Siteworks & Considerations

Besides from the actual building and structure, Siteworks and considerations is a key factor that can make or break a project. If preparation of siteworks for construction is considered upfront, there may be unintended costs or issues that may come up, extending the timeline or hiking up the budget.

Sometimes preparing a construction site for building is too expensive or impractical, deterring potential projects. This is one of the elements we assess and examine in determining whether a site is viable for and there are a number of factors to consider when looking for a site to develop upon.

Site fall & Contours

• Will the slope of a site affect the design/ and vehicle mobility?

The slope of a site can affect the quality, quantity and scale of the intended development. With multi-unit developments a common driveway is usually implemented and will need to be designed and engineered (if substantially sloped) to comply with regulation. There are sites that are too steep to be viable for vehicular and pedestrian access.

Sites that are very sloped will generally also require pedestrian thoroughfare with stairs to counter the slope.

• Engineering

Steep sites will require a level of cut and fill with dwellings sometimes have multiple levels, or dwellings with at variating levels.

These sites generally also potentially contain a series of retaining walls or similar, which is generally an additional cost to preparing the site.

• Sites with steep contours can trigger a series of consultants, including and not limited to traffic consultants, Civil engineers and waste management consultants to list a few.

Landscape Considerations

• Existing landscaping

The site may potentially be in a location with well-established landscape and fauna.

In some cases, existing landscaping may be deemed to be significantly important and cannot be removed. These situations will be assessed by a landscape professional, but can cause delays to a project. If the Trees cannot be removed it also has a direct effect on the available building footprint of your intended development.

• Should it come to it an arborist or landscape consultant will be required to comment on the importance of the existing landscaping.

Soil Quality & Excavation

• If the soil is of a low quality, additional engineering may be involved to counter the poor foundations for the development.

If there is rock or clay on site, there may also be extravagant removal costs involved, which also setback the building timeline.

• A soil report should be obtained and bad soil conditions may trigger a triage of consultants.

Aboriginal Cultural Sensitivity (Cultural Heritage Management Plans)

• There may be a situation where your site may be in an area of cultural heritage sensitivity as defined by the aboriginal heritage regulations. If the site is within these areas, a CHMP plan will be needed to be issued to protect the aboriginal cultural heritage in the activity area.
• If a CHMP is required, an Aboriginal Heritage Archaeological Consultant will be required to be anointed

Assets and easements

• As well as obvious and visible above ground elements, your site may also have tranches of existing sewerage or stormwater networks which are protected by ‘easements’, prohibiting the construction to be too close to assets.
• Easements are put in place to ensure the safety and protection of these assets. There are many instances where one or more assets may be running across a predominate side of the site, restricting any favourable development for your site.
• The appropriate authorities will generally be contacted for further information on existing on-site assets and easements, to ensure we are abiding by easement guidelines and building within its means.