Council Approvals and Requirements - South Australia

Perhaps the most common question we are asked relative to the process of having a shade structure built is "do I need council approval"? Unfortunately the answer is a little more complicated than "yes" or "no", but we can clarify a lot of the misunderstandings herein.

All councils around Australia have varying requirements with respect to shade structures, and this article focuses only on South Australia, based on the "Better Planning, Better Future" Guide released by the State Government in March 2009. The guide is an attempt to clarify and speed up the approval process for smaller residential developments. You can download and read the full guide plus other useful information HERE.

The guide does deal specifically with small residential shade sail structures, amongst other small residential developments.

Firstly, if a shade structure is waterproof - which implies redirecting water from an area where it once fell, to an area outside the perimeter of the new waterproof shade structure - then you will certainly require council approval. There are a number of reasons whe councils require approvals for waterproof structures, including stormwater drainage issues and structural issues, however we do not need to go into them fully here.

Secondly, a shade sail structure will be exempt from statutory approval process if:

- the material is permeable thus allowing water to pass,
- the shade sail is less than 20sqm in area,
- no part of the sail exceeds 3m above ground level, and
- no part of the shade is in front of any part of the building line that faces the primary street

Finally, a shade sail structure will require building consent only if:

- the material is permeable thus allowing water to pass,
- the shade is between 20sqm and 40sqm in total area
- no part of the shade structure exceeds 3m above ground level within 900mm of the boundary
- no part of the shade structure exceeds 5m in height elsewhere
- no part of the shade is in front of any part of the building line that faces the primary street, and
- the length of the sail along a boundary is no longer than 8m

Where structures require building consent only, then approvals must be granted within 25 days of receipt of the application. Fortunately in these situations, planning approval is not required and so the process is a little quicker than otherwise.

Each council then has differing requirements for obtaining building consent, but most would require structural engineering calculations of your proposal simply to ensure that it has been safely and adequately designed for the intended purpose and loads it may encounter. This may add cost to your project, depending on exactly what you are trying to achieve.