Owners lodging a DA for alterations and additions to a listed dwelling or a contributory home in an HCA — most heritage projects Ballast Point works on in the Inner West.
A fixed-scope Heritage Impact Statement (HIS) for alterations and additions to a heritage-listed dwelling or a home in a Heritage Conservation Area (HCA), prepared by an experienced heritage consultant in Ballast Point's partner network. It assesses your proposal against the heritage provisions of the Inner West Local Environmental Plan (IWLEP), council's Development Control Plan (DCP) and NSW heritage guidelines, and is the document your Development Application (DA) cannot be lodged without.
No — council decides, and no honest consultant promises otherwise. What a good HIS does is present your proposal in heritage terms an assessing officer can support, which materially improves your odds.
Late enough that the design is settled, early enough that heritage advice can still shape it. Engaging during design development is ideal — an HIS written against a finished design can only defend, not improve.
You hear it before lodgement, with suggested changes. That conversation is worth more than the report itself — a doomed proposal costs a year of assessment time.
Minor tweaks are absorbed. A substantial redesign means the assessment has to be redone, which is quoted as a variation. Another reason to settle the design first.
The HIS still applies, but SHR items also need Heritage NSW approval under Section 60 of the Heritage Act. See the Section 60 eligibility review; complex SHR work is quoted separately.
