Building in Melbourne’s west means dealing with one of five councils — Wyndham, Melton, Maribyrnong, Hobsons Bay or Brimbank — and each has its own overlays, report and consent habits and way of handling a Section 29A request. Cornerstone issues building permits, carries out the mandatory inspections and signs off the finished job across all five, for homeowners, builders, drafting firms and commercial tenants.
You deal with one practice from permit to occupancy permit, with a fixed fee quoted before any work starts. We work across the west every week, so inspections are easy to schedule and we know how each of the five councils handles its paperwork.
What’s different about the west
Growth-area estates. Wyndham and Melton carry most of the west’s new housing: Harpley and Manor Lakes around Werribee, Saltwater Coast in Point Cook, Mt Atkinson and the Truganina estates, Atherstone in Melton South, and Woodlea at Aintree and Thornhill Park along the Western Highway. The Melton front keeps moving out through Rockbank, Bonnie Brook, Deanside, Fraser Rise, Plumpton and Cobblebank, and Wyndham’s runs south-west through Manor Lakes, Wyndham Vale and Mambourin. Estate work is mostly new homes on small lots, and a facade the estate has approved does not mean the boundary setbacks work — we check the siting rules alongside the NCC and the developer’s guidelines.
Basalt and reactive clay. The region sits on the Werribee Plains basalt, and the clay that weathers off it moves with the seasons. Reactive clay is common here — the soil report sets the class, and the slab and footings are designed to it — so we look for a soil report and an engineer’s footing design on almost every job, including sheds and garages with a slab. Rock close to the surface also turns up in parts of Melton and Truganina, at depths that can change across one block, which affects footing depths and retaining wall design.
Older suburbs and small lots. Footscray, Yarraville, Seddon, Williamstown and Newport have heritage overlays over large parts of the older weatherboard and brick housing, precinct by precinct. Those are planning matters, and where a planning permit is needed it has to be in hand before we can issue the building permit. Sunshine, St Albans, Braybrook and Deer Park are where the dual occupancies and townhouses are going, often on lots where the siting needs a report and consent, and building on the boundary can mean a protection works notice to the neighbour. Parts of Maribyrnong and Footscray along the river sit in an area liable to flooding — a planning-scheme flood overlay or a council flood designation — so council’s report and consent under the Building Regulations 2018 is needed before the permit issues, unless a planning permit already sets the floor level.
Sheds, garages and larger blocks. Werribee South, Toolern Vale, Exford, Parwan and the acreage pockets of Melton and Wyndham still have room for farm sheds, workshops and double garages. Most need a building permit, and boundary setbacks catch people out. Send us the supplier’s drawings and a site plan before the slab goes down.
Industrial and warehouse fit-outs. Laverton North, Truganina, Derrimut, Altona North and Ravenhall are full of warehouses getting offices, mezzanines and racking, or changing use. These are NCC Volume One jobs — alterations, change of use, essential safety measures — and we do them for tenants, shopfitters and landlords.
What people in the west ask us for
New home permits in the Wyndham and Melton estates, for volume builders and owner-builders; extensions and renovations on the older housing through Maribyrnong, Hobsons Bay and Brimbank; sheds and garages on the bigger blocks; retaining walls where estate lots have been cut and filled; verandahs, pergolas, carports and decks added to estate homes in Point Cook, Tarneit, Truganina and Manor Lakes a year or two after handover, where the building envelope and rear setback decide whether the job is exempt; demolition permits with Section 29A consent for knock-down rebuilds in Werribee, Altona and Sunshine; and fit-outs for the warehouses and shops along the Princes and Western highways. All of it comes with the mandatory inspections and the occupancy permit or certificate of final inspection at the end.
Nearby
We have dedicated pages for Werribee, Melton and Footscray. Beyond the west, we cover Melbourne’s north, the south-east, and Geelong and regional Victoria.