Homes, Building & Retrofitting

A self-sustaining, urban farm and zero waste house in the heart of Melbourne CBD was shown on ABC TV Gardening Australia in 2021. There are so many ideas and innovations packed into this 87 square metre building located on the banks of the Yarra at Federation Square and designed by Joost Bakker. Its an experiment to see if a building can deliver self-sufficiency for its residents, by growing their own food, collecting and storing water, generating power and disposing of their waste. Take a virtual tour at futurefoodsystem.com watch self sustaining zero waste productive home in Melbourne.

The Australian Government’s ‘Guide to Environmentally Sustainable Homes’ is available at yourhome.gov.au with the 6th edition due for release soon. Architecturally designed plans which are energy efficient and suited to your climate and lifestyle can be downloaded free of charge. Energy efficient plans with ratings of 7 stars or more can be found at yourhome.gov.au/house-designs.

Look for Sustainable House Day 2022 usually held around October each year. Through virtual and on-site visits to sustainable homes there is lots of information on greening your own home, retrofitting, renovating or new building from owners that have been through the process and completed their projects.