Apartment Design Guide and reforms to SEPP 65: NSW planning reforms released

Introduction

On 19 June 2015, amendments were made to State Environmental Planning Policy No. 65 – Design Quality of Residential Flat Development (SEPP 65). Also released on that day was the Apartment Design Guide – Tools for improving the design of residential apartment development which replaces the current Residential Flat Design Code originally published in 2002.

These reforms were first proposed in September 2014 and the amendments now made differ in several important respects from the draft amendments publicly exhibited in 2014.

Key changes include new minimum apartment areas, grounds on which a consent authority must not refuse consent, clarification on the role of development control plans and the introduction of alternative design solutions.