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Stand-Alone House Design Ngā Whare Tūwehe

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Creating privacy Print


​Design Checklist

  1. The quality and openness of the street and open space is not compromised by high fencing at the frontage

​Overview

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​​​​​​​​​​​​​It is best practice to locate the main private open space of a home at the rear of a site, but good quality private open space also needs sun. 

When the house fronts a street to the north, there will be situations when the main private open space is located in the front yard. In this case, providing privacy for the occupant must be balanced with the need to overlook and provide for the amenity of the street.

Better Design Practice

Limit the extent of frontage along which a high fence is required.
Where high fencing is included limit its use to the sections of the frontage that specifically require privacy screening, for the remainder of the street frontage ensure that there is a visual connection between the house and the street.

Provide additional screening away from rather than at the street edge.
For example this could be provided at the edge of the patio or terrace that is located back from the front boundary. This will allow the occupants somewhere private to sit, but still allow a connection and views from the house to the street. 

Where there is a level change between the street and the private open space, use this to provide privacy for the residents without using high fencing.​

Use a mix of solid and permeable fencing.
This may be a low solid wall with a permeable fence on top, or solid full height fencing with permeable panels. ​
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Use landscaping such as trees or hedges to provide screening.

Rules of Thumb

Keep solid fences below eye height.

Where a high fence is required, keep the height of any solid portion below 1200mm and use a permeable fencing material on top, or make the entire fence visually permeable.​
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