Upper and Lower North Shore, side by side
| Upper North Shore | Lower North Shore | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Ku-ring-gai (Gordon, Killara, Lindfield, Pymble, Turramurra, Wahroonga, St Ives) and part of Hornsby Shire | Mosman, Willoughby, Lane Cove and North Sydney council areas (Chatswood, Crows Nest, St Leonards, Neutral Bay, Kirribilli) |
| Homes | 68.6% separate houses in Ku-ring-gai at the 2021 Census | 75.7% flats or apartments in the North Sydney council area |
| Renting | 19.8% of Ku-ring-gai homes | 51.9% of North Sydney homes |
| The usual job | Ducted or a multi split in a large house, placed around gardens and heritage controls | A split in an apartment, after strata approval |
What's different about the North Shore
Heritage conservation areas
Ku-ring-gai Council lists heritage conservation areas in Wahroonga, Warrawee, Turramurra, Pymble, Gordon, Killara, Lindfield and Roseville. It says they protect whole areas, including building styles, fences, trees and gardens, and that extra development controls apply in them.
Ridges, gullies and steep blocks
Much of the North Shore sits on the Hornsby Plateau, a system of ridges and gullies with steep valleys running down to the harbour and rivers. On a sloping block, think about how a technician will reach the outdoor unit for every future service.
Cooler winters inland
Inland parts of the North Shore run somewhat cooler in winter than the rest of the Sydney basin, and the Upper North Shore more so the further inland you go. Turramurra also gets one of Sydney's highest rainfalls, about 1,400 mm a year.
Towers at Chatswood and St Leonards
Chatswood has a large amount of high-density housing, and St Leonards is mostly offices and apartments. That's where strata rules decide what's possible.
Placing an outdoor unit in a heritage street
In a conservation area, what people see from the street is the outdoor unit, the pipe covers and anything on the roof. Before you get quotes, ask Ku-ring-gai Council what applies to your property, and ask installers to propose a spot at the side or rear where it still gets air around it.
A ducted system can help here, because most of it sits in the roof and only the outdoor unit needs a home outside. Read split or ducted and ducted in Sydney before deciding.
What we'd do
What we'd do on the North Shore
In a heritage house, we'd check the council's controls first and pick the outdoor unit's spot before the model. In an older home on a cool ridge, we'd compare heating output as closely as cooling. In a North Sydney or Chatswood apartment, we'd get strata's answer in writing first. Then we'd want an installer who works in heritage homes or apartment towers, whichever you've got, every week. When you send us your job, licence-checked local installers who do that kind of work will see it, and only the one who takes it gets your contact details. If it's still untaken on the North Shore after 48 hours, installers elsewhere in NSW may see it too.
