Home builders in Surrey Hills
City of Boroondara · Boroondara Planning Scheme · Inner East Melbourne Knockdown rebuild
- Council
- City of Boroondara
- Planning scheme
- Boroondara Planning Scheme
- Overlays mapped here
- Heritage Overlay · Vegetation Protection Overlay · Parking Overlay · Development Contributions Plan Overlay · Design and Development Overlay · Environmental Audit Overlay · Development Plan Overlay · Built Form Overlay · Special Building Overlay
- Residential zones mapped
- GRZ1 general residential zone - schedule 1
GRZ4 general residential zone - schedule 4
GRZ5 general residential zone - schedule 5
MUZ mixed use zone
NRZ1 neighbourhood residential zone - schedule 1
NRZ3 neighbourhood residential zone - schedule 3
NRZ5 neighbourhood residential zone - schedule 5
RGZ2 residential growth zone - schedule 2 - Bushfire-prone land
- None mapped
- Heritage overlay schedules
- 101
Planning data from Vicmap Planning (DTP Victoria) (CC BY 4.0), read 2026-09-14. Suburb-level, not a report on your block — check your address on VicPlan.
Builders serving Surrey Hills
None yet — tell us what you're building and we'll go and find one.
What building in Surrey Hills actually involves
Surrey Hills has a heavy heritage layer — 101 Heritage Overlay schedules — but the control that most often surprises people here is vegetation.
Three vegetation protection schedules
The planning data records three separate Vegetation Protection Overlay schedules (VPO1, VPO3 and VPO5) intersecting Surrey Hills, on top of the heritage mapping. Tree removal and works within a tree's protected root zone commonly need permission in their own right, and that frequently decides where a new house can physically go — before setbacks or overlooking rules get a say.
Nine overlay families
Alongside heritage and vegetation: design and development, parking, contributions, environmental audit, development plan, built form and special building overlays are all mapped somewhere in the suburb. Which of them reach a given block is address-specific.
What this means for a builder
An arborist before a designer is the order that saves money in Surrey Hills. A builder who has worked here will assume tree constraints and design around them; one who has not will draw a footprint and then discover it.
Local landmarks in Surrey Hills
- Chatham
- Union Station
- Mont Albert
- South Surrey Park
- Mont Albert Village Plaza
- Balwyn Community Centre Reserve
- Mary Mackillop Reserve
- Evergreen Reserve
Questions about building in Surrey Hills
Why does everyone mention trees in Surrey Hills?
Because three separate Vegetation Protection Overlay schedules are mapped here. Removing a tree, or building within its protected root zone, can require permission independently of the house itself.
Is Surrey Hills heritage-controlled?
Extensively. 101 Heritage Overlay schedules intersect the suburb. That is fewer than Kew but more than Canterbury, and it is enough that heritage should be your first check rather than your last.
What do the vegetation controls in Surrey Hills mean for siting?
Not without checking, and often not at all. The sequence that works is: arborist report, then design around what must stay. Doing it the other way round is how designs get redrawn at the owner's expense.
What is a Built Form Overlay?
A control on building form and appearance in specific locations — typically around activity centres. One is mapped in Surrey Hills. Whether it reaches your block depends on the address.
Do I need a planning permit as well as a building permit?
In most of Surrey Hills, yes. Between heritage, vegetation and design controls, a knockdown rebuild here is a planning exercise before it is a construction one.