Rooftop Gardens and Landscaped Greenspace – Major Amendment of City Plan 2014 Progresses

Recently, following a review of submissions, the Brisbane City Council endorsed the proposed amendment to the City Plan 2014 regarding rooftop gardens and landscaped greenspaces and has referred the amendment to the Queensland Government for consideration to adopt.

The proposed amendment includes changes across a range of citywide provisions to:

• encourage the provision of rooftop gardens that achieve required standards to be excluded from the calculation of maximum number of storeys in medium to high density locations supporting residential, commercial and mixed-use multi-storey developments
• ensure rooftop gardens are integrated in the overall design of buildings, support a green building appearance and enhance the presentation and visual amenity of rooftops and the skyline
• ensure where landscaping is proposed in rooftop gardens and other artificial growing environments (such as green roofs and green walls on buildings), standards are appropriate to ensure the successful delivery, maintenance and performance of landscaping over the long term.

Essential standards for the rooftop garden to be excluded from the calculation of maximum number of storeys will be that the garden must:

• provide communal open space
• meet minimum landscaping thresholds
• limit roof structures according to the relevant provisions.

Further information about the amendments can be found here.

If you have any queries about this major amendment of the City Plan 2014, please contact our property, planning and environment team.