The first discussion with the architect regarding any kind of Richmond extension project should not resemble anything like a sales pitch. It should be more like an assessment process. Given the fact that you are talking about an inner-city environment, a heritage overlay zone, and a terrace property, it is more important for your expectations to be based on the capabilities of the site, rather than the other way around. These are some of the architects who would talk about this from the very start.
Why the Richmond Context Changes the Briefing Conversation?
In most cases, an outer-suburban renovation project starts from a brief, while the design process follows it. For a project in Richmond, however, it would be wise to reverse this process. You need to understand the capabilities of the site based on the current planning rules and regulations, and then form a brief based on that.
An architects Richmond practice that addresses those constraints in the first conversation, that can describe the specific overlay controls that apply to a property and what they mean for the design options available, is demonstrating the kind of planning literacy that Richmond projects require. That conversation is more useful than any portfolio presentation.
What Past Projects Actually Tell You?
Project type tells you whether or not a particular architect has got the experience to navigate Richmond’s specific planning environment, which really is the more practical question. Inner Melbourne Heritage Overlay projects have some pretty unique traits; namely Heritage Impact Assessments, neighbourhood character considerations, ResCode overlooking analysis in tight terrace rows, and council heritage planners who give your submissions the close scrutiny they deserve.
An architect with a track record in this environment will of course have been through all of those processes a whole bunch of times. Asking about past projects that involved Heritage Overlay assessment, how those permit applications panned out, and whether any stirred up third-party objections will give you a far better picture than just finished photography alone.
Planning Permits and Building Permits: Who Manages What
Victoria’s building approval process is made up of two completely separate systems that do two very different jobs, and the confusion between them is one of the main reasons delays and unexpected costs pop up all the time in residential extension projects.
You get a planning permit from the council; this looks at the development against their planning policy, including heritage overlay requirements, neighbourhood character and ResCode standards. You get a building permit from a registered building surveyor; this looks at structural compliance and building regulations and applies to just about all residential building work. The architect puts the planning permit application together and coordinates it, and the building surveyor manages the building permit from there once the documentation is all sorted.
Not all Richmond extensions need a planning permit but a lot of them do. Those involving rear additions of any real scale, second storey additions, or sites affected by heritage overlays usually trigger the planning permit process. The Victorian Building Authority churns out regular building permit activity summaries by council area and inner Melbourne municipalities are pretty much always at the top of the list for residential alterations and additions, which is just genuine demand I suppose, but also just means permit processing times can be a lot longer in these areas than in other councils.
Fees, Stages, and Where Scope Tends to Expand
Architect fees for a Richmond extension are usually paid as a percentage of the construction cost or as a staged flat fee with each stage clearly defined in the engagement letter. The stages where costs most commonly blow out beyond initial estimates are planning, if the application gets derailed by third-party objections requiring responses and a hearing, and documentation, if design changes get thrown in after the scheme has been sorted.
Getting a clear picture of what’s included at each stage, what triggers extra fees and what you get to manage on your own is probably the most important part of the financial chat to have before you sign anything.
How Communication Predicts the Project
A Richmond extension can take a year or more from the initial chat to construction completion, depending on how complicated the planning is, how long the permits take, how many contractors are available and what the site is like. Over that time there are heaps of different players: the architect, the council planners, the heritage assessors, the building surveyor and specialist consultants. How an architect communicates in those first two conversations, whether or not they are upfront about what their job is and what isn’t, whether they are realistic about planning risk and whether they are willing to explain things rather than just telling them what to do, tends to give you a pretty good idea of how they will behave through the rest of the project.
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