G'Day all, I'm looking at a project involving enclosing our pergola to give us another room.

The pergola is attatched to the house on 2 sides (west and north) via 'hockey stick' brackets and 3 posts (east) with a clear span (south).
The current floor consists of pavers (layed on a base of dirt and sand, raised approx 300mm from ground level to sit just under the external door sills.) These were down for some time before the pergola went up and as a result the posts are outside the paved area.
I'm thinking of removing the pavers and having a concrete slab layed, but this will be lower than the current pavers. I want to lay the slab so it is (just) wider than the pergola, giving me a base to work on.
I have built a stud wall in the garage to create a false wall (it's now a rumpus room) so I feel OK about having a go again to enclose the pergola. I want to add sliding aluminium windows and also a sliding door (I have fitted a sliding door to the rear roller door opening of the garage, so that experience will help). I thought I could apply the same method and dynabolt the stud walls to the concrete slab (H4 Treated Pine I guess?)
My wife wants to brick the lower part of the wall, I suggested some sort of cladding for the upper part. We'd like to plaster the inside too.
At this stage the east side would include the sliding door and two windows (2400mm x 1200 or 1800mm)
A couple of Q's:
Will I need council approval to enclose the area? (We are in Melbourne if that helps)
Do I need a builder for such a project or would a 'handyman' (me...) be able to do the job?

Any advice welcomed.

Cheers,
Dick


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