How St Ives was built
Rural into the 1950s
St Ives was still market gardens and orchards in the 1950s. The Housing Commission bought land in 1954 and built weatherboard homes for immigrants and returned servicemen.
The big building years
Many family homes, including project homes, went up between 1961 and 1976. From 1980 came townhouses, units and retirement villages.
Streets into the bush
Since 1950 the suburb has spread into hilltops and valleys bordering Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park to the north and Garigal National Park to the east.
Owners, mostly
At the 2021 Census, 66.1% of St Ives' 6,298 occupied homes were separate houses and 41.8% were owned outright. 16.6% were rented.
Ausgrid
St Ives is inside Ausgrid's network area. Outages and fallen wires go to Ausgrid on 13 13 88.
Signs a 1960s or 1970s board is due
- Rewireable fuses, or a mix of fuses and a few breakers added later.
- No safety switch on the lighting circuits.
- A black or dark brown backing board. Ones made before 1987 can contain asbestos.
- No spare space for a new circuit, like an induction cooktop or a car charger.
- Breakers that trip when the oven, heater and dryer run together.
Planning for an EV or a bigger solar system
A house with a garage is a natural spot for a wall charger. Ausgrid notes that homes over 20 years old that haven't been rewired may need a meter upgrade when a charger goes in, and any meter change goes through your retailer. An electrician who installs chargers will check the board and the supply first, so you know the full job before you buy anything.
On the bush edge
Ku-ring-gai applies bushfire controls to land on its bush fire prone map and recommends them within 700 m of it, which covers a lot of St Ives. Before each season, test the smoke alarms, know where your main switch is and keep the area around the meter box clear.
The one thing we'd do
If your St Ives home still has its original board, we'd replace it with modern breakers and safety switches before adding a charger, solar or a new kitchen. It's the job everything else depends on. Tell us your postcode and we'll match you with one licence-checked local electrician who specialises in switchboards.
Want a specialist to sort it?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.