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:
Domain:
Word doc;
Presentation;
Scoresheet
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 |
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
Presentation with recent updates in colours
Word document with recent updates in colours
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
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.
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.
These have been uploaded to the end of our NEV Building & Landscape Standards - Stage 2 Recommendations - FAQs.
Graham's presentation on how to achieve a low cooling energy for NatHERS in "Cooling Strategies"
Links from Andy
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Next Mtg - Sat 26/3/22 - TBD
A set of questions and answers from our presentations can be found here NEV Building & Landscape Standards - Stage 2 Recommendations - FAQs
In the area below, please leave any questions for our Building Standards working group.