The Glynllifon project sits on a steep, south-facing Dunedin section with a shared easement running straight down its middle. On paper, this is the kind of site standard plan books tend to avoid, particularly when the brief involves not one but two homes.
House designs for sloping sections work best when you consider the slope first. Consider its direction, gradient, and what already runs through it. Eco Workshop used this approach for the Glynllifon project – two units on one Dunedin slope overlooking the historic Town Hall.
The homes step across the fall, and removable timber decking spans the easement. Large skylights bring all-day sun to a site where north-facing windows would mostly face the rising hill. The drawings went from the first site visit through to building consent with the Dunedin City Council. This case study walks through how each decision came from the land itself.
This project arrived with three fixed constraints and one ambitious brief. The land fell steeply as it faced south. A shared easement split the most buildable ground in two. And the brief asked for maximum living in minimal space: two homes that each felt private, light-filled, and generous.
The contours set the first rule. The homes would step with the fall rather than fight it.
The southern aspect created the second challenge. Most advice about building on sloping sites assumes the best views and the best sunlight come from the same direction. Here, they did not.
The views came naturally. Bringing daylight into the homes required a much more deliberate design response.
Building two units on a steep section was the Glynllifon brief, not a complication of it. Rather than fight the fall, the design lets the contours do the separating.
The units step across the slope, each with its own level, entrance, and private outlook toward the historic Town Hall. Neither home reads as the back unit. Used deliberately, a few metres of fall replaced the usual fixes. On a flat double section, retaining walls and screen fences would do that work.
Two homes on one title also lines up with where New Zealand housing is heading. From the start of this year, Stats NZ recorded 39,087 new homes consented, with multi-unit homes accounting for more than half of that growth.
The studio knows this ground well. Its multi-unit work has previously been recognised as a national finalist in the ADNZ Residential Multi-Unit Dwelling Awards.
Designing around the easement became one of the defining moves of the Glynllifon project.
The easement ran directly through the most buildable part of the site, which meant it had to be treated much like a boundary. Nothing permanent could obstruct future access.
That line became the connection between the two homes. Timber decking spans the easement and links the units. Every board lifts out, so the services beneath stay reachable without an excavator. A legal constraint became the shared outdoor platform that both households cross every day. Nothing structural sits in the corridor; the buildings simply keep clear of it.
All the living areas in both Glynllifon units sit under large skylights. The skylights deliver all-day sun and a view of the sky. North-facing windows on this site would mostly stare into the rising hill. The Town Hall outlook remains framed at window height, and the view hides the street. Natural light and privacy stop being a trade-off.
There is also a practical reason for the skylights. New Zealand’s Building Code sets a daylight minimum for habitable rooms: 30 lux of natural light at floor level, 75 percent of the year. BRANZ explains the standard on its Level website. On a shaded southern slope, ordinary windows struggle to hit that mark alone.
The best sloping section house plans find light wherever the site offers it. On some slopes, a split-level layout steps rooms up the hill toward the sun. Here, the skylights provide the solution overhead – they do the job that the windows cannot.
On steep sites, many of the most important decisions happen before the floor plan takes shape.
At Glynllifon, the project began by understanding the contours, winter sun path, easement location, and stormwater requirements before any design decisions were made. That groundwork then moved through the studio’s four stages: Preliminary, Concept Design, Developed Design, and Detailed Design and Documentation.
That early work also tends to make the consent process much smoother.
Once the Dunedin City Council accepts a complete application, a twenty-working-day statutory processing period begins. Requests for Further Information can pause that clock if drawings or documentation are incomplete. Well-resolved drawings help avoid unnecessary delays.
Eco Workshop holds Licensed Building Practitioner Design 2 accreditation. This licence class covers residential design at this level of complexity. The same groundwork-first approach guides every bespoke new build the studio takes on. You can see the four stages mapped in full on the architectural process page.
Steep land sells at a discount in Dunedin for the same reason it produces homes like these: most buyers see only the difficulty. If the section you can actually afford is the steep one, it can still carry your dream home. The Glynllifon project is what house designs for sloping sections look like when the slope writes the plan: two homes above the city, with a good view of the sky.
For more steep section design in Dunedin, our gallery shows the same design concept repeated across the city’s hills.
The Glynllifon project began with a careful read of the land. It ended with building consent drawings, which the DCC approved without unnecessary RFIs. Maybe your section is the steep one everyone else walked past. Come and talk it through with our Eco Workshop Team.
The first meeting is free, with no obligation after it. Get in touch or call (03) 455 1505.
BRANZ. (n.d.). Appropriate lighting levels. https://www.level.org.nz/energy/lighting-design/appropriate-lighting-levels/
Dunedin City Council. (n.d.). Building consent process. https://www.dunedin.govt.nz/services/building-services/consent-process
Stats NZ. (2026). Multi-unit homes lead rise in home consents in April 2026. https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/multi-unit-homes-lead-rise-in-home-consents-in-april-2026/
