Vision: Support a contemporary Ecovillage community at Narara that demonstrates economic, social and environmental regenerative capacity through Building  Standards that encourage the building of sustainable housing.

Mission: Update the NEV Building Standards in accordance the requirements of new legislation (BASIX, NatHERS, council LEPs), the Stage 2 sub division as it affects the Hill Thalis guidelines and other experience gained during Stage 1.

Aims:

• To review existing feedback from the BRP and to research, reflect and consult with specialist individuals, working groups and circles
• To review external standards and the experience of architects, engineers, designers, assessors and builders who have worked with the village during Stage 1.
• To maintain regular communication with the broader membership
• To prepare and present a set of proposed changes to the existing building standards by 30 June 2021 or ASAP
  

Domain:

• As a sub-circle of the Steering Circle, the Stage 2 Building Standards review circle is set up to research, consult and develop proposed changes to the existing Building Standards. 
• The Stage 2 Building Standards review circle holds no decision-making authority but is required to advise its recommendations to the Steering Circle, the Board, the cooperative members and the members of the Community Association who will approve these standards as part of the Community Management Statement (CMS).

Draft Recommendations for the CA meeting on 2/4/22 22    v1.8

(uploaded 28/3/22)

Presentation with recent updates in colours

Word document with recent updates in colours

Draft Recommendations v1.3

Final Draft Presentation to all Members - 12/3/22

12:50 for 1-4pm Sat 12/3/22 - Stage 2 Building Standards Zoom Workshop - Final Draft
Graham Hunt, Andy Marlow and the Stage 2 Building Standards Working Group will present the final draft of the standards for members comment before consent at a Members Mtg so that members can work on the design of their houses.

A short presentation will be followed by breakout rooms to answer questions and then a Q&A.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89669705538?pwd=NkFoTmhhQ2xETGFteUFWS2czcE00dz09
Meeting ID: 896 6970 5538
Passcode: 643950

Draft Recommendations v1.3

Information Presentation to Stage 2 Members - 5/2/22

Here is the presentation made to the Stage 2 Members via Zoom on Sat 5/2/22 of the recommendations from this committee, with the assistance of Grant Rickey, Stage 2 Development Manager; Jon Ellis, Secretary BRP; Graham Hunt, Architect from DHW; and Andy Marlow, Architect from Envirotecture.

Video link

NB: This is a very large file (320MB) for computer download - we are looking at a subscription service to able to stream it to all devices in a privacy-secure manner so the material is not edited.

Link

Workshop & Chat Questions

These have been uploaded to the end of our NEV Building & Landscape Standards - Stage 2 Recommendations - FAQs.

Workshop Slides

Graham Hunt

Graham's presentation on how to achieve a low cooling energy for NatHERS in "Cooling Strategies"

Andy Marlow

Links from Andy

• Passive House in Australia book https://www.envirotecture.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/passive-houses-Australia-low-res.pdf
• 90 second Passive House video: https://vimeo.com/74294955?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=3212423

Other References:

John Shiel's BZE book (peer reviewed including by Graham Hunt) and free on the web as a pdf - "Cooling Your Home - Home Retrofits, Appliances and Adaptions for a Hotter Future".

This averages 3 houses with simulation energy from NatHERS for cooling, and ranks the best strategies - retrofits, appliances and behaviour. It has a table of the most effective cooling features, and another table ranking them by least cost.

https://bze.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Cooling-your-home-24-Nov-compressed.pdf

Text version (v1.3) of the Building Standards Review

The text version of the Stage 2 review is available here for members. A document with major differences to Stage 1 standards will be created too.

Draft Recommendations v1.0 - Presentation

Here is the presentation made to the Community Association on 2/10/21 of the recommendations from this committee.

The text is blue where there are changes to the initial recommendations made to the Steering Committee on 5/6/21.

Regular Monthly Meetings on NEV Building Design

One of the popular changes to the building standards was that the current level of support in helping members should be increased, with regular meetings, and communication in various media including in SLACK, in the NELN newsletter and in Despatch emails.

Members are keen to share their designs and are rewarded in our scoresheet for doing this, so these will present opportunities for this, as well as benefits to newer members designing their homes.

Members Building Meetings

First Mtg - Sat 26/2/22 - 12:50pm - Dan & Deb Mohr's home design

How to design a sustainable heatwave proof house (80% reduction in NatHERS cooling energy). Includes a video clip of Graham Hunt explaining the main features to keep the house cool.

Overview of houses in Stage 1 (materials, design features)

Plus breakout rooms and Q&A.

Assets are at NEV Member Building Meetings - Help with your home design

Next Mtg - Sat 26/3/22 - TBD

Circles and teams

• Sustainable Design Appraisers (SDAs) – help with your design and scorecard
• Building Review Panel (BRP) – if your design meets the standard, BRP stamps your drawings before they go the State planning portal
• Member building meetings - monthly forum for members to design home, learn, include experts and arrange speakers
  1. Member Building Group – members, SDAs, and experts (Architects, engineers, builders, assessors, designers) to help members with designs
  2. Members and non-members are welcome

Frequently Asked Questions

A set of questions and answers from our presentations can be found here NEV Building & Landscape Standards - Stage 2 Recommendations - FAQs

Questions from members and those in Stage 2

In the area below, please leave any questions for our Building Standards working group.