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Landscape drainage

Positioning

Best practice guidance for the placement and arrangement of embellishments

Site setout

Orientation

  • Sub-surface drainage is recommended to be installed under turf/garden areas to disperse water to more appropriate areas.
  • Install sub-surface drainage under playground sand/bark safety surfacing to disperse water out of the surfacing area, to prevent water-logging.
  • Field inlets and overflow gullies are recommended to be located in open grassed areas, garden beds and hard surface areas at low points.
  • Open flow channel swales are recommended to be located along the lower boundary of a site, gently sloping towards stormwater outlet.
  • Swales are designed for filtration of stormwater, to maximise surface infiltration and to reduce runoff.
  • Swales require hardy and drought tolerant planting.
  • Slopes for swales are to be suitable for ride on deck mowers (1:6 preferred, 1:4 max).
  • Trees are not to be planted in direct flow paths.
  • Swales are designed to direct overland flows away from embellishments such as play spaces, seats, pathways and shelters.
  • Swales may be designed to catch and direct flows off paths/trails/roads.
  • Culvert with a pedestrian overpass is recommended to allow vehicle and pedestrian access over a swale drain where required.
  • Trench drains are recommended to be located in hard surface areas to prevent water ponding at pavement low points.
  • Maintenance access should be provided near low points such as areas of deposition. 

Safety

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles apply.

Clearances

Table 5: Positioning guidance offsets
Embellishment
Distance from
Minimum distance
Reason
Barrier/fence/handrail
culvert end/headwall
no offset required (attach barrier to headwalls)
barrier is installed on or near to headwall for public safety.
Pedestrian path
any other object
500 mm
required Austroads safe design offset and AS 1428 ‘at grade’ requirement.

retention/detention basin/lake/waterway
depends on projected tides and/or flood model levels
public safety – rapid rise in water level may create a hazard for pedestrians.
Rock lined drain
any other object
2.5 m
deck mower clearance (where possible) Avoid creating small difficult to mow areas.

turf
width of planted buffer depends on plant species
safety measure to prevent loose rock becoming a projectile.
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Sunshine Coast Open Space Landscape Infrastructure Manual (LIM) DISCLAIMER

Disclaimer

Information contained in this document may change without notice and you should use the current material available from Council’s website and not rely on material previously printed or stored by you.

All figures and diagrams are intended to be used as an aid to design and include Council’s preferred elements but they are not intended to be prescriptive and may need to be varied as dictated by site specific factors. While Council has exercised reasonable care in preparing this document, it does not warrant or represent that it is accurate or complete. The Council will not accept responsibility for any loss, damage, cost or expense that you may incur as a result of the use of or reliance upon any material contained in this document.

This document is produced to convey general information and is not intended to constitute advice whether professional or legal. Any reference to legislation in this document is not an interpretation of the law. It is to be used as a guide only. Consult relevant authority websites for current documents, revisions and amendments.

Where a particular product or supplier is profiled in this document, Council is NOT nominating this product or supplier as the selected choice. Product/supplier information has been provided to allow users to source products which contain the correct elements required for Council embellishments. Each product profiled states ‘or equivalent’ which means that different products may be supplied provided they satisfy the identified performance criteria, recommended standards, equal access guidance and product specifications.

Product design, manufacture and installation requires appropriately qualified people to provide site specific solutions to ensure the embellishment is appropriately adapted to local conditions and data.

This document does not override requirements stipulated in a development approval. Project specific variations may be appropriate as a result of site, environmental or other constraints. Any variations to these standards must be approved in writing by council prior to commencement of variation works. Components of this document may be used within a contract document but users should undertake their own investigations to confirm the information is suitable for this purpose.

Drawings contained in this document are NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION.

Details in this document are deemed to be the minimum standard and the user may wish to apply a higher standard subject to approval by council.

Acknowledgements

Council wishes to thank all contributors and stakeholders involved in the development of this document.

Copyright

Sunshine Coast Regional Council (Council) supports and encourages the distribution of its material however, copyright protects this document. Council has no objection to this material being reproduced but only if council is recognised as the owner of the copyright and this material remains unaltered.

https://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au[email protected]07 5475 7272

Sunshine Coast Open Space Landscape Infrastructure Manual (LIM)

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© LIM 2024 – 2026

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Version 0.0.38.beta

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Last Updated: 01/04/2026 12:27 AM

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