World resources
climatic design of buildings - an overview - A Hong Kong lecture series explaining the basics.
cyburbia.org - planning resources and discussion board. [01/05]
multimap - zoomable maps of just about everywhere, though NZ not on the list.[03/04]

Australia
archicentre - RAIA house inspection service. This site also has guides for termites and restumping.
australian heritage places inventory - A project of the federal and state governments. It has a rather clever search facility.
australian places - a gazetteer of australian place names.[01/03]
Building Code of Australia - Handy: You can now buy web access to the Building Code of Australia from $33 per year, though you can only access it 12 times in a year or you can access it for a whole month.[11/05]
dial before you dig - a service which is usually free, specify the project address and a few details and you will be sent piles of plans of the area by utility companies.[11/05]

geoscience australia - cool tools for calculating azimuths and altitudes anywhere at any time of day. [10/04]
maps and images of australian geoscience - federal government site with interactive maps. Map themes include topography and culture.[11/05]
standards australia - index of available standards - standards are available to download at a price.[11/05]
street directory - searchable street directory.[11/05]
where is - australia-wide street directory with zoom function. [11/05]

Australia (Northern Territory)
lands planning environment - building and planning information and reports.

Australia (New South Wales)
department of local government - links through to NSW councils.
department of urban affairs and planning - all about urban planning in NSW, also lists of publications available, and information on lodging development applications for projects of state significance. [04/04]
energy efficiency rating - check your house design's rating at this Blue Mountains City Council site - PDF file.
land titles office - good information on how to obtain the title information you're after (click on records) - online title search companies (click 'on-line access')
planFIRST - the new direction in New South Wales planning. The white paper is available here.
planning and building - City of Sydney site contains information on the planning and building approvals.
planning and housing - NSW government site - it's new so doesn't contain much of use - fairly commercial.
NSW heritage office - heritage listings and archaeological information, permits and applications information.

Australia (South Australia)
heritage - state government heritage information site.

Australia (Queensland)
home renovator's building guide - how to go about renovating a Queensland House.

Australia (Victoria)
building control commission - guide to appeals and building permits and building activity information - has downloadable practice notes for building practitioners - a good starting point for most things, including the new energy efficiency requirements. Site revamped in late 2003.[11/03]
casey inspection services - you can order your sewerage plans for the CityWest water zone here. Beware the credit card facility is not yet secure.
Department of Sustainability and the Environment - very useful website with planning schemes, maps and schedules. Click "planning schemes". This information was previously on the DOI site. [11/03]
heritage victoria - contains the new victorian heritage register - a searchable database with photos and statements of significance.
land channel - vicmap - once was a great place to get the basics on a site, I imagine it still is if you don't mind paying between $5 and $200(!) depending on the suburb. You can order title plans and certificates through this site too. [03/04]
liquor licensing victoria - everything you should need. [10/04]
national trust - register of buildings and a forum.
penalty interest rates - as determined by the Attorney General, are summarised at formexpress.[10/04]
rescode - state government homepage for that difficult new code. The clauses are easier to find at the planning link immediately above. [11/02]
state government building and property - links to government building authorities.
sustainable energy authority victoria - information on the 5 star energy rating that will apply to new houses from July 2004, and the mandatory 'first rate' software that is supposed to help figure things out - but there is more in depth info at the building commission site (see above). [10/04].
victorian building regulations - huge badly formatted document offering all the regs and forms for planning and building (the latter mostly refer onto the BCA).[11/02] 2001 single dwelling amendments [02/03]
victorian coastal council - siting and design guidelines for building on the Victorian coast.

New Zealand
architecture.co.nz - University of Auckland portal to the online building industry - links to government, local government.
building act - access the act and amendments from here.
building industry authority - responsible for building law. Information on the NZBC, approved documents, and determinations. Also housing cost estimates by region, and code quizzes! [10/04]
emap - by terralink - integrated property information databases are available through the web. You get 5 free tries to see if you like it.[01/03]
energy efficiency and conservation authority - information, links and a magazine.
standards new zealand - searchable index of available construction standards including NZS 3604 for timber framing - some standards (not 3604) are available to download at hefty prices. [03/02]
wises maps - city street directory online. [10/02]

New Zealand (Auckland)
auckland city council - commonly requested planning guides are available as .pdf (adobe acrobat) downloads.

New Zealand (Wellington)
wellington city council - design guides for specific areas, and planning maps are available for downlaod as PDF files. [LINK FIXED 02/02]

New Zealand (Christchurch)
council building and planning - forms, and codes covering planning and building in Christchurch.

related section: urban design