Projects> Spring Hill "Enviro-Cottage"
New Project
Sustainable Home Spring Hill “Enviro-Cottage”
Location
32 Isaac Street, Spring Hill
Display period
Saturday, 9 October, 10am to 4pm
Saturday, 13 November, 10am to 4pm
Saturday, 4 December, 10am to 4 pm
Project summary
Sustainable Home the Spring Hill "Enviro-Cottage" is a new project that has been endorsed by the Smart and Sustainable Homes program. This project is the renovation of an existing Queensland early 1900's worker's cottage. The objective is to turn one of Brisbane's oldest traditional residential properties into a showcase of sustainable development and environmentally friendly living.
This project seeks to demonstrate sustainable development and sustainable living ideas, solution and options which can be employed by anyone renovating existing housing stock, even when challenged with the many constraints facing such renovations including council building codes, existing dwelling condition and design, and smaller block sizes.
The design allows for flexibility in household size and make-up. It contains a range of sustainable design features, including:
Demographic
Situated in historic Spring Hill, the Spring Hill "Enviro-Cottage" will be a beacon for sustainable housing of a refurbished rather than new residence typology. Dealing with existing conditions and constraints on a tight inner city residential block measuring only 10 x 30 metres, the replanning, refurbishment and extension of this early 1900 worker's cottage will re-engineer the house to accommodate 21st century and sustainable living requirements. The bespoke refurbishment also aims to preserve the historic nature of Spring Hill, the local neighbourhood and the streetscape for future generations, by maintaining the integrity of the original cottage whilst invigorating it with contemporary ideals. It is hoped that this residence will guide future sustainable refurbishments in the local area and across the wider Brisbane and Queensland geography.
Key Facts
Bathroom
3-bathrooms plus laundry in garage
Bedrooms
4 bedrooms/study
Local Council
Brisbane City Council
Climate Zone
Sub-Tropical - Climate Zone 2
Architect/Designer
Brian Steendyk Architect
Builder
Edsel W Ford
Project Coordinator
Phil Angus (Pro Tem Consultancy Services)
Consultant partners
Landscape architect - Brian Steendyk
Structural engineer - Crichton Engineering Pty Ltd
Hydraulics consultant - TBA
Major Sponsors
Construction
Commence: May 2008
Completed: TBA
Lot Size
Land: 304m
House Size
265 m2
Land cost
Approx. $500k
Construction cost
TBA
Key Goals and Objective
Goals
- To reduce our impact on the natural world
- To save water
- To reduce energy use
- To reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- To showcase leading sustainable solutions
Project Objectives
- To make a difference
- To inspire others
- To educate
- To demonstrate social, environmental and economic sustainability
- To influence leaders, so the leaders follow
- To meet our responsibilities to our children and to future generations
Design Objectives
- To maximise passive design to take advantage of natural energy flows to maintain thermal comfort –
- through both summer and winter
- To deliver maximum levels of comfort without mechanical assistance
- To reduce or eliminate heating and cooling bills
- To reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heating, cooling, mechanical ventilation and lighting
- To ensure that as little as possible rainwater leaves the site
- To become as self sufficient as possible for all water requirements
- To recycle and re-use as much water on site as possible
- To become self sufficient for all energy needs
- To provide clean renewable energy back to the community
Materials Objectives
- Choose environmentally preferred materials
- Choose sustainable and renewable resources where possible
- Re-use and recycle where practical
- No rainforest or old growth forest products
- Minimal or no use of PVC based materials
- Minimise or eliminate materials which discharge toxins or allergens
- Minimise waste
- Re-use the existing building or parts thereof to reduce consumption of new materials
- Use materials with a lifespan equivalent to the projected life of the building
- Design for a 100+ year building lifespan
- Create demand for new, efficient, low impact materials
- Source local product where possible - minimise the energy used to transport materials
- Minimise the energy used to heat and cool the building by using materials that effectively modify climate extremes
Minimise or eliminate emissions during use and manufacture
Sustainable Design features
General Passive Design Aspects
The Project plans to make use of the reallocation of land to the rear of the "Enviro-Cottage", which allows the opportunity to build a rear pavilion rather than simply extending the existing dwelling. This strategy reduces the
existing building depth and allows for the penetration of northern sun into the central private courtyard located
between the existing dwelling and the new pavilion. The rear of the existing residence will also be redesigned to
incorporate a double height space that, with the use of external sun louvers to the glass roof, will allow northern light to penetrate the rear space as well as the internal courtyard. The western aspects are protected from the afternoon sun by use of fencing, masonry, no glazing, and perforated feature metal sheeting. This broad design concept (cut and separate, rather than simply lift and extend) maximises the passive solar function and efficiency of the entire dwelling, particularly the new living spaces.
Social Sustainability
- Multi-use, modular design suitable for families, professional couples, or people with disabilities, catering from young couples through to families with older more independent children
- Use of local Tuff stone to tie to area's heritage, including kerbing
- Preservation of the heritage streetscape
- Open front aspect to connect with local street life
- Open design to aid easy surveillance, internal and external
- High security features to all doors and windows with simple and consistent locking systems
- Central site selected to maximise open house attendance and ensure excellent public transport options
- available, as well as to encourage walking and cycling
- The set back garage designed to de-emphasis the role of the car
- The addition of 2 off street parking options takes 2 cars off the crowded local street
Environmental Sustainability
- Maximum use made of solar passive design aspects to take advantage of natural energy flows and to minimise the scale of water, lighting, heating, power and other systems
- No mechanical heating or cooling systems (solar options under consideration)
- Capture, use, recycle and re-use of as much rainwater as possible which falls on the site (20-50K water tank, treated greywater)
- Generation of required energy needs through onsite photovoltaic system and where possible provision of clean renewable energy back to the community
- Use of environmentally preferred materials
- No use of rainforest or old growth forest products
- Minimal or no use of PVC based materials
- Re-use of the existing building or substantial parts thereof to reduce consumption of new materials
- Use of materials with a lifespan equivalent to the projected life of the building
- Source local products and materials where possible, minimising the energy used to transport materials
Economic Sustainability
- Use of passive solar design and enviro-products will drive future operational costs down to a minimum, or at the extreme end generate revenue. Such low running costs may reflect in higher sale price and better return on construction investment.
- The Project aims to demonstrate sustainable design and living elements at the upper end of the domestic renovation market (given the inner-city site and land cost)
- The Project aims to educate and inspire the higher end of the domestic renovation market to encourage take-up of enviro-products and passive solar design elements. Through wider take up at that level, scale
- can start to be generated, driving more commercially attractive business cases for the wider mass market.
- Modular design, flexible usage models, and choice of long lifespan materials, minimises any requirement for future renovations and other changes, minimising ongoing construction costs
Related links
The Spring Hill “Enviro-Cottage” website is at www.envirocottage.com.au.
Last updated October 2010