Changing your property
Would you like to extend the verandah on your heritage-listed house? Perhaps you’d like to turn your heritage-listed shed into an antique shop. If you want to dramatically alter your heritage-listed property, you will need to apply for approval from the Queensland Heritage Council. The application procedure ensures our cultural heritage places are not destroyed by inappropriate development. That doesn’t mean you can’t paint your peeling fence or mend your rust-eaten, galvanised iron roof. If you’re unsure, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Cultural Heritage Unit can help you.Changing unlisted properties
Even if your property isn’t listed on the Queensland Heritage Register, you should take care when changing it. Drastically altering a property can damage its heritage value. Here are seven simple principles to consider when changing your heritage property.- Keep the place in use. A disused building can deteriorate quickly.
- Before changing the place, find out and record all you can about it. To increase your property’s value, you need to know what gives it special appeal. Once you know why it’s special, you can protect it. Careless work can destroy the aspects of your property that make it valuable.
- Make additions and alterations reversible. You should be able to remove new work without damaging the building’s underlying fabric.
- Intervene as little as possible. Do as little as you can to achieve the desired effect and keep the building’s original fabric.
- Demolish selectively. Don’t demolish the building’s original fabric. Instead, remove badly designed alterations.
- Plan new service installations carefully. Seek advice from architects and structural engineers if wiring needs to be threaded through your building.
- Be honest in design. Ensure changes and additions to your property are in keeping with its original features and design.
Changing listed properties
Being in the Heritage Register doesn’t mean that you can’t make changes to
your place. You can carry out work providing it's sympathetic to your property’s
heritage characteristics. New work should not damage the building’s fabric and
should complement its existing architectural character.
If you want to change a heritage-listed property, you will need to get approval
from the relevant body. If your property is entered in the Queensland Heritage
Register, you will need to apply for approval from the Queensland Heritage Council
for all work other than minor maintenance and emergency work.
Exempt Development
The following work can be carried out by obtaining an Exemption Certificate
from the Heritage Council. Maintenance work
This is work that will not cause detriment to the cultural heritage significance
of the place and is carried out for protective care, to such items as fences,
gardens, grounds, roads, paths, roof, drainage system, services and utilities.
Minor repair work
This is work that will not cause detriment to the cultural heritage significance
of the place, and involves repairs to the place using the same types of materials
and methods that were originally used.
Other minor work
This is any other work that will not cause detriment to the cultural heritage significance of the place, and is not of a significant scale.Emergency work
Emergency work is reversible work that provides temporary support, shelter, or security to a registered place after accidental damage through a natural disaster, such as a fire. It does not include demolition.
Work requiring approval
If you own a heritage-listed place, you will need to apply for approval from
the Queensland Heritage Council if you want to develop it. You’ll need
to get approval if you want to:
· demolish it
· erect, construct, or relocate it
· paint or plaster it in such a way that alters its appearance
· renovate, alter, or add to it
· subdivide its land
· change its use
· excavate, disturb, or change the natural features of the landscape
Do you need to carry out any of these developments? Find out how to apply for
approval to change a listed property. Link to : http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/ecoaccess/cultural_heritage/heritageregistered_places/
Getting approval
If you want to carry out development work to your property, you will need to
lodge an Integrated Development Assessment System (IDAS) application. Link to:
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/ecoaccess/cultural_heritage/heritageregistered_places
/private_development_in_a_registered_place/
Accidental damage
If your heritage-listed property is destroyed by a natural disaster, such as a fire or cyclone, contact the Environmental Protection Agency immediately. If the building is unstable, you will be permitted to fix it.
Demolition and removal
Demolishing or removing heritage-listed buildings is allowed only in rare and exceptional circumstances. You would need to lodge an application with the Queensland Heritage Council, explaining in detail why it’s necessary.
Penalties
Under the Queensland Heritage Act 1992 and the Integrated Planning Act 1997, you could be penalised for dramatically altering a heritage-listed building without approval from the Queensland Heritage Council. Penalties include fines, orders to correct the damaged building, and non-development orders.
If a place of cultural heritage significance is under threat of damage or demolition, the Minister can make a stop order.
Talk to us
If your property is heritage-listed, the Environmental Protection Agency can give you free advice on the best way to get the results you want without losing the value of your property. Once you have prepared preliminary plans, the Agency can also advise whether an IDAS development application is required, or whether an exemption certificate may be applicable.
Last updated: 02 May 2006
