Australian Property News

New planning fee to support sustainability

Posted on Thursday, September 30 2010 at 10:50 AM

The New South Wales Government is proposing a small fee for the issuing of new Building Sustainability Index (BASIX) certificates.

The fee will go towards online, helpline and other support for the sustainability program which was introduced in 2004.

All new homes, alterations and additions worth more than $50,000 which require a development application or complying development certificate also require a BASIX certificate.

The BASIX initiative has resulted in an average 40 per cent reduction in energy and water use in new homes, compared to homes built before 2004.

The 120,000 BASIX-compliant houses built since 2004 are saving NSW some nine billion litres of water – equal to 3600 Olympic swimming pools – and producing 280,000 fewer tonnes of greenhouse gases each year.

The proposed online fee, of between $20 and $50 for new dwellings and $25 for alterations and additions, is proposed as part of the draft Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation.

Households save up to $600 per year on household energy and water bills, thanks to the BASIX initiative.

Department of Planning Corporate Governance and Policy executive director Donna Rygate said the fee would fund:

• Customer help, both online and to a call centre, along with online help notes, online tutorials and customer support;

• Manual off-line certificates where the online tool isn’t appropriate, such as with heritage buildings and alternative technology solutions.

The one-off fee for online assessments is proposed to be:

• $25 for alterations and additions;

• $50 for a new single detached dwelling;

• $80 for the first two dwellings and $35 for each dwelling above this for multi-dwelling housing (other than flat buildings); and

• $120 for the first three dwellings and $20 for each dwelling above this for residential flat buildings.

Non-online assessments can be charged up to $250.

Rygate said BASIX was to date the only state sustainability tool which had a free index to calculate the ability of houses to stay warm in winter and cool in summer.

The BASIX online system processed about 1000 applications each week, while its helpline dealt with more than 150 enquiries each week.

The fee is expected to raise some $1.2 million per annum, compared with the $7.5 million spent to date developing BASIX.