Cornerstone works with homeowners, builders, developers and commercial tenants across Preston and the City of Darebin to secure building permits, carry out the mandatory inspections and sign off at the end. We take on every class of building work — residential, commercial and industrial.
Whether it’s a second storey on a weatherboard, a pair of townhouses on a deep block, a garage off the back lane, a shop fit-out on High Street or a warehouse or office in one of Preston’s industrial pockets, you get clear advice, a fixed fee quoted up front and one practice from permit to sign-off.
Local knowledge in Preston
Preston is an inner-north suburb with a mix of Edwardian weatherboards, Californian bungalows, post-war brick homes, a large stock of former Housing Commission dwellings — some since renewed, as at Homes Victoria’s Oakover Road site — and a growing number of townhouse developments. We regularly work on permits for extensions, dual occupancies and small multi-unit sites near Preston and Bell stations, and we check the zoning and overlays before we quote.
Building in Darebin
Period homes and heritage overlays. Parts of Preston sit under Darebin’s Heritage Overlay — interwar precincts like Spencer Street and Bruce Street, the War Service Homes streets off St Georges Road, the Collins Street villas, and individual places like the Preston Tramway Workshops between Miller Street and Oakover Road. Inside a heritage overlay, demolition and visible external changes usually need a planning permit from council before the building permit can be issued. We check the overlay map first and tell you the order things happen in.
Extensions and second storeys. Most Preston jobs are rear extensions or second storeys on bungalows and post-war brick houses. Old footings meeting new slabs, walls on boundaries, overlooking and overshadowing under Part 5 of the Building Regulations 2018, and any Section 29A consent from council for the demolition (triggered where more than half the house goes, counting any demolition in the previous three years, or where any part of a street-facing wall comes down) get sorted at permit stage, not at frame inspection.
Townhouse infill and laneway garages. Two or three dwellings on one lot is the bread and butter of development in Darebin, and Preston’s older grid has rear laneways where a garage or studio off the lane is common. Siting, fire separation between dwellings, boundary wall heights and building over easements all come into it, and some designs need a report and consent.
Soils and water. Preston sits on a ridge of older sedimentary rock between Merri Creek and Darebin Creek, with basalt along the creek valleys. Both weather to clay that can be reactive. The soil report sets the class, and the slab and footings are designed to it. Low-lying land near the creeks can sit in a flood overlay, which makes it land liable to flooding under the Building Regulations 2018: the floor level is set before the building permit, through the planning permit where one is needed or otherwise council’s report and consent, with Melbourne Water consulted either way.
Nearby
We cover the inner north — Reservoir, Thornbury and Northcote in Darebin, Coburg and Brunswick in Merri-bek — and the growth corridor on our northern Melbourne page, plus the eastern suburbs, western suburbs and regional Victoria.