Civil & Stormwater Engineers Melonba

Melonba is so new that many navigation apps still hesitate over it. Gazetted on 6 November 2020 out of what was previously western Marsden Park, and carrying a Dharug name referring to a type of wattle found in the area, Melonba is one of six suburbs Blacktown City Council created to give the booming North West Growth Area addresses of its own. Almost everything here is a construction site or recently was one – which means almost every lot owner in Melonba needs exactly what Contrive Consultants does. We are civil and stormwater engineers based in Bella Vista, a short run down Schofields Road, and new-estate lots like Melonba’s are the bread and butter of our practice.

Building in Melonba

Melonba is a first-generation suburb: house-and-land estates, fresh road networks and infrastructure arriving in real time. The clearest signal of its trajectory is the education investment – Melonba Public School opened for the 2025 school year, and Melonba High School is enrolling year groups progressively as it grows toward a full Year 7–12 intake, part of a schools program serving a corridor whose population has multiplied within a decade. When the state builds two schools from scratch in one small suburb, the residential pipeline behind them is substantial.

Because the suburb was master-planned as part of the broader Marsden Park precinct, most Melonba lots come registered with services at the boundary and estate-level drainage infrastructure already built. That helps – but it does not remove the engineering obligations on each individual build. Every dwelling still needs its own stormwater connection design, many still need on-site detention depending on how the estate’s detention strategy was structured, and small lots with big house footprints leave very little room for error in setting levels.

What Melonba Lot Owners and Builders Need

Blacktown City Council assesses Melonba under Blacktown Development Control Plan 2015 and its water sensitive urban design regime, with specific stormwater guidance for the North West Growth Area. In practice:

Check the estate OSD position first. Some subdivision consents account for detention in estate basins; others leave it to each lot. We review the subdivision approval and 88B instrument before designing anything – it can save you an entire tank.
Lot drainage design is always required. Roof and surface water must reach the lawful point of discharge – usually a kerb outlet or inter-allotment pit provided at subdivision stage – with pipes, levels and cover documented for your certifier.
WSUD compliance applies where detention or treatment is triggered, following council’s WSUD handbook and standard drawings.
Small-lot level control matters. Melonba’s compact lots are frequently benched with retaining between neighbours. Finished floor levels, cut/fill limits and drainage behind retaining walls need engineering, not guesswork, especially on corner lots draining two ways.
Erosion and sediment control plans are enforced firmly because so much surrounding land is still raw.

Alongside the civil package, every new Melonba home needs a BASIX certificate before DA or CDC lodgement, and builders delivering multiple dwellings or small subdivisions need NBN pit and pipe design and certification.

Our Services in Melonba

Contrive and our partner companies cover the full consultant list for a new build:

Stormwater drainage plans for new homes, duplexes and granny flats – CDC and DA pathways
OSD design where required, or documented exemption where the estate already provides it
Site regrading, retaining wall drainage and finished level design for benched lots
Erosion and sediment control plans and waste management plans
NBN pit and pipe design through Pit and Pipe for multi-dwelling and subdivision work
BASIX certificates and NatHERS assessments through NathersPRO – usually turned around in days
Peg-out, detail and identification surveys through our surveying partner
Custom home architecture, landscape plans and 3D visualisation through ARQI
Planning and SEE support through URBA where your proposal departs from the estate design guidelines
Swept path checks through Sweptpaths for corner lots and tight double garages

Melonba New-Build FAQ

My builder says the estate “already has detention”. Do I still need a stormwater plan?

Yes. Estate-level detention, where it exists, removes the tank – not the drainage design. Your certifier still needs documentation showing how your roof water and hardstand runoff reach the discharge point at compliant grades. We confirm the estate detention position in writing as part of the package so there is no ambiguity at CC stage.

Can you do the BASIX and the drainage together?

That is exactly how we prefer to work. NathersPRO sits within our group, so the BASIX rainwater tank commitment and the stormwater design are coordinated – the tank shown in your BASIX certificate is the same tank plumbed in the drainage plan, sized once, drawn once.

My Melonba lot has a retaining wall along the rear boundary. Whose problem is the water behind it?

Yours, if it is on your title – and it is a real problem if ignored. Subsoil drainage behind retaining walls must be collected and directed to the stormwater system, not left to seep into the neighbour’s lot. We design the subsoil line into the lot drainage so the wall, the fence and the neighbour all stay dry.

Get Your Melonba Engineering Sorted Early

Send us your contract plans before you sign, and we will flag the drainage and level issues while you can still negotiate. Call +61 497 848 111, email info@contriveconsultants.com.au, see our full services or get in touch through the contact page.