Sunday, August 28, 2011

Willoughby starts Sustainable Home Advice Service


Willoughby City Council, a local government in New South Wales, Australia, is located just over 8 km North of Sydney.


Based on the continued success of a pioneer program that was started in 2009 with Lane Cove Council in conjunction with Archicentre, called the Sustainable Building Advice Service, that assists residents with implementation choices for best practice building design beyond the thermal comfort, water and energy efficiencies promoted by the NSW Government's mandatory BASIX. The purpose of the service is to influence design from the outset - well before residents have commenced the Development Application (DA) process. From the 9th of August 2011, Willoughby City Council, through Archicentre has begun to offer an equivalent free service to its residents called Sustainable Home Advice Service (SHAS).
Among the considerations taken into account by the architect to be able to do a sustainable design the following are taken into account.

Passive design features include:
  • Home orientation and layout
  • Solar access
  • Thermal mass
  • Shading
  • Natural ventilation
  • Natural lighting
  • Building fabric
Energy saving features include:
  • Heating and Cooling
  • Insulation
  • Skylights
  • Glazing
  • Hot water system 
Water saving initiatives include:
  • Rainwater harvesting and re-use
  • Greywater treatment and re-use
  • Water saving fittings and appliances
  • Landscaping and pool features
The architect will meet with the resident and discuss objectives, strategies, budgets in order to achieve desired outcomes in a cost effective manner that also have a positive effect on the environment with for net reductions in green house gas emissions.
For more information on the program please visit the following link.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

New job, new focus

Since the 4th of July I have started working at a new job. It is quite interesting that I continue to work in the industry related with construction, but from another angle. I am now working with Archicentre (www.archicentre.com.au), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Australian Institute of Architects. So before I used to sell products and applications to architects, now I am selling architecturally related services.

One thing that I do keep in common is that I am able to keep developing around the theme of Sustainability. One of the projects that I am developing is to expand a service that Lane Cove Council has successfully implemented since 2009, it is called the Sustainable Building Advisory Service.

So in the future I should be able to continue posting on the subject, though I will likely be doing it once I am a bit more settled, as there is much work to do!