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).
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Stage 2 Building Standards v1.9 - in transition until 2 members have submitted DAs
(uploaded TBD)
Word doc;
Presentation;
Scoresheet
SDA Training Pt 1 - Intro
Video link (stream to any device) - SDA1 video (1.5 hours)
Slides - Pt 1 slides with links
Q&A
| Questions | Answer |
Is there a final map of walkways now completed, and Do normal setbacks need to be added to the walkway width, or does a specified setback (e.g. 4.5m) include the walkway? | Not yet - As-Built drawings still to be completed once the Stage 2 is finished. Setbacks from boundaries |
| Is Passive House the same as Passiv Haus? | Yes |
| It sounds a bit difficult to be an owner builder? | Need lots of time, need experience & good contacts |
| Building heights - 8m vs 10m. When would 10m be applicable? | 10m only for certain circumstances e.g. steep site, chimneys |
| Does that mean solar panels facing west will help with peak load? | Yes, in the evening |
| Could you elaborate on the 'plus 50% max cooling load'? | This helps towards heatwaves into the future. We will show more of this next week |
| Has NEV Power looked at more West facing panels in Stage 2 | Yes, we reward that. But not all homes can do this, with shading |
| Will the Slides be posted, & will links work? | Yes on Wiki at https://wiki.nararaecovillage.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=58460651 (this page  ) |
| Can we copy designs? | See our Member Building Workshops NEV Member Building Meetings - Help with your home design ; Your Home - home designs, climates, star ratings - https://www.yourhome.gov.au/house-designs |
| What about containers, tiny homes? | Newcastle org that fits out containers - JS has contact; they can be small, hot and need a lot of retrofitting Re Tiny homes, info is in the standards on Wiki - see above link |
References
Changes to National Construction Code - NatHERS increased to 7 stars with transition period to 1/10/23 - adopted 1/5/23
- https://ncc.abcb.gov.au/news/2022/whats-new-about-ncc-2022
BASIX changes to be adopted on 1/10/23 e.g. 7 stars - https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/BASIX-standards
Central Coast Council - changes to LEP & DCP - https://cdn.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/general-information/local-environmental-plan-lep/factsheetcclepanddcp24june2022final.pdf
- LEP https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/epi-2022-0308
Draft Recommendations for the CA meeting on 2/4/22 v1.8
(uploaded 28/3/22)
Presentation with recent updates in colours
Word document with recent updates in colours
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.
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.
