Building design & drafting in Ivanhoe.

What's built here

Improved rail from 1901 brought Edwardian housing, and the interwar decades brought the rest — including major A.V. Jennings estates through Ivanhoe and East Ivanhoe in the 1930s. The Californian bungalow and Arts and Crafts tradition took hold here as it did in Kew, Hawthorn and Balwyn, and the Waller House of 1922 — designed by Christian and Napier Waller, now National Trust-owned — is the suburb's landmark example.

The planning context

The Ivanhoe Structure Plan was adopted in December 2012 and revised in December 2014, designating Ivanhoe a Major Activity Area. It is implemented through DDO11, which divides the centre into five separately-designed Diversity Area Precincts, gazetted through Amendment C91 in 2013, with the Civic Precinct handled separately by master planning. Council's original intent was five to six storeys generally and up to eight in two locations — a proposal that met real local resistance, which tells you something about how these applications are received here.

Controls that actually apply in Ivanhoe

• DDO11 — five Diversity Area Precincts — Height rules are not uniform across the Ivanhoe activity centre. Each of the five precincts carries its own design guidelines. A subsequent amendment introduced mandatory maximum heights on an interim basis — confirm the current status against the planning scheme before assuming any height in a design brief.
• Heritage precincts — A 2013 study aligned heritage findings with the structure plan and recommended precincts including Kenilworth Parade and Toora Street, plus the interwar shops and former post office on Heidelberg Road. Notably, two other candidate sites on Lower Heidelberg Road were assessed and rejected — so proximity to a precinct does not imply protection.
• The 75% threshold — That study used a 75% contributory-item threshold to decide whether a cluster became a listed precinct. The practical consequence: streets that just missed the cut still contain individually notable interwar houses without formal protection — worth an overlay check even just outside the named precincts.
• Environmental Significance Overlay Schedule 1 — Covers the Yarra River, Plenty River and Darebin Creek. Ivanhoe sits on the Yarra's northern bank with Darebin Creek as its western boundary, so riparian sites here need an ESO1 pathway.

Check what sits over your own title in two minutes, free: search your address on the Victorian Government's planning property report. Send it to us and we can usually tell you whether a permit is likely from one conversation.

What we typically do in Ivanhoe

Renovation and sympathetic extension of Edwardian and interwar houses, especially near the Kenilworth Parade and Toora Street precincts; medium-density apartments and townhouses within the DDO11 precincts; riparian work near the Yarra and Darebin Creek requiring ESO1 assessment.

Whatever the type, the documentation is the same discipline: architectural drafting drawn to be built, town planning drawings council can assess first time, and working drawings a builder can price without padding.

Planning controls change — amendments are gazetted regularly. Everything above was accurate at the time of writing, but confirm current controls for your specific address before relying on them.

Talk to us about your Ivanhoe project

Send us the address and the planning property report and we will tell you what applies — before you commit to anything. Get in touch, or see everywhere else we work.