Parramatta's two kinds of roof
Strata, mostly
At the 2021 Census, 85.6% of occupied homes in Parramatta were flats or apartments, 7.7% were separate houses and 5.7% were townhouses or semi-detached.
Three conservation areas
The City of Parramatta has 18 heritage conservation areas. North Parramatta, Sorrell Street and South Parramatta are in the suburb itself, with Experiment Farm and Harris Park West next door in Harris Park.
North Parramatta's cottages
Council's heritage controls say the 1880s were North Parramatta's busiest building years. Small single-storey cottages remain, and the area still holds 46% of the dwellings that stood there in 1895, despite flats being approved from the 1960s.
Railway-era South Parramatta
Council calls South Parramatta the earliest remaining example in Parramatta of a speculative subdivision tied to the railway. Of 104 buildings on an 1895 survey, 47 still stand, and the western side of Alma Street was built in the 1920s.
A calm river
BlueScope classes the Parramatta River as calm marine water. It recommends standard COLORBOND at any distance from calm water, and unpainted ZINCALUME more than 100 m from it.
What council looks for on a heritage roof
In the North Parramatta and Sorrell Street conservation areas, Parramatta's development control plan says to keep the roof form over the main part of the house, allows rooms in the roof only with flat in-plane skylights at the rear, and says to avoid brightly coloured or shiny roof coverings, with corrugated iron the exception. New buildings there should have hipped or gabled roofs no steeper than 35 degrees, in tiles or corrugated iron.
In South Parramatta, new buildings are to use terracotta tile or corrugated steel, avoid imitation slate and loud colours, and keep skylights, solar panels and roof vents out of sight from the street.
Those controls mainly target alterations and new work, but they show what council will ask if a re-roof changes the look of a cottage. NSW exempt development rules carry extra limits in heritage conservation areas, so talk to council before you sign a quote that swaps material or colour. Our pages on corrugated roofing, terracotta tiles and heritage roof restoration help with the options.
If you live in an apartment
In a strata building the roof is normally common property, so a leak goes to your strata manager or owners corporation rather than straight to a roofer. Report it in writing with photos, the date and the rooms affected, and keep a copy.
If you're on the committee and need quotes, the usual NSW rules still apply. Check each roofer's licence on the NSW Government's online register, and get a written contract for any job over $5,000.
Our take for Parramatta
For a cottage in North or South Parramatta, we'd repair what's there in the same material and speak to council before changing colour, profile or adding skylights. For an apartment, we'd put the leak in writing to the strata manager the same day. Either way, give us the job and postcode and we'll pass it to one licence-checked roofer who works in Parramatta, or tell you plainly if we don't have one yet.
Want a roofer to take a look?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match it with a Find My Roofer certified roofer who specialises in that kind of work, and they call you to quote. Your number goes to them alone.