Federation Square

Archicentre, the building design, inspection and advice service of The Australian Institute of Architects today said the introduction of the Carbon Tax and rising Power prices will significantly increase the demand for sustainable housing design as part of Australia's housing affordability strategy. 

Archicentre General Manager David Hallett said the pressure of housing affordability today is not just in the initial building costs as housing affordability has now spread into the services such as power, water and gas to run a home.

Mr Hallett said "Cutting escalating costs of energy and water will become a powerful economic force in driving green sustainable homes into the mainstream and the market will increasingly look for increased performance and savings from design.

"Home owners with well designed insulated homes and renovations, including solar panels and rain water tanks, stand to see hundreds of dollars a year cut from their energy and water bills as prices escalate dramatically."

Archicentre, with a network of over 800 architects around Australia is one of the major suppliers of property inspections and housing design concepts, and it expects to see an increase in demand for sustainable homes.

The organisation has already been engaged by a number of New South Wales Councils to provide sustainability design advice to residents at the early stage of their renovation or new home design to maximise energy and water cost savings.

Mr Hallett said one of the biggest trends in new homes and renovations is likely to be around the introduction of 'quality based building inspections' which are aimed at ensuring homes with a six or more green star design are actually built to the standard.

"At present no one independently verifies the presence of energy efficient features in new homes or renovations, with the six star performance quickly evaporating if there are gaps around doors or windows, or if wall or ceiling insulation is absent.

"One of the major issues is not to do with the design but how people operate their homes.

"Sitting around in shorts and a singlet during winter with the heater running full blast and poorly sealed doors and windows can soon remove the sustainable impact of any star rating and after Sunday it will become even more expensive," Mr Hallett added.

Click here for the Archicentre Sustainability video

Media Enquiries:
Ron Smith, Corporate Media Communications, Archicentre - Mobile: 0417 329 201

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