5 During the Bob Carr Labor Government period the Premier decided an improvement was required in the design of residential flat buildings. The Premier got his Government Architect, Chris Johnson, to work with the Planning Department to develop a ‘Pattern Book’ and a new policy that became State Environmental Planning Policy 65. A Residential Flat Design Code was developed in 2002 that set down general improvements for the design quality of flat design. In 2015 the Residential Flat Design Code was updated as the Apartment Design Guide and extended significantly to 180 pages with hundreds of requirements. The general reaction to the Residential Flat Design Code and SEPP 65 is that they have lifted the design quality of these buildings. An important component of the policies was that only registered architects could design apartment buildings above 3 storeys high. The original aim of the policy interventions was to lift the design quality of this emerging building type but the more recent changes have added many additional criteria that are beginning to micro manage the design of every component. Consider this requirement for solar access as an example: “TO MAXIMISE THE BENEFIT TO RESIDENTS OF DIRECT SUNLIGHT WITHIN LIVING ROOMS AND PRIVATE OPEN SPACES, A MINIMUM OF 1 SQUARE METRE OF DIRECT SUNLIGHT, MEASURED 1 METRE ABOVE FLOOR LEVEL, IS ACHIEVED FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES.” (Page 77 Apartment Design Guide) The Appendix has a Site Analysis Checklist and a Pre-development application design proposal check list with pages of requirements with columns for a Yes (with a tick) and No (with a cross). The clear implication is that assessment officers should take this ‘tick the box’ approach and that is exactly what has happened. But the next stage after the Pre-development stage gets a lot more complex. Each council lists what is required to support a Development Application and here a large number of reports are required to give the assessment officer confidence that the design ticks all boxes. The Urban Taskforce has done a study of Sydney councils to find out just how many reports may be required. (See report on page 4). Overall there were 82 different reports across Sydney councils with an average of 25 reports required for a Development Application for apartment buildings. This adds an enormous amount of extra requirements for an application for an apartment building. IT IS NO WONDER THAT AN APPLICANT WANTING AN APPROVAL WILL INSTRUCT THEIR CONSULTANTS TO DO WHAT THEY ARE TOLD BY THE DOCUMENTS AND DON’T TRY TO BE TOO CLEVER.... CERTAINLY DO NOT INNOVATE.