HCTZ: Housing Choice and Transport Zone (Clause 32.10)

What the control sets

The zone was introduced by Amendment VC257 in February 2025 to put housing near activity centres and transport. The part that changes what you can build is a table in Clause 32.10-8 with four rows, and the difference between the rows is larger than the difference between most zones.

Housing Choice and Transport Zone standards, by schedule and site size
Standard	What it sets	Status	Reference
Maximum building height — HCTZ1	13.5 m / 4 storeys	Mandatory	Clause 32.10-8
HCTZ1, large site	21.5 m / 6 storeys	Mandatory	Clause 32.10-8
Maximum building height — HCTZ2	11 m / 3 storeys	Mandatory	Clause 32.10-8
HCTZ2, large site	13.5 m / 4 storeys	Mandatory	Clause 32.10-8
Site coverage	70%	Discretionary	Table B2-5 / A2-5
Street setback	4 m to an ordinary street, 6 m to a Transport Zone 2 road, or the lesser neighbour setback — see the table below	Discretionary	Table B2-1 / A2-1
Minimum garden area	The zone is exempt	No standard	Clause 32.10

Heights and storeys are the Clause 32.10-8 table. The same clause allows up to 1 m more where the natural ground slopes more than 2.5 degrees across a section of the site wider than 8 metres — 14.5 m in HCTZ1 and 12 m in HCTZ2 at the base row. Site coverage and street setback are the deemed-to-comply standards of Clauses 54, 55 and 57, not zone requirements — which is why their status differs from the rows above them. Assessed as at 29 September 2026 under VC253, VC257, VC267, VC276, VC282, VC300, VC308, VC311, VC315.

Street setback by development context, Table B2-1, Clause 55.02-1 and Table A2-1, Clause 54.02-1
Development context	Minimum setback from the front street
An existing building on both abutting allotments facing the same street, and the site is not on a corner	The lesser front wall setback of the two abutting buildings, or 6 m, whichever is the lesser
An existing building on one abutting allotment facing the same street and none on the other, and the site is not on a corner	The front wall setback of that abutting building, or 6 m, whichever is the lesser
No existing building on either abutting allotment facing the same street, and the site is not on a corner	6 m for streets in a Transport Zone 2; 4 m for other streets
The site is on a corner	The front wall setback of the abutting building facing the front street, or 6 m, whichever is the lesser; with no such building, 6 m for streets in a Transport Zone 2 and 4 m for other streets

Table B2-1, Clause 55.02-1 and Table A2-1, Clause 54.02-1 (VC315). A schedule to the zone may set a smaller distance; a schedule figure applies only if it is less than the table figure. Side street, Clause 55: Front walls fronting the side street: the setback of any abutting building facing the side street, or 3 m, whichever is the lesser. Side walls: that setback, or 2 m, whichever is the lesser. Side street, Clause 54: The setback of any abutting building facing the side street, or 2 m, whichever is the lesser. Under the Mid-Rise Code (Clause 57, Table E2-1) the setback is 4.5 m from the front street and 3 m from a side street, unless a schedule to the zone specifies a distance. Land Axis draws 6 m when it cannot see the neighbouring buildings or the road’s zone — a conservative assumption, not the standard.

Mandatory is not a synonym for strict

A mandatory 13.5 m and a discretionary 13.5 m are different facts, and the difference runs both ways. Discretionary means a well-argued proposal can exceed it. Mandatory means a brilliant one cannot. On an HCTZ site the height is not the opening position in a negotiation, so a feasibility built on getting one more level is not optimistic, it is void — unless one of the clause’s own exceptions applies.

Those exceptions are listed in Clause 32.10-8 and are the only way past the table: a building that replaces an immediately pre-existing building no taller than it; one no taller than the lower of the existing buildings on both abutting lots facing the same street, or on a corner lot abutted by built lots; one built under a building permit issued before the land was zoned; an extension no taller than the existing building; and, where an overlay applies to the land with a maximum height or storey requirement that is higher than the table’s, the overlay’s requirement instead. The clause’s sloping-site allowance is on top of the table, not an exception to it.

The large-site test is measured, not argued

The uplift rows are not discretionary either, and they turn on two measurements of the land rather than on anybody’s judgement: a site qualifies at 1000 m² with 20 m of frontage. That is unusual and useful. Most of what decides a Victorian development outcome is a question of merit; this is a question of dimension.

In HCTZ1 clearing the test moves the cap from 13.5 m to 21.5 m and from 4 storeys to 6. That is the largest single step any of these tables takes, and it is reachable by consolidation. Two adjoining lots that each fail the test can pass it together, which makes the boundary between them a commercial question rather than a physical one.

Which schedule you have decides which mandatory height applies

HCTZ1 and HCTZ2 are different controls wearing the same zone name. They differ by 2.5 m at the base row and by 8 m once a site is large — the difference between a four-storey and a six-storey outcome on the same piece of land. Which one covers your lot is a mapped fact about the address, not something that can be inferred from the zone name, and the planning certificate settles it.

The other thing worth checking early is whether an overlay sits over the land. A Design and Development Overlay or Built Form Overlay schedule can set its own height. Where its requirement is lower, the building has to meet both; where it is higher, Clause 32.10-8 lets the overlay’s requirement apply instead of the table.

You can see which schedule and which overlays apply to a real address by searching it on the home page.

Sources

Assessed as at 29 September 2026 under VC253, VC257, VC267, VC276, VC282, VC300, VC308, VC311, VC315.

Related: the Residential Growth Zone reaches similar and greater heights — discretionarily by default, mandatorily where a schedule sets them. The Design and Development Overlay is what most often sits over an HCTZ lot and changes the answer.

This page describes the instrument, not your land. Which controls actually apply to a particular property is settled by the planning certificate for it — a section 10.7 certificate in New South Wales, a planning certificate in Victoria — and by the responsible authority.

HCTZ: Housing Choice and Transport Zone

What the control sets

The large-site test is measured, not argued

Which schedule you have decides which mandatory height applies

Sources

See what applies to a particular property