Blacktown City · postcode 2765
Knockdown Rebuilds in Riverstone: Old Town Lots, New Rules
Your street is sixty years old. The planning rules around it are brand new.
Riverstone's old town grew up around the station and the meatworks. Now it's ringed by North West growth precincts, new estates and new controls. Knocking down an older house here means checking which rules actually apply to your lot, because they may have changed since the last time anyone looked.
Short answer
What should I check before a knockdown rebuild in Riverstone?
Start with the planning certificate: whether your lot sits in a growth-precinct rezoning, what it now permits, and any flood mapping along the creeks. Replacing one house with one house usually attracts little or no section 7.11 contribution because of the existing-dwelling credit, while adding a second dwelling does. Building at mid-spec runs about $2,050 to $2,460 per m² on Blacktown-adjusted Rawlinsons rates.
Written and reviewed by Oliver Alameri
Licensed builder, NSW Contractor Licence 487805C · Founder, Buildana
Fact-checked
Which rules apply to your lot?
Parts of Riverstone sit under Blacktown's local plan. Others were rezoned as growth precincts, with their own controls on setbacks, garages, facades and density. Sneaky? A bit. An old house can end up inside a precinct boundary without the owner ever noticing.
The planning certificate for the lot settles it. It shows the zone, the applicable planning instruments and hazards like flooding. Read it before designing, because it may allow more than you think, or less.
- Zone and minimum lot size
- Whether a growth-precinct plan applies
- Flood mapping near the creeks
- Any heritage listing in the old town centre
Read the planning certificate before the floor plan. In Riverstone, it may have changed.
Contributions: one house for one house
Growth areas fund roads, parks and drainage through development contributions, and in new precincts they can be substantial. The good news for a straight rebuild: contributions plans generally credit the existing dwelling, so replacing one house with one new house usually costs little or nothing in contributions.
Add a second dwelling, such as a duplex, and the numbers change. It's worth confirming the figure with council before choosing between a single home and something bigger.
Not sure which rules cover your lot?
Send me your Riverstone address. I'll read the planning controls with you and tell you what a rebuild on that lot allows and roughly what it costs.
0476 300 300Flood, soil and services
Low-lying land near Eastern Creek and the creek lines running to the Hawkesbury floodplain can carry flood mapping, which sets minimum floor levels. Higher ground in the old town usually doesn't. The certificate will say.
Soils are mostly M to H class clay, so the new slab is engineered from a site classification. Older houses may have asbestos in eaves, wet areas or outbuildings, tested before demolition. Sydney Water, power and NBN connections are sometimes upgraded as part of the rebuild, especially where the old house was on an ageing service line.
Approval and cost
A code-compliant single house can often be certified as complying development in about 15 to 25 working days. Otherwise? Blacktown City Council, usually 9 to 13 weeks.
Blacktown's adjustment on the Rawlinsons Sydney rates puts the house itself at about $2,050 to $2,460 for each square metre of mid-spec floor, while demolition, asbestos removal and any service upgrades get priced separately once I've walked the site and seen what the old place is hiding.
Before demolishing in Riverstone
What I'd confirm on any old-town Riverstone lot.
- 01
What does the planning certificate say about the zone and precinct?
- 02
Is any part of the lot flood mapped?
- 03
Will the rebuild be one dwelling or two?
- 04
What contributions apply, if any?
- 05
Has the old house been tested for asbestos?
- 06
Do the water, power or NBN services need upgrading?
Knockdown rebuilds in Riverstone
Do I pay development contributions to rebuild my house?
Usually little or none when one dwelling replaces one existing dwelling, because contributions plans credit the existing house. Adding dwellings changes that.
Is my Riverstone lot in a growth precinct?
Your planning certificate will show which planning instruments apply. Many old-town lots sit near or inside precinct boundaries.
Is Riverstone flood-affected?
Some low-lying land near the creeks is. Higher parts of the old town generally aren't; the certificate for your lot confirms it.
Can you extend my Riverstone house instead?
Often, yes. Home extensions and additions, granny flats and custom homes are all options alongside a full rebuild.
Sources and references
Costs are from the Rawlinsons handbook with the local cost index applied; rules and timeframes are checked against the sources below.
- Blacktown City Council
- Rawlinsons Australian Construction Handbook, Rawlhouse Publishing
- State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008
- State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021
- Asbestos, SafeWork NSW
- Plumbing, building and developing, Sydney Water
- Search heritage databases, NSW Environment and Heritage
- NSW Planning Portal Spatial Viewer (zoning, FSR and hazard maps)
A new home in the old town.
A Riverstone knockdown rebuild planned around the rules that apply today.