Miranda house and granny flat

Alterations to a single-storey house, a new one-bedroom secondary dwelling and a plunge pool on one block in Miranda, approved as complying development and built.

The site. 583 m² zoned R2 under the Sutherland Shire LEP 2015, with a modest house at the front and a detached garage at the rear. Under the Housing Code the block carries 296 m² of floor area and the finished scheme uses 185 m², so the constraint was the yard, not the numbers — keeping enough open space and landscaping once a second dwelling, a pool and a deck were all on the same block.

The design. The house keeps its footprint and its roof structure, re-sheeted in Colorbond, with the bedrooms re-planned inside the existing walls and a new kitchen, dining and living pavilion opening to a deck, a pergola and a 5 × 2.5 m plunge pool. The old garage came down; a new single garage went up with a one-bedroom flat beside it — bathroom, living and kitchen inside 32 m². Landscaped area finishes at 32% against a 20% minimum.

The approval. Complying development certificate issued by a private certifier in 2023. The house and the flat were complete by early 2025, and a modification followed for a larger alfresco.