Sewer easement 3/4 up 990m2 block. What can be done?

Hi folks,
I'm currently looking at a 990m2 block in a great location. What's turning a number of people away is a sewer that goes through it about 3/4 up the block (pic attached) which makes the land far less usable. The local water authority is Yarra Valley Water in Melbourne. I've marked the bloack of interest.

I was wondering if anyone had experience tackling such issues and what possible solutions are?

I see at the top of the diagram a number of townhouses have been build right over the sewer. What hoops would they have had to jump through to make this happen?

I don't think re-directing it is easy given the fall of the land/connection downstream. Given it's location, I don't think it would be easy to put a second house at the back like they have next door as it would have to be incredibly small to avoid the easement.

Keen to hear any thoughts on this one.
 

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You can encase a sewer. No personal experience but apparently cost 50K.

Or some clever design to get around it for example putting a visitor carpark there or something.

Are you thinking about a battle-axe style subdivision or multiunit?
 
You can encase a sewer. No personal experience but apparently cost 50K.

I've heard of this, it's basically wrapping it in concrete to strengthen it right? Even if it cost 50k it may be worth given the location and size of this block. Would you be able to build a house on top even if it's been encased?

I'd look to put 3 dwellings on it in the future given the location and zoning of the land, but that would only be feasible if you can build on top of the easement.
 
Check out this link it will give you a good idea of whats required: http://www.yvw.com.au/easyaccess/kn...Applying+for+a+Build+Over+Easement+conditions

Thanks, so what i'm reading is that it is possible to build a house over an easement but 'conditions' may apply from YVW such as having the footings a set distance away from the asset as well as having footings deep enough so that the sewer is not in their 'zone of influence'.

From an investment perspective, this all means that it's not impossible, but it may cost more due to the additional engineering and YVW requirements. Does anyone (builders?) have any practical experience or knowledge as to how often these applications are put up and approved by YVW re: building a house over a mains sewer?
 
The most important question is what do you want to build on the block.

With good design sewers can be accommodated, for example most Water Authorities will let you put a garage over it if the garage is a certain height, the floor is paved not concreted and there is access at both ends of a certain width and heigh that a bobcat can travel through.

I have a block with a sewer line 5m in from side boundary and I have it running under a garage with second storey over that garage.
 
The most important question is what do you want to build on the block.

A 3 bed town house. For the investment to be feasible, it would have to be a residential house that is part of a subdivision. I can't see it feasible to heighten it so much that a bobcat can access it underneath, that wouldn't make sense. You prob wouldn't be able to dig it up at all once the house is there...but they seem to have built a townhouse over the same sewer line 4-5 blocks up.
 
A 3 bed town house. For the investment to be feasible, it would have to be a residential house that is part of a subdivision. I can't see it feasible to heighten it so much that a bobcat can access it underneath, that wouldn't make sense. You prob wouldn't be able to dig it up at all once the house is there...but they seem to have built a townhouse over the same sewer line 4-5 blocks up.

It wasn't onerous. The height of the opening just needed to be 2400mm x 2400xx

It looks to me like the townhouse has put it's garage over it as well for one of them and probably encased it for the other.

If you only want to put one townhouse behind then you probably don't need to build over that part and can leave it as alfresco and garden in the sewer section
 
Does anyone (builders?) have any practical experience or knowledge as to how often these applications are put up and approved by YVW re: building a house over a mains sewer?

Each of the three Melbourne Water Retailers would probably approve around 2-3 build overs a week. (In a previous job I used to be work for a company that carried out the CCTV surveys which are a requirement of the approvals)
 
before YVW existed,
encasing a sewer under a slab-on-gound
the encasement was ::
ditchwitch down both sides of the pipe,
rebar arch over the pipe
foundation 36 inches deeper than the sewer either side of the trench
added around half a day to the foundation preparation time, and I dunno 5[sup]1[/sup]/[sub]2[/sub] yards of readymix

its easily do-able
for many people not asking, makes it impossible, you get bargains on anything that looks difficult
 
Well it says the median for the area is 650K. I wonder if most houses are unrenovated? This is a lovely house and just needs a clean and paint. It's light and has a good aspect except for the westerly facing bedroom. The yard is huge and, as I've recently discovered myself, sewer lines are a turn off for many and an opportunity for the creative.
I'm guessing it's been snapped up for more than the 650.
What do you reckon?
 
I reckon high 7's, possibly 8. The land is much larger than the average block and most houses, like this one, are unrenovated. Would of been good to see this one go to auction but, it's not the case. Yes, it had great bones and needed a coat of paint, possibly new carpet to get a good yield on it.
 
Concrete encase it as mentioned but I would get prices first, 50k is not a standard fee for ask scenarios. Depth of sewer and access will determine price. Call a local pipelaying company and they might give you a rough price. Just tell them roughly how deep it is and what aces you have - hour many meters down the side of the current house for equipment
 
Each of the three Melbourne Water Retailers would probably approve around 2-3 build overs a week. (In a previous job I used to be work for a company that carried out the CCTV surveys which are a requirement of the approvals)

Who did you work for bash? interflow?? Are you still in the industry I used to work for Insituforminsydney
 
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