Tomorrow's Homes
Why does Light House do what it does? The latest report from the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) is a fairly neat summary.
With one very notable and big omission. The report cuts straight to the builder without mentioning the importance of good design and the huge value design professionals can add. The word design is used just four times and the word architecture does not appear. The Australian Housing Industry and the Australian Architectural Industry MUST start collaborating to deliver quality affordable homes. As a scientist and sustainability advocate (not a builder or architect) in between these groups, I’ve been trying to bring them together for years. Likewise, the Australian Public needs to understand that their home —their life’s single biggest investment, and the place where their loved ones will spend most of their time —is THE thing most worthy of some investment in good design. You can hear me sum that up in an interview from early last year.
“There are big opportunities if some significant challenges can be overcome. Some Australian home builders are already striving to move beyond minimum requirements by incorporating higher levels of energy efficient designs and technology innovations into new homes that are healthier, more comfortable and more affordable to run. However, these builders lack scale and face significant barriers. Consumers are unclear of their choices – and are baffled by all the terminology. Home builders are locked into business models and supply chains that limit innovation. And financiers are yet to value the potential of sustainable homes.”
In ASBEC’s latest policy platform for sustainable homes — Tomorrow’s Homes — they outline a transition roadmap supported by five recommendations:
National leadership
Benchmarking and upskilling
Building a foundation of leading homes
Engaging consumers
Leveraging finance
To which we respond: Yes, yes, yes, yes and YES!
Jenny was on the technical advisory committee for ASBEC’s previous report: Built to Perform. She was invited to contribute to this one but was too busy doing what it talks about. We figure we can have our biggest impact by repeatedly showing how possible this is.
There are some fabulous people working on the policy side of things - keep up the great work ASBEC and all of the contributors. Those on the ground doing it, keep doing it, and let’s encourage everyone else to join us.
You can read the press release for the latest report here.
