In Australia the dual occupancy concept was proposed by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works in 1981 to enable existing houses and housing lots to be subdivided into two to make more efficient use of existing facilities and urban infrastructure, to provide support links between the two households and to minimise external maintenance and gardening burdens.
These units can be a division of, addition to, or separate from the principal dwelling and are usually subject to minimum allotment sizes, site coverage, access and setback requirements.
While dual properties are a fairly new concept in Australia, they have long been a common style of dwelling in countries including Sweden, Japan and the United States.
The dual occupancy concept has been encouraged by both the MOH and Metropolitan Planning Agencies through planning scheme Amendment 150[1] in 1981[2][3][4] to enable existing houses and housing lots to be subdivided into two (initially, dual occupancy was in the form of two dwellings on a single block of land in residential zones, and later this measure was extended to permit subdivision of the land into two separate titles[3][4]) to make more efficient use of existing facilities and urban infrastructure,[5] to provide support links between the two households and to minimise external maintenance and gardening burdens.
These units can be a division of, addition to, or separate from the principal dwelling and are usually subject to minimum allotment sizes, site coverage, access and setback requirements.
[10] The government provide $2 million for the initial study and then plans to set up an innovation lab to help manufacturers design prefabricated buildings.