What is the Building Future Homes: Adaptation guide?
The Building Future Homes: Adaptation guide supports:
- Applicants to adapt their purchased Future Homes design to suit their site
- DELWP and OVGA to provide advice to the applicant and to assess a proposal once referred to DELWP
- Anyone interested in Future Homes who would like to gain a better understanding of the designs, process, and purpose.
The guide ensures an adapted design fulfils the intent and ambitions of Future Homes - delivering apartments that are great homes, great neighbours and great citizens.
It has been created to:
- Ensure designers deliver on the Future Homes objectives and principles
- Help decision-makers to understand the acceptable approaches, outcomes and variations for a Future Homes design
- Provide best-practice approaches to suburban apartment design
- Give clarity and confidence about what a Future Homes design might look like and what it can achieve.
The guide has three parts:
- Part 1: Introduction, objectives and principles for exemplar apartments.
- Part 2: Adapting a Future Homes design.
- Part 3: Appendices.
Download the adaptation guide
Part 1 contains a range of principles, mandatory requirements, performance targets and design considerations which all adaptations will meet in order to be successful.
Objective | A Future Homes development… |
|---|---|
Responsive to need | is designed to respond to the needs of its residents |
Liveable | has desirable homes with high-quality interior amenity, social spaces, natural light and a good outlook |
Good neighbours | respects neighbours’ amenity and enriches the street and surrounding public realm |
Enduring | has apartments that are of a high-quality built standard, accepted by the community, adaptable to change, resilient, safe and family-friendly |
Sustainable | demonstrates how apartment living can exceed current sustainability requirements and be zero-carbon ready |
Adaptable | is adaptable and replicable on typical suburban lots in Victoria, meeting or exceeding planning, policy and environmental objectives |
Viable | responds appropriately to market expectations, regulation and construction viability |
Affordable designs | makes great design available to more people |
Part 2 has four sections, one for each of the Future Homes design options.
Part 2 sets out:
- general adaptation guidance for the Future Homes designs
- specific approaches to adapting a Future Homes design for a particular site, context or market, by illustrating how a designer can manage common design challenges.
The guidance provided is not exhaustive, and other ideas may be appropriate depending on a development’s particular circumstances.
The appendices include technical information, compliance assumptions and opportunities to enhance and exceed the Future Homes mandatory requirements. There are eight appendices contained in Part 3, these are:
- Appendix 1: Structure
- Appendix 2: Fire safety
- Appendix 3: Landscape
- Appendix 4: Waste
- Appendix 5: Services and equipment
- Appendix 6: Environmentally sustainable design
- Appendix 7: Construction cost and guidance
- Appendix 8: Accessibility.
Contact us
Contact the Future Homes sales team for enquires relating to purchasing a Future Homes design at futurehomessales@delwp.vic.gov.au.
Contact the Future Homes referral team for all enquires relating to planning and referral matters at futurehomes@delwp.vic.gov.au.
Page last updated: 28/10/22