What shapes a heating and cooling job in Ashfield
Flats from three eras
Most of Ashfield's grand Victorian houses went in the 1920s and 1930s, replaced by small art deco flats and semis. Bigger blocks followed, many built in the 1960s and 1970s. By 2021, 69.9% of occupied homes were flats or apartments and 22.1% separate houses.
Bungalow streets
Inner West Council says the Inter-War years were probably Ashfield's busiest for house building, with the Californian bungalow and its wide roofs and deep verandahs a big influence.
Heritage conservation areas
Council lists conservation areas across Ashfield and its neighbours, among them Tintern Road, Taringa Estate, Mountjoy Estate and Victoria Square. Special planning controls apply in them.
Half the homes are rented
In 2021, 50.5% of occupied homes were rented. NSW Fair Trading says changes need the lease's allowance or the landlord's written permission, and a split, which needs a hole through the wall, isn't one of the minor changes a landlord can't unreasonably refuse.
Which jobs come up most in Ashfield?
A split in a flat. In a strata block, NSW counts a new reverse cycle unit as a minor renovation, approved by more than 50% of the votes cast at a strata meeting unless a by-law lets the committee decide. Our page on split systems in Sydney covers the install.
Several rooms in a bungalow. A multi-split runs several indoor units off one outdoor unit. Mitsubishi Electric says they must all share a mode, heating or cooling, at any one time.
Swapping an old wall unit. The NSW Energy Savings Scheme may discount replacing an old air conditioner with a high efficiency one. See our ESS guide.
On a heritage street, ask before anyone drills
Inner West Council says some works are exempt under the state Codes SEPP, but work that alters a building's external or internal elements needs consent, and new work should suit the streetscape. Call its Duty Planning Service first.
So plan the outdoor unit and pipes away from the street. A unit at the side or rear of a bungalow is far easier to justify than one on the front verandah.
Ask an Ashfield installer
- Where will the outdoor unit, pipes and drain go, and will any of it show from the street?
- Have you worked in Inner West conservation areas before?
- What will you give me to attach to the strata application?
What we'd do
If it were our Ashfield place
We'd sort the permission first: the strata vote in a unit, the landlord's written yes if we rented, or a call to council's duty planner on a heritage street. Then we'd want a split or multi-split specialist who knows Inner West houses and walk-ups. Send us the job and installers like that near Ashfield can see it. Only the one who takes it gets your details. Should nobody near Ashfield take it within 48 hours, installers elsewhere in NSW may see it as well.
