02 Oct Building for tomorrow: The case for sustainable, smaller, smarter homes

“What I do in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability is still unfortunately considered a niche”:  Sustainable home owner and designer Matthew Turner

The people occupying this future will be exposed to a more erratic and extreme climate.

The Victorian Government’s climate projections forecast that by the 2050s, temperatures and rainfall around Ballarat could be similar to those of Hamilton today.

“The increase in climate-driven extreme weather events around the country really brings home the importance of having energy efficient houses, not only for the sake of our power bills, but also our health,” says Dr Gill Armstrong, program impact manager with the non-profit Climateworks Centre.

But just how sustainable are these future homes likely to be?

The City of Ballarat has taken some steps towards sustainability, adopting an Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) policy in 2023. It requires developments must satisfy certain “scores” on factors like energy performance and stormwater management.

However, when it comes to specifications on new builds, aside from complying with the ESD and state-wide regulations, there is little guidance.

Ballarat’s director of development and growth, Natalie Robertson, expects to see developers offer “a diversity of housing choice”, from bespoke one-offs to large housing estates where building companies offer clients a fixed range of designs.

These “volume build” developments remain hugely popular in Australia, with the top 100 builders accounting for 45% of new housing construction in 2018.

But Professor Robert Crawford, a construction and environmental assessment expert with the University of Melbourne, warns that there are numerous pitfalls attached to mass-produced housing.

Project homes are popular because they’re a cheap way of complying with regulations, Crawford says. But if the quality of materials or construction is undercut, “it’s going to cost more for the homeowner in the long run”, and a greater environmental impact.

His research underscores the value of downsizing from the ubiquitous “McMansions”, emphasising the potential to halve environmental footprints by trimming floorplans. “Reducing size is one of the easiest things to reduce climate impact.”

The smallest home packages offered by popular volume builders have three bedrooms and two bathrooms, with many offering up to four or five of each. “Real estate agents selling volume homes will say that for resale value, you’re going to need at least three bathrooms and two living areas,” Turner says.

While “bigger, richer” living is glamorised in the marketing, he says, in reality the costs of large, inefficient homes bite hard.

“I hear about people in Ballarat who run their gas ducted heating through winter and their quarterly bill is about $1500,” says Turner. “There’s a lot of people out there who are choosing between eating that week or turning on the heater.”

By comparison, the single reverse cycle unit in his home is required only in the evenings in the coldest months.

In May, the energy efficiency rating for new builds in Victoria was raised from six to seven stars. But stars alone aren’t a solution, Crawford warns.

Volume builds may now be required to include double-glazed windows and other materials, but these all require energy to produce.

“If you’re just going to build the same size houses and make them all a higher star rating, that’s nowhere near as effective as making the houses smaller.”

* City of Ballarat interviews for this article were conducted prior to the local government election caretaker period

This is part of Building Ballarat, a reporting project by the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne co-published with the Ballarat Courier.