VPRS 16127 Building Plans

Under the provisions of the Local Government Act, councils were given wide-ranging powers for the making of by-laws to regulate the erection and construction of buildings and such other structures as advertising signs within the municipality. Councils were able to regulate the type of materials used and the manner in which they were used. This led to the development of the system whereby permits had to be obtained and plans and specifications submitted before any works could commence and with the execution of the work monitored by the Council City Surveyor and later the Building Inspector.The majority of plans have a permit number handwritten on them. The ones with permit numbers are most likely to have been approved plans as the Building Department would have only kept approved plans on site and therefore are the official building records of council. There is no marking to indicate approval such as the City Surveyor or Building Inspector's signature or date of approval.Some plans have a label attached on the outside with details such as permit number, date, location, builder, owner and type of works. Some labels were used to seal the plan. Some plans include specifications by the builder.Plans are mainly for the building of factory buildings,warehouses, offices and administration buildings, as well as public accommodation buildings such as hotels, shops and public purpose buildings such as churches. Some of the earlier plans are not professionally drafted and indicate that Council accepted this standard of drawing.Three consignments have been transferred to the PROV. The P1 consists of small plans, the P2 consignment consists of medium size tubes and the P3 consignment contains large tubes.