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NSW Housing Pattern Book designs

The NSW Housing Pattern Book is a set of house and apartment designs the NSW Government has already reviewed and approved. Keeping to one buys you a much faster approval: low rise patterns run as complying development, and mid rise patterns get a development application with reduced assessment.

Each page below explains one design in plain English, with the official site plans, a floor plan for every level, the material palettes, what the licence costs and the things that can rule a site out. Then you can check a real address.

Low rise: houses, semis, terraces and manor homes

Two and three storey patterns for ordinary suburban blocks, approved as complying development in as little as 10 days.

Pattern Book Semis 01 official siting plan for a LMR housing area: a mid block lot with an east frontage at least 12 metres wide and 450 square metres, showing the pair of two storey semi detached homes under one hipped roof, the front rooms and car spaces to the street, the private rear gardens and the base pattern with the front bedroom and ensuite adaptation shaded; the complete development is 2 dwellings

Pattern Book Semis 01

Anthony Gill Architects

Homes
2 dwellings
Storeys
2 storeys
From
12 m wide, 450 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Semis 02 official siting plan for a LMR housing area: a mid block lot with an east frontage at least 12 metres wide and 450 square metres, showing the pair of homes two storeys to the street and single storey at the rear, the stepped front facade, the central courtyard in each home, the private rear gardens and the base pattern with an integrated garage to one home and a flexible front room to the other; the complete development is 2 dwellings

Pattern Book Semis 02

Sibling Architecture

Homes
2 dwellings
Storeys
2 storeys
From
12 m wide, 450 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Row Homes 01 official siting plan for a LMR housing area: a mid block lot with a south frontage at least 13 metres wide at the front building line and 500 square metres, showing the row of two storey homes under one continuous hipped roof, each with its own ground floor entry, first floor balcony and private garden courtyard, plus the row running back from the street, private gardens along one side, the pedestrian lane and entries along the other, and 2 car spaces at the front off the primary street; the complete development is 4 dwellings as drawn

Pattern Book Row Homes 01

SAHA

Homes
3 or 4 dwellings
Storeys
2 storeys
From
13 m wide, 500 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Manor Homes 01 official siting plan for a LMR housing area: a mid block lot with a south frontage and rear lane access at least 15 metres wide and 665 square metres, showing the two storey manor house with two garden apartments on the ground floor and two apartments with balconies on the first floor, car access taken from the rear lane, both apartments stacked under one skillion roof and the private gardens along the eastern side; the complete development is 4 dwellings

Pattern Book Manor Homes 01

Studio Johnston

Homes
4 dwellings
Storeys
2 storeys
From
15 m wide, 625 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Terraces 01 official siting plan for a low and mid rise housing area: a 15 by 33.3 metre block of 500 square metres whose street frontage faces south, so every rear garden faces north, showing three terraces side by side with a garage or flexible room behind the front wall of each home, living rooms opening to private rear gardens, first floor bedrooms above and a low pitched roof carrying solar panels; 3 dwellings across the whole development

Pattern Book Terraces 01

Carter Williamson

Homes
3 dwellings
Storeys
2 to 3 storeys
From
15 m wide, 500 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Terraces 02 siting plan for LMR housing areas: a mid block site of 18.5 by 27.8 metres and 515 square metres with a west frontage and an open plan middle terrace, showing garage ground floors to the two end terraces and an open plan living ground floor to the middle terrace, the driveway or parking, and a private garden behind every home. Each home has three bedrooms on the first floor above under a pitched metal roof, and the whole development is 3 dwellings

Pattern Book Terraces 02

Sam Crawford Architects

Homes
3 dwellings
Storeys
2 to 3 storeys
From
18.5 m wide, 515 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Terraces 03 siting plan for LMR housing area, Mid block, Pattern 05, on a site of at least 625 square metres with a frontage of about 22.5 metres and a depth of about 27.78 metres, showing three large terraces with north facing living areas, private gardens, the hardstand car spaces in the front setback and the sloping roofs over; the whole development is 3 dwellings

Pattern Book Terraces 03

Officer Woods Architects

Homes
3 dwellings
Storeys
2 storeys
From
18 m wide, 500 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Terraces 04 mid block siting plan for a LMR housing area lot of 18 m minimum wide by 35 m minimum deep and 630 square metres, with the primary street to the east, showing the front building and driveways on the street edge, the secondary courtyard behind it, the two storey middle building holding the small, large and medium terraces, the primary courtyard behind that and the rear building on the western boundary; the row holds 3 dwellings

Pattern Book Terraces 04

Other Architects x NMBW

Homes
3 dwellings
Storeys
2 storeys
From
18 m wide, 595 m²
See the plans →

Mid rise: apartment buildings

Three to six storey apartment patterns for low and mid rise housing areas and transport oriented development areas.

Pattern Book Small Lot Apartments 01 lot size adaptation for a 13 by 40 metre mid block site of 520 square metres, showing the typical apartment floor inside the 4 metre front setback, 6 metre rear setback and 0 metre side setbacks; the ground floor combines homes with the entry, bin store and bulk waste room, the upper levels repeat the typical floor and the roof is a communal garden; the drawn basement parking arrangement provides 10 apartments across the whole 4 storey building

Pattern Book Small Lot Apartments 01

Collins and Turner

Homes
7 to 13
Storeys
3 or 4
From
13 m wide, 520 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Small Lot Apartments 02 lot width adaptation drawing showing the 3 storey building on the minimum 13.6 by 42 metre mid block site of 571 square metres, with the site boundary and both dimensions; the whole building provides 6 apartments

Pattern Book Small Lot Apartments 02

Nguluway DesignInc

Homes
6 to 14
Storeys
3 or 4
From
13.6 m wide, 571 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Small Lot Apartments 03 ground level site plan for a 16 by 40 metre mid block lot of 640 square metres, showing the street setback, driveway and entry, the lift and stair core, the flexible communal room and the 2 bay apartment modules inside the site boundary, with apartment levels, a communal rooftop level and a solar roof above; 13 apartments across the complete building

Pattern Book Small Lot Apartments 03

MHN Design Union

Homes
9 to 24
Storeys
4 to 6
From
16 m wide, 640 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Small Lot Apartments 04 Breezy base site plan for a mid block lot 20.4 metres wide and 33.7 to 40.6 metres deep, 691 square metres as drawn, with the 4.5 metre front, 1.5 and 3 metre side and 6 metre rear setbacks marked; the ground floor holds the entry, two communal rooms, bin store and either a basement ramp or on grade parking, the typical upper floors hold four apartments around the breezy core, the top floor swaps the studio for plant, and the roof carries solar panels; the whole building holds 13 to 21 apartments

Pattern Book Small Lot Apartments 04

Neeson Murcutt Neille

Homes
13 to 21
Storeys
4 to 5
From
16.5 m wide, 600 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Corner Lot Apartments 01 site plan for a 15 by 35 metre corner block of 525 square metres, showing the commercial ground floor, upper apartment layout and communal roof; 18 apartments, or 19 with a residential ground floor

Pattern Book Corner Lot Apartments 01

Tonkin Zulaikha Greer

Homes
9 to 19
Storeys
4 to 6
From
15 m wide, 525 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Corner Lot Apartments 02 adaptation plan for a 17.9 by 43.3 metre corner site of 775.1 square metres, showing the complete boundary, base or wide apartment modules and the adaptable upper floor configuration; the pattern provides 10 to 24 apartments across 4 to 6 storeys

Pattern Book Corner Lot Apartments 02

Spacecraft Architects

Homes
10 to 24
Storeys
4 to 6
From
17.9 m wide, 614 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Large Lot Apartments 01 4 storey on grade mid lot with one frontage plan for a 51.9 by 32.8 metre site of 1,702 square metres, showing the complete lot boundary, building footprint, streets, parking or basement access and waste vehicle path where required; the pattern provides 20 to 40 apartments across the complete building

Pattern Book Large Lot Apartments 01

Silvester Fuller

Homes
20 to 40
Storeys
4 to 6
From
49.1 m wide, 1610 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Large Lot Apartments 02 4 storey Rotation 1 minimum mid block half pattern plan for a 41.5 by 60 metre site of 2,490 square metres, showing apartment blocks, terrace modules, communal courtyards, entries and the public link; the basement parking matrix provides 34 apartments across the complete building

Pattern Book Large Lot Apartments 02

Bennett and Trimble

Homes
24 to 216
Storeys
3 to 6
From
39 m wide, 2223 m²
See the plans →
Pattern Book Large Lot Apartments 03 official lot size plan for a 67 by 53 metre site of 3,551 square metres, showing the site boundary, the 3.5 metre street setbacks, the 1.5 metre tertiary boundary setback, the 9 metre through site link, the four corner apartments, the terrace rows and the central courtyard; the published whole building range is 58 to 140 apartments

Pattern Book Large Lot Apartments 03

Andrew Burges Architects

Homes
58 to 140
Storeys
4 to 6
From
67 m wide, 3551 m²
See the plans →

Which patterns work on your block?

Sign in to the Dudils lot finder, type an address, and it screens every pattern in the book against your real lot size and orientation. Planning hazards and exclusions still need separate checks.

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See if a pattern book plan works on your site