. Certain combinations of block use, slope and orientation are more likely to achieve solar-efficient house design.
The changes demonstrated the ACT’s commitment to providing for new development that does not unreasonably impact on a neighbour’s access to sunlight. Variation 306 achieved that by limiting the height and location of a building using a building envelope. This was also known as the “solar fence”. At the time that the solar access policy changes were being drafted for variation 306, a variation that applied across Canberra, the concept plan for Coombs and Wright was being prepared.
To guarantee that the proposed solar access provisions for residential development would apply to the first stages of Molonglo, given the government’s commitment to providing for the highest quality sustainable development, the solar envelope requirement was included in the Coombs and Wright concept plans as a mandatory provision. This removed the possibility of dwellings built in Coombs and Wright before variation 306 took effect not complying with the new solar access requirements, further demonstrating the government’s commitment to sustainable and environmentally responsible development.
I acknowledge that, despite our best efforts, we do not always get the planning right. Once a development is built we can see any unintended consequences that the policy has created, but we learn from this. We review the outcomes and amend our policies accordingly. This is a key feature of an effective planning system. I am pleased that the independent planning and land authority regularly reflects on outcomes being achieved on the ground and will provide advice to me accordingly, should things need to change.
The solar envelope provision was no exception to this. Although the principle was to provide for dwellings that receive good access to sunlight and minimise overshadowing to neighbours, the development industry found easy ways of complying with the mandatory rule that were not consistent with the intent of the provisions. Specifically, industry started to push the dwelling close to the northern boundary or significantly excavate the site and build the house below natural ground level. While this meant that the house would not always overshadow its neighbours, the side fence or the side cut would often restrict solar access to the dwelling itself.
We learned from this. The government then initiated a variation to the Territory Plan to amend these requirements. One of the changes introduced with variation 346 was a requirement that a house on a new residential block is required to have a minimum of four square metres of northern glazing to a daytime living area. An important component of this new rule was that the glazing was not to be overshadowed at noon on the winter solstice by either buildings or structures on the subject block or compliant development of the northern neighbour. These changes addressed the unintended outcomes that were being observed on houses being dug into a block or pushed so close to their northern neighbour that the house was not able to achieve direct sunlight in winter.
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