Browse Forums General Discussion 1 May 05, 2020 7:00 pm Hi there, I am looking at building a new retaining wall to replace my existing one. The only problem is when it comes to the planning regulations, my local council states 'Queensland building regulations advise you will not need building approval for a retaining wall if: the wall is no closer than 1.5 metres to a building or another retaining wall' The walls of the house are 1950mm away from the boundary and the roof of the house is 1510mm away from the boundary. I was hoping to build the retaining wall so that it is offset 450mm from the boundary to allow for a raised garden bed, however I am not sure if this is possible given the definition of '1.5 metres to a building'. The current retaining wall is on the boundary, but it has fallen over and replacing the wall along the boundary is the last option for me. Any guidance about the positioning of the wall would be greatly appreciated. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: How close can I build my retaining wall? 2May 09, 2020 2:11 pm First of all, measure form the bricks/cladding. The code/planning scheme/standards are all measure from face of a wall (with the exception of fire resistance related to Bushfire Prone areas) Secondly, you mention "to replace existing" but have not shown its current position on the drawing. Third, if you have an existing retaining wall, what exactly is it supporting? E.G I had a wall replaced, but my neighbours house was positioned very close to the boundary (which the existing wall was hard against effectively) and this meant that we had to do an investigation as to the dept of beams from their slab so as not to encroach on the angle of repose. We ended up leaving the existing wall and building a new wall in front of one section (basically cladding it) because the impact of removing the wall would likely have been too risky. If you are only building this new wall to be one side (say the front ) of a garden bed, don't over think it and just build it as a garden bed Re: How close can I build my retaining wall? 3May 18, 2020 3:37 am I think the 1.5 meters is to the wall of the building not eaves as usually these measurements are to ensure that digging depth required for the retaining walls won’t undermine foundation of the house. Thank you again Simeon.. I will call my certifier for that. Have a good day 4 5108 Can anyone recommend a good/affordable retaining wall and fence builder that I can get a quote from located in Sydney? 8 45652 Surrey Hills, Vic 3127 Garage is being built with metal, 3m distance away from my cover deck. It is parallel to my cover deck, living room, family room and kitchen,… 0 9593 |