Building design & drafting in Mitcham.

What's built here

Mitcham was orchards, brickworks and potteries until the railway arrived in 1882, and stayed rural far longer than people assume. The suburb you see now is largely a 1950s and 60s creation — double and triple-fronted brick veneer with tiled roofs, mixed with weatherboard, on tree-lined streets. The schools that opened in 1960, 1965 and 1969 mark the peak of the build-out.

The planning context

The Britannia Mall precinct is a Neighbourhood Activity Centre covered by the Nunawading MegaMile and Mitcham Structure Plan, adopted in April 2008. That framework is now under serious pressure: under the Victorian Government's Activity Centres Program, draft maps released for consultation in early 2026 show potential for buildings up to 12 storeys in the Mitcham activity centre core beside Britannia Mall. Those controls were not gazetted at the time of writing — but if you are planning anything near the centre, this is the document to watch.

Controls that actually apply in Mitcham

• Bushfire Management Overlay — Yes, in Mitcham. Around 270 properties are covered, introduced through Amendment GC13 and effective from October 2017. A BMO this close to the city surprises almost everyone, and it changes the documentation entirely — a BAL assessment, and often a bushfire management statement.
• Significant Landscape Overlay Schedule 3 — Applies in and around the activity centre. Notably, the state's draft proposes removing SLO3 from within the centre boundary to protect it elsewhere.
• Significant Landscape Overlay Schedule 9 — The Bush Suburban Neighbourhood Area — tree protection controls covering parts of Mitcham alongside Blackburn, Box Hill South, Vermont South, Nunawading and Mont Albert North, formalised through Amendment C219.
• The collision — Mitcham is where bushfire risk, landscape protection and state-mandated height are about to meet on the same parcels. Anyone quoting you a simple answer here has not read all three.

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 Mitcham

Knockdown rebuilds and second-storey additions on 1950s–60s stock; dual occupancy and unit development on larger blocks; BMO-triggered bushfire construction requirements for the affected properties; medium-density work if and when the activity centre controls land.

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 Mitcham 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.