Answering: What can you actually renovate on a heritage home in Boroondara or Stonnington?
Estimated reading time: 9 min read
In the City of Boroondara and the City of Stonnington, what you can renovate under a Heritage Overlay is decided less by your ambition than by one thing: how your property is graded. Both councils sort places in their overlays into significant, contributory and non-contributory, and that grading changes everything downstream, from how freely you can alter the front of the house to how much you can demolish at the rear and which permit pathway you take. The controls themselves come from the Schedule to Clause 43.01 of each council’s planning scheme and the heritage citations that sit behind it. Across more than ten Victorian councils, including Boroondara and Stonnington, our practice has navigated 59 heritage approvals by reading that grading first and designing to it, rather than against it.
If you have just bought in Hawthorn, Kew, Toorak or Armadale, you are likely in one of the most heritage-dense parts of Melbourne. Whole streets here sit inside heritage precincts, and the assumption that a Heritage Overlay simply forbids change is the first thing worth setting aside.
Owning a property in a Heritage Overlay does not stop you developing it. It means certain changes need a planning permit from the council, assessed against the heritage policy and the significance of your particular place. What is genuinely possible depends on where your home falls in the grading, and on how recessive and well-argued your design is.
Here is how Boroondara and Stonnington approach it, and what each grading tends to allow.
Key Insights
- Both Boroondara and Stonnington grade overlay properties as significant, contributory or non-contributory, and the grading drives how the council assesses your application.
- A Heritage Overlay does not prohibit development; it requires a planning permit for external alterations, demolition and new construction.
- Both councils tend to reward an intact street presentation and a recessive rear addition concealed behind the original form, rather than a dominant new element.
- The controls come from the Schedule to Clause 43.01 of each planning scheme and the council’s heritage citations, not from a single statewide rule.
| By grading | Front facade | Rear addition scope | Demolition | Likely pathway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Significant | Original fabric and principal elevation protected tightly | Recessive, concealed behind the original form; sympathetic and well-argued | Very limited; original fabric expected to be retained | Standard planning permit (notice likely) |
| Contributory | Street presentation retained in its original three-dimensional form | More real scope at the rear if it reads as subordinate | Partial, secondary or later elements may be possible | Standard planning permit |
| Non-contributory | More latitude, but the precinct still matters | Greater freedom, judged against neighbouring places | More readily considered | Standard, but some external works may qualify for VicSmart |
Keep reading for full details below.
Table of Contents
- How Heritage-Dense Boroondara and Stonnington Really Are
- The Grading System, and Why It Changes Your Scope
- Front, Rear and Demolition: What Each Council Rewards
- The Permit Pathway: Clause 43.01 and VicSmart
How Heritage-Dense Boroondara and Stonnington Really Are
Before you plan a single change, it helps to understand just how extensive these two overlays are, because in much of the inner-east the Heritage Overlay is the rule, not the exception.
Boroondara covers Hawthorn, Kew, Camberwell and Canterbury, and its Heritage Overlay applies across a large number of individual places and precincts, many of them whole streets of Victorian and Edwardian housing. Stonnington covers Toorak, Armadale, Malvern and Prahran, where the overlay protects a similar concentration of period homes and the leafy, intact streetscapes those suburbs are known for. The council confirms that the overlay does not prohibit redevelopment, but requires any redevelopment to respond appropriately to heritage policy and to the particular significance of the relevant place.
What this density means in practice is that, in these councils, your home is very likely affected, and the question is rarely “am I in an overlay” but “what does my grading allow”. The first step we take on any inner-east project is to confirm the listing on VicPlan and read the citation for the place, so the design conversation starts from the real constraint rather than a guess.
That early read matters because the two councils, while both rigorous, have their own emphasis. Stonnington places real weight on streetscape contribution in suburbs like Toorak and Armadale; a window change visible from the street can attract closer scrutiny than the same change at the rear.
The Grading System, and Why It Changes Your Scope
The single most important thing to know about renovating here is your grading, because it decides how the council assesses what you propose.
Boroondara sets out three categories plainly, and Stonnington works to the same logic:
- A significant place is individually important and also contributes to the heritage significance of its precinct. Here the original fabric and the principal elevation are protected most tightly.
- A contributory place matters because, combined with other significant or contributory places, it supports the character of a precinct. For it to keep that status, it should normally be retained in its original three-dimensional form.
- A non-contributory place has no heritage significance in itself, but developing it can still affect the precinct and the heritage places around it.
Boroondara is explicit that the heritage grading of your building affects how it will assess your planning permit application, with different policies applying to each category. The practical translation is straightforward: a significant home is judged on the protection of its original fabric, a contributory home on how your changes read in the street, and a non-contributory home on its effect on the surrounding precinct.
This is why two neighbours on the same Hawthorn or Malvern street can be told very different things. One owns a significant villa where the front rooms are effectively off-limits to alteration; the other owns a non-contributory infill where a far freer hand is possible. Reading that distinction correctly at the outset is what keeps a project from designing toward a refusal, and it is the foundation of the 59 heritage approvals our practice has navigated across Victorian councils.
Front, Rear and Demolition: What Each Council Rewards
Once you know your grading, the design strategy in both councils follows a consistent and well-understood logic, and it is worth designing to it from the first sketch.
The front is sacred. Both Boroondara and Stonnington reward an intact street presentation. On significant and contributory homes the principal elevation, the roof form, the original verandah, the chimneys and the front rooms are the elements that carry the heritage value, and proposals that keep these legible from the street are assessed far more comfortably than those that alter them.
The rear is where the project lives. Stonnington’s guidelines describe how a taller rear addition should be concealed behind the original building, either fully, so a part taller than the facade is not seen from the street, or substantively, so it does not appear to project beyond the existing form. That is the move both councils reward: a contemporary addition that sits low and recessive behind the period house, rather than a dominant new volume competing with it. On a contributory home there is often real scope here; on a significant home the same idea applies but with a lighter touch.
Demolition is controlled. Demolishing a significant or contributory building, in whole or in part, generally needs a permit and is approached cautiously, because a contributory place is expected to keep its original three-dimensional form. Boroondara actively monitors demolition, including applications for report and consent under Section 29A of the Building Act 1993, to protect places of value. Removing a later, secondary lean-to at the rear is a very different proposition to touching the original front rooms.
The design lesson runs through all three: keep the street reading intact, let the new work be recessive and clearly of its own time at the rear, and treat original fabric as the thing to be retained. That is the language these heritage officers respond to.
The Permit Pathway: Clause 43.01 and VicSmart
With the design strategy clear, the last piece is the permit pathway, and here the detail sits in the planning scheme rather than in any general advice.
In both councils the controls come from the Schedule to Clause 43.01, the Heritage Overlay, of the planning scheme. The schedule lists each heritage place, ties it to a Statement of Significance and a citation, and sets out where a permit is and is not required. This is why a precise answer always means checking your specific entry: the schedule, not a rule of thumb, governs your property. For most substantial period-home renovations in Boroondara or Stonnington, you are on the standard planning permit path, which is assessed against the heritage policy and is usually advertised to neighbours.
VicSmart, the state’s fast-track for minor works, is the exception rather than the rule for these projects. In a Heritage Overlay it covers a narrow set of classes, such as external alterations to a non-contributory building and certain minor structures, with the council required to decide within 10 business days and no third-party notice. A significant or contributory home being substantially renovated almost never fits a VicSmart class, because the works touch exactly the fabric the overlay protects.
Where VicSmart can help is at the edges, on a non-contributory property or for a qualifying minor element. The value of mapping this early is simple: you learn on day one whether your project is a 10-day minor-works matter or a several-month standard application. Across more than 200 permit applications, our role is to read the schedule and the grading together, so the pathway, the design and the budget all rest on the same honest picture.
Closing
Renovating under a Heritage Overlay in Boroondara or Stonnington is rarely about what the rules forbid; it is about reading your grading, designing the new work to be recessive behind an intact street presentation, and matching it to the right permit pathway under Clause 43.01. Do that well and a heritage home becomes a richer brief, not a smaller one. To see how we work through the grading and the constraints before design begins, visit our process page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Does a Heritage Overlay in Boroondara or Stonnington stop me renovating?
A: No. Both councils confirm that owning a property in a Heritage Overlay does not prohibit development; it requires a planning permit for external alterations, demolition and new construction, assessed against heritage policy and the significance of your place. What is possible depends on your grading. The first step is to confirm your listing and read the citation for your property before any design begins.
Q: What is the difference between significant, contributory and non-contributory?
A: A significant place is individually important and protected most tightly, with original fabric and the principal elevation largely off-limits to change. A contributory place supports its precinct and should normally keep its original three-dimensional form, but often allows real scope at the rear. A non-contributory place has no heritage value itself, so a freer hand is possible, though its effect on the surrounding precinct is still assessed.
Q: Can I build a rear extension on a heritage home in Toorak or Hawthorn?
A: Often, yes. Both councils reward a rear addition that is recessive and concealed behind the original house, so it does not dominate the street view. Stonnington’s guidelines describe concealing a taller rear element fully or substantively behind the existing form. A contributory home usually offers more rear scope than a significant one, but the same recessive logic applies to both.
Q: Do these renovations qualify for the fast VicSmart pathway?
A: Usually not. VicSmart, decided within 10 business days, covers only a narrow set of minor works in a Heritage Overlay, such as external alterations to a non-contributory building. A substantial renovation of a significant or contributory home runs on the standard planning permit path, because it touches the fabric the overlay protects. We map your plans against the eligible classes early so you know which pathway you are really on.
Want to Learn More?
With more than 35 years designing within Melbourne’s heritage suburbs, BY Projects Architecture treats the grading and the overlay as the start of the brief, not a hurdle at the end. The clearer the constraint at the outset, the better the home you live in at the finish, built for living, not just photos.
Citations
- “Boroondara Heritage Overlay and heritage grading map” — City of Boroondara. Defines the three gradings (significant, contributory, non-contributory) and confirms the heritage grading of a building affects how the council assesses a planning permit application. https://www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/services/planning-and-building/heritage/boroondara-heritage-overlay-and-heritage-grading-map
- “Heritage Overlay – Guidelines for Planning Permit Applications” — City of Stonnington. Confirms the overlay does not prohibit redevelopment but requires it to respond to heritage policy, that a contributory building should be retained in its original three-dimensional form, and that a taller rear addition should be fully or substantively concealed. https://www.stonnington.vic.gov.au/Planning-and-building/Planning/For-applicants/Heritage-guidelines-and-overlays
- “Schedule to Clause 43.01 Heritage Overlay” — City of Stonnington Planning Scheme. The statutory schedule that lists each heritage place and sets out where a planning permit is and is not required under the Heritage Overlay. https://www.stonnington.vic.gov.au/files/assets/public/v/1/planning-and-building/planning/strategic-planning/amendments/c304ston/schedule-to-clause-43.01-heritage-overlay.pdf
- “Buildings and works in a heritage overlay (VicSmart)” — Planning Victoria. Lists the minor-works classes eligible for the 10-business-day VicSmart pathway in a Heritage Overlay, such as external alterations to a non-contributory building, with no third-party notice. https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/guides-and-resources/guides/all-guides/vicsmart-permits/accordion/buildings-and-works-in-a-heritage-overlay
These are the official Victorian sources that govern heritage renovation in the inner-east: each council’s Heritage Overlay grading and guidelines, the Schedule to Clause 43.01 of the planning scheme, and the VicSmart provisions for eligible minor works.
With 35-plus years and 59 heritage approvals across more than ten Victorian councils, including Boroondara and Stonnington, our work is to read your grading and the Clause 43.01 schedule first, so your renovation starts on solid ground and your home is built for living, not just for the listing.
93%
Quality Verified
This content scored 93% in the Probably Genius Publication Readiness Assessment, meeting standards for direct answers, section depth, proof points, citation quality, and AI extractability.
