Sandstone Retaining Walls in Newcastle

City of Newcastle's own heritage record names sandstone retaining walls as “an important historical element” of The Hill, one of the city's nine heritage conservation areas. A sandstone wall in a heritage conservation area sits inside the rules for that place, not just the rules for its ground.

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What sandstone retaining wall work in Newcastle actually involves

The Hill is described in the Newcastle DCP as a significant historic landscape with a steep topography that gives it a distinctive character, and sandstone retaining walls are listed among its heritage features. Heritage items and the city's nine heritage conservation areas are listed in Schedule 5 of the Newcastle Local Environmental Plan 2012; check your address on the NSW Planning Portal's ePlanning Spatial Viewer.

What heritage listing changes

Complying development is not available on land containing a heritage item. Most building works on a heritage item or in a heritage conservation area need development consent, though City of Newcastle's own minor-works confirmation can cover works of a minor nature that would otherwise be exempt development. That written confirmation must be received before any work starts.

A curved sandstone block retaining wall of buff and ochre blocks, with a mulched bed of low shrubs above it and a gravel path in front — sandstone retaining wall, Newcastle. Illustrative example.

The ground under a sandstone wall

Where a Newcastle site has a slope of 35 degrees or more, a known history of landslides, or a proposed major cut or fill, the DCP requires a site-specific geotechnical report from a suitably qualified geotechnical engineer. Over A$5,000, a NSW contractor licence is required; without approval, the same 600 mm exempt limit applies as for any material. The main page has the full list.

Photograph the wall and ask Council for the minor-works confirmation in writing before a single stone is lifted: it cannot be given afterwards.

Retaining wall costs and rules check