Acreage and Estate Entrance Gates in the Hills District

What makes an acreage entrance different

On a quarter-acre block in Kellyville the gate is a few metres from the garage. On a five-acre property in Kenthurst or Annangrove it can be two hundred metres or more down a gravel drive, at the edge of a road with a wide verge and a table drain in front of it. That distance changes almost every decision.

• Power: running mains cable that far is a real cost, so many acreage entrances end up on solar.
• Communication: there is rarely a phone line at the boundary, which is why GSM and app-based intercoms are common out here.
• Vehicle size: the gate has to clear horse floats, tankers, removal trucks and the occasional fire appliance, not just the family car.
• Visibility: you usually cannot see the gate from the house, so you need some way of knowing whether it is open or shut.

Setting the gate back from the road

One of the most useful things a local installer will look at is where the gate sits. Hanging it right on the front boundary means a long vehicle waiting to enter sits across the road shoulder. Setting the gate back into the property, with a splayed entry in front, gives a truck or float somewhere to pull off the road while the gate opens.

It also changes the approval picture. The NSW exempt development rules for fences, in the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008, include a general rule that gates must not open outward, and they set separate height and construction limits for rural zones. An elaborate entrance with masonry pillars, walls and lighting may fall outside those limits, so treat the exempt rules as a starting point and confirm your particular design with council or a private certifier before work starts.

Swing or sliding at a rural entrance

Most acreage entrances in the Hills use swing gates, usually a pair of leaves. They suit wide openings, they do not need a long straight run of level ground beside the driveway, and they look right on a rural frontage. The catch is that the leaves must swing inward, so the ground they sweep needs to be reasonably level and clear of the driveway crown.

A sliding gate makes sense where the entry rises steeply from the road, or where a swing arc would hit a culvert headwall or a fence line. Sliding gates need a clear run alongside the opening at least as long as the gate itself, plus a firm base for the track. See automatic sliding gates and automatic swing gates for the detail.

Materials that suit Hills and Hawkesbury conditions

Aluminium is popular because it does not rust and keeps the leaf light, which matters for a solar powered motor. Steel suits heavier rural styles and is usually galvanised before painting. Timber or timber-look infill is common on estate properties around Dural and Glenorie.

Much of the outer Hills and Hawkesbury is bushfire prone land. The NSW exempt fencing rules require fences on bushfire prone land to be built from non-combustible materials or hardwood, so if your entrance is in a mapped bushfire area, raise it at the first site visit.

What to have ready before the site visit

• The width of the opening and where you would like the gate to sit
• Whether there is any power near the entrance, and how far the nearest switchboard is
• Mobile phone coverage at the gate (check it standing at the boundary)
• The largest vehicle that needs to get in, such as a horse float or a water tanker
• Any livestock in the front paddock that the gate will need to hold

With that information an installer can come back with a design and a price that fits the property. Request a quote and we will pass your details to a local installer who works across the Hills and Hawkesbury.