BUILDING IN AN ESTATE

Lifestyle estate living is sought after by many in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Safety, public amenities serene environments is what most people look out for. I will discuss these 4 things to make you aware of the pros and cons involved. 

Selection of site, estate design guidelines,  design review committee, municipality approval

1)SITE SELECTION

This is a step that is often overlooked by buyers, site selection plays a big role in what you would like to achieve on that site and cost involved. it is better to select a fairly flat site by any means necessary because there are heavy costs involved with uneven sites. South access is the best because all ancillary spaces are then easier located there like the garage, laundry and storerooms. This gives you the opportunity to create living spaces public and private, on the north side. The indoor outdoor relationship is enhanced by this. Shape of site also has an impact on the opportunities. A long site will create problems on house/building placement.

2)ESTATE DESIGN GUIDELINES 

This is the most important thing you need to scrutinise when you buy in an estate. Estate have an architectural design philosophy that they want people to conform to. These guidelines shape the overall aesthetic of the estate and trying to convince them to change is like trying to move a mountain. Look at the guidelines and if they resonate with your style by all means buy in but if not look elsewhere. Some estates are themed, 

-tuscan style-inspired by Roman tuscan style buildings

-pavilion style houses-free flowing, glass-clad buildings

-farm style-inspired by far buildings like barns, humble simple aesthetic

-contemporary style-modern clean lines, no decorative ornaments 

-Bushveld estate- celebration of natural materials, materials in their natural state minimum decorations so that buildings can blend in context. Bushveld estates come with wild game, zebras, springboks, wildebeest, warthogs, snakes bushbucks, giraffes and sometimes hippos. The estate usually has dirt/gravel roads it is as natural  as can be. 

-Equestrian estate- an estate for people who love horses where they have stables and keep and breed horses

-Lifestyle estate- this type of estate is quite broad as they come in different types they usually don’t restrict people on what they want to design, it can be farm style, modern etc houses that express owners individuality.

-Eco estate- they are developments that focus on sustainable lifestyle, they encourage little to no impact on the environment 

-Golf estates- as the name suggest, estate houses meander within a golf course. Always surrounded by golf course greens. beautiful landscapes to admire.

You always have to follow the design rules of each kind of estate if you decide to buy in, these guidelines govern how your house will eventually look. A design review committee will assess your design drawings and final council drawings before you submit to municipality so your house needs to abide by estate guidelines aswell as municipality guidelines. It adds another layer of complexity to the whole planning mix

This list is not exhaustive estates come in many different forms

3)DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE

The design review committee are setup so that all buildings within the estate conform to the aesthetics set forth in the design guidelines, it is usually a panel of registered architectural professionals and the estate representative. Estates usually give home owners 3 opportunities to present to the committee, 1 the look at the concept and 2 they look at the penultimate council drawings and 3 they correct any anomalies that might be there and you are all set for council submission. It is a requirement to get a stamp from the estate on your drawings prior to submitting to municipality. Getting approval from the estate can take variable amount of time but mostly 2/3months. Committees probably sit twice/once a month hence the time delay. 

4)MUNICIPALITY APPROVAL

This is the final step to your home design within an estate, 

There are 2 departments that your building plan in Durban, South Africa will go through namely town planning and Development planning and approvals/building inspectorate in South Africa ideally it should take 3months for a drawing to get approved but usually there are amendments that will need to be done on the drawing before final approval which pushes it to 4 months. In Harare, Zimbabwe estate approval takes a month at most and council/municipality approval 2 months at most. Your building plan/house plan will be approved in 2/3 months. I will delve deep on another article on this topic. 

All things being equal, to ideally start building in an estate it should take 5months of planning, 1month with the estate and 4months with the municipality.  Then you can start building.

If you need assistance with your building plans/house plans get in touch with us for assistance