Armadale sits inside a neat box formed by Orrong, Malvern, Glenferrie and Dandenong roads, and its streets carry a lot of history. On 11 June 2026, Amendment C320ston added a new layer of heritage controls across Toorak, Kooyong and Armadale. That makes the EV charger installation Armadale homeowners plan this year a slightly different exercise from the same job a year ago.
The housing mix is broader than the suburb’s reputation suggests. At the 2021 Census, 57.5% of occupied dwellings were flats or apartments, 25.4% were separate houses and the remaining 16.8% were townhouses, terraces and other semi-detached homes. We look after Armadale from 128 Toorak Rd, DUKE’s South Yarra premises, about 3 km away; the South Yarra location page lists the details. DUKE EV belongs to DUKE Electrical Group and holds Victorian contractor registration REC 35838; our A-grade electricians work across all of those housing types.
What changed for Armadale heritage homes in June 2026
Stonnington has been reviewing its heritage controls suburb by suburb. The Toorak, Kooyong and Armadale Heritage Review (Amendment C320ston) won approval under delegation from the Minister for Planning on 29 May 2026 and was gazetted into the Stonnington Planning Scheme on 11 June 2026. Across the three suburbs it brought new precincts and individual places into the Heritage Overlay and extended an existing precinct.
In Armadale, the precinct statements read like a walking tour. The Union Street Precinct (HO377) grew around brickworks from the late 1850s and the 1879 railway, leaving modest houses with small front and side setbacks in streets such as Barkly Avenue and Willis Street. The Hampden Road Precinct (HO136) covers generous allotments created by the 1919 and 1929 subdivisions along Hampden Road and Avalon Road. The new Bailey Avenue and Valentine Grove Precinct (HO759) protects single-storey Federation and Edwardian houses under London plane trees, while the Inverness Terraces Precinct (HO756) covers three two-storey Victorian Italianate terraces on Inverness Avenue.
None of this bans EV chargers. It does mean the charger’s position, any new garage or carport, and any change to a crossover deserve some thought before work starts.
EV charger installation Armadale: cottages near the station, villas on the big blocks
Those precincts illustrate the two ends of Armadale’s housing, and each end produces a different kind of job.
Cottages and semi-detached houses near the station
In the Union Street Precinct and the streets around Armadale station, houses typically have small front and side setbacks, so space for a car is tight. Where there is parking, it is often one space at the back or a short hardstand at the front. Cable runs tend to be short because the house is small. The real work is finding a mounting spot that suits the car’s charge port and stays out of view from the street; a rear wall, a side fence behind the front of the house or the back wall of a garage usually does it.
Villas and interwar houses on generous allotments
On the bigger blocks around Hampden Road and Avalon Road, the house often sits well back with a long driveway down one side to a garage at the rear. That is ideal for keeping a charger out of sight, but it means a longer run from the switchboard, which may call for heavier cable to control voltage drop. Trenching across a garden or under a driveway adds labour, so the route we choose matters as much as the charger. For houses like these, our advice on choosing a home EV charger helps with picking the unit.
Council’s heritage guidelines favour garages at the rear and ask that carports be set back three to four metres from the front of the house. If your plan includes a new carport or garage to shelter the car while it charges, that structure needs a permit in a Heritage Overlay, and its design should complement the original house.
Where the charger goes on a heritage house
Council’s heritage guidelines and overlays page does not mention EV chargers by name, but its advice on equipment such as air conditioners and hot water systems is clear: conceal it behind the front of the building, keep it out of view from the street and integrate it with the building. Stonnington’s EV policy adds that a charger visible from the street may affect a heritage streetscape, and owners in that position should seek advice from Council’s Statutory Planning Unit. The planning scheme goes further than the guidelines. Inside a Heritage Overlay, Clause 43.01 makes a permit necessary for any EV charging station visible from a street (other than a lane) or a public park, although that is a VicSmart application.
Gradings matter as well. Council grades heritage buildings as significant, contributory or non-contributory, and the higher the grading, the fewer changes you can make. External alterations to non-contributory buildings can go through VicSmart, the streamlined permit process.
We think a charger tucked inside a rear garage is simply the better outcome on a heritage house, permit or not. It is sheltered from the weather, it is out of sight, and it keeps any conversation with council short. Here is how we rank the usual positions:
- Inside a rear garage: first choice wherever one exists.
- A side wall set back from the street-facing front: usually workable, provided it cannot be seen from the street.
- A carport set well back: follow council’s three to four metre setback guidance.
- Front façade or verandah: avoid on heritage houses and talk to council first.
Older wiring and switchboards in Armadale houses
Before we add a high-current circuit to an older house, we look at what is already there: the age and capacity of the switchboard, the consumer mains, the existing safety switches and the household’s overall load. A charger drawing 32 A for several hours is one of the biggest loads a house will see, so the board has to be up to it.
If the board needs work, that happens first. New EV circuits need RCD protection, and Type AC devices have been barred from new work since 1 May 2023; depending on the charger’s own DC fault detection, a Type A or Type B device is used. After installation, Victorian electricians must carry out six mandatory tests plus a visual inspection, including a check that the RCDs operate, and we then issue a Certificate of Electrical Safety. Energy Safe Victoria’s consumer page on electrical safety certificates explains what you should receive. Board work is covered in more depth on our page about switchboard replacement and safety switch upgrades.
Single-phase or three-phase on CitiPower’s Armadale network
Armadale is supplied by CitiPower, the network for Melbourne’s CBD and inner suburbs, and the distributor’s postcode locator lists 3143 on CitiPower alone. For most single-car households, a 7 kW single-phase charger is the sensible default. By CitiPower’s reckoning that is 30 to 40 km added for every hour plugged in, which covers a normal day’s driving overnight with room to spare.
Going to 22 kW requires a three-phase supply, and it is wasted unless the car can take that rate. Every EV has a maximum AC charging rate. The Polestar 2, for one, is rated by its maker for 11 kW AC on three-phase power, which means a 22 kW wall unit would not charge it any faster. Moving from single to three-phase is an alteration that only a registered electrical contractor can lodge, and CitiPower’s guide to changing your existing power supply says most such works take three to eight weeks.
In our view, three-phase upgrades are oversold to single-EV households. They earn their keep when you are already renovating, adding a second EV, running other big loads such as a heated pool, or covering long distances every day. Our page on three-phase upgrade options for home charging walks through those cases.
Flats, townhouses and the High Street strip
With well over half of Armadale’s homes being flats or apartments, plenty of charging questions involve a shared car park rather than a private garage. Where each flat’s switchboard sits inside the flat and the car spaces at the back run off the common property supply, the first decision is which supply the charger should come from. Either way, the owners corporation has to approve anything done to common property, and we can draft the proposal with you; our EV charging guide for apartments and strata sets out the process.
Council calls High Street one of Melbourne’s premier retail, lifestyle, wellness and fashion destinations, and its EV charging plan places High Street, Armadale among the priority locations for public chargers, with sites pencilled in for 2025 and 2028. For residents without off-street parking, those public chargers matter more than anything we could put on a wall at home.
Frequently asked questions from Armadale homeowners
Does a heritage overlay mean I need a permit for my Armadale charger?
It depends on what passers-by can see. If the charger would be in view from a street (lanes don’t count) or a public park, Clause 43.01 requires a planning permit, which Council assesses as a VicSmart application; a charger hidden from both needs no heritage permit. A new garage, carport, driveway or crossover in a Heritage Overlay does need a permit.
How do I find out whether my house is in one of the new heritage precincts?
Check your address on Council’s zones and overlays map, and search the Victorian Heritage Database for the building’s grading. Amendment C320ston changed controls across Toorak, Kooyong and Armadale from 11 June 2026, so an older property report may be out of date.
Can I add a driveway so I can charge off the street?
Possibly, but in a Heritage Overlay a new crossover or driveway needs a planning permit, and Council’s heritage guidelines discourage new crossovers where none existed before. Crossovers do qualify for VicSmart, which usually takes ten business days once an application is complete. Check with council before committing to a charging plan that depends on one.
What if the only parking is in front of the house?
We avoid the front façade of a heritage house. Instead we look for a side wall or fence behind the front building line. If the charger would still be visible from the street and the house is in a Heritage Overlay, the VicSmart permit comes first, so we raise it before booking the installation.
Do you install chargers in Armadale apartment blocks?
Yes. We assess the building’s supply, design the circuit or a shared backbone for future bays, and help the committee put a clear proposal to owners. Nothing on common property proceeds without the owners corporation’s approval.
Whether you own a Federation house in one of the new precincts or a flat a short walk from High Street, we will tell you where the charger should go, what your supply can handle and whether council needs to be involved. You can request an EV charger quote online or phone 1300 003 853 from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday. Neighbouring Toorak homes face many of the same heritage questions, covered on our Toorak EV charger installation page.