Infrastructure charges

Charges levied by Council must be used to contribute to the provision of essential trunk infrastructure that services our growing city. Trunk infrastructure is significant infrastructure that supports large areas or catchments, for example major stormwater pipes for an entire neighbourhood. While the charges do not belong to any individual network or catchment, they are used for the three trunk infrastructure networks managed by Council:

• transport
• parks and land for community facilities
• stormwater. 

Council typically spends more on the delivery of trunk infrastructure each financial year than it collects from levied charges. For further details on Council’s infrastructure charges revenue and expenditure, see records of infrastructure charges.

Since 1 July 2014, Urban Utilities has responsibility for receiving, assessing, providing advice and approving applications for water supply and sewerage networks. For enquiries relating to infrastructure charges or associated offsets, visit Urban Utilities.

Council's current infrastructure charges

Council levies infrastructure charges under the Brisbane Infrastructure Charges Resolution (Charges Resolution). Council's current Charges Resolution is the Brisbane Infrastructure Charges Resolution (No. 13) 2024, which commenced on 1 July 2024. 

The increases in infrastructure charges only affect development approvals given on and from 1 July 2024. Any infrastructure charges notices given on or before 30 June 2024 will not be impacted by this change. Refer to Schedule 2 of the Charges Resolution for further information.

Key changes

Key changes compared to the previous Charges Resolution include:

• increased infrastructure charges in accordance with the Queensland Government’s Planning Act 2016 and Planning Regulation 2017
• minor administrative amendments.

Download the:

• Brisbane Infrastructure Charges Resolution (No. 13) 2024 (Word - 186kb).

For a summary of the current charges, refer to Brisbane infrastructure charges.

Council's past infrastructure charges instruments

Details of previous infrastructure charges instruments are as follows:

Infrastructure demand credits and discounts

Infrastructure offset and refunds

An infrastructure offset may relate to an item of trunk infrastructure (land or works) identified in Council's Local Government Infrastructure Plan. This may be provided in lieu of payment of some infrastructure charges.

For infrastructure charges levied from 30 June 2014, Council generally determines infrastructure offsets and refunds in accordance with the Charges Resolutions (No. 4 or after) (see table above). For these development approvals, the relevant details are included in the Infrastructure Charges Notice (ICN). 

When you make a submission to Council regarding infrastructure charges offsets and refunds, submit a prescribed form.

For infrastructure charges levied between 1 July 2011 and 29 June 2014, Council generally determines infrastructure offsets and refunds in accordance with the Charges Resolutions (No. 1, 2 or 3) (see table above). For these development approvals, an offset or refund may be agreed through an Infrastructure Agreement (IA).

For more information regarding offsets and refunds under the Charges Resolutions (No. 4 or after), refer to Part 4 of the Charges Resolution.

Charges reduction for eligible community organisations

Council has continued its initiative to provide financial assistance to eligible community organisations through reduced infrastructure charges. To apply for the charges reduction, submit an eligible organisations infrastructure charges reduction request notice, when lodging a development application with Council.

Download the:

• Infrastructure charges reduction for eligible organisations factsheet (Word - 116kb)
• Eligible organisations infrastructure charges reduction request notice (PDF - 87kb).

Brisbane Housing Supply Incentive Policy

As part of Brisbane’s Housing Supply Action Plan, Council will reduce infrastructure charges for developments of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom multiple dwellings in identified well-serviced growth areas.

The Brisbane Housing Supply Incentive Policy helps ease the upfront financial impacts of delivering new residential housing to support the construction of new homes sooner and meet the needs of our growing city.

Infrastructure charges reductions:

• 100% reduction for community housing providers
• 75% reduction for eligible developments approved by Council between 1 January 2022 and 31 August 2023
• 50% reduction for eligible developments approved by Council between 1 September 2023 and 30 June 2025.

Key development eligibility criteria:

• approved for a material change of use for a multiple dwelling use by 30 June 2025 (does not apply to change representations, a change application, an extension application or an appeal)
• reduction applicable to dwellings with two or less bedrooms
• located within the High density residential, Principal centre or Major centre zones, or Mixed use (Inner city) zone precinct under Brisbane City Plan 2014, or any zone if delivered by a community housing provider
• where delivered by an entity that is not a community housing provider, construction has not commenced.

For eligible developments, Council will enter into an Infrastructure Agreement under the Planning Act 2016 to reduce the infrastructure charges payable. The infrastructure charges reduction will be applied to the eligible component of development at the time of payment and prior to the application of any demand credits, discounts or infrastructure offsets.

Apply to Council for a reduction by lodging an infrastructure agreement request notice, along with any necessary supporting information to demonstrate eligibility.

For more information and the eligibility criteria:

• Download the Brisbane Housing Supply Incentive Policy (Word - 129kb).

Deferred charges incentive for build-to-rent developments

Through Brisbane’s Sustainable Growth Strategy, Council identified the need for an incentive for delivery of more build-to-rent residential accommodation to meet the needs of our growing and evolving city.

The Brisbane Build-to-Rent Incentive Policy (the policy) supports the delivery of large-scale multiple dwelling developments in appropriate locations approved by Council.

Under the policy, a build-to-rent development is a new purpose-built large scale multiple dwelling residential development in which all dwellings in the building are retained in one ownership for the purpose of being managed for a minimum of 10 years as long-term rental housing.

Key development eligibility criteria:

• approved for a material change of use for a multiple dwelling use by 30 June 2025
• located within the High density residential, Principal centre or Major centre zones, or Mixed use (Inner city) zone precinct under Brisbane City Plan 2014
• the residential component of the building is used entirely for build-to-rent purposes.

For eligible developments, Council will enter into an Infrastructure Agreement under the Planning Act 2016 to defer the payment of the infrastructure charges for up to 5 years for the build-to-rent component of the development. The deferred charges are to be paid in annual instalments following the commencement of use for the eligible development.

Council has established a special assessment unit to support the implementation of the policy for build-to-rent developments.

Apply to Council for a deferral by lodging an infrastructure agreement request notice, along with any necessary supporting information to demonstrate eligibility.

For more information and the eligibility criteria:

• Download the Brisbane Build-to-Rent Incentive Policy (Word - 121kb)

Incentive payment for green and energy efficient buildings

To encourage well-designed, green and energy efficient buildings in Brisbane, Council offers a financial payment up to 50 per cent of the value of infrastructure charges on eligible residential and commercial office developments. Find out if your project is eligible.

Expired infrastructure charges reduction initiatives

Details of expired infrastructure charge reduction initiatives are as follows:

Request for calculations

To request an estimate of infrastructure charges for your proposed development, complete:

• Request for infrastructure charges estimate (PDF - 81kb).

You can lodge this request via:

• any Regional Business Centre
• email by following Council's eLodgement electronic file requirements.

Refer to the schedule of fees and charges for the fee in 2024-25 financial year.

Billing and payment process

Council sends details of infrastructure charges via two Infrastructure Charges Notices (ICNs):

• Council networks (transport, stormwater and community purposes)
• Urban Utilities networks (water supply and sewerage).

Records of infrastructure charges

Infrastructure agreements

An infrastructure agreement is a contractual arrangement between Council and a developer that establishes obligations and entitlements for each party. It includes a schedule of infrastructure and the timings of payment of charges or provision of infrastructure.

If you wish to request to enter into an infrastructure agreement, submit the completed infrastructure agreement request notice by email:

• Infrastructure agreement request notice (PDF - 86Kb).

You can obtain a copy of an infrastructure agreement from Council for a fee, or view a copy at one of Council's Regional Business Centres. To view a copy, email your request, including the address of the infrastructure agreement. Council will contact you to arrange document inspections or purchase.

More information

For more information about infrastructure charges, contact Council via:

• email
• phone on 07 3403 8888.