Sustainable housing in an urban setting

Abstract

This paper discusses a housing development in an urban setting designed and built with sustainable principles. The project is the Christie Walk development in the City of Adelaide, the only housing of its kind in South Australia. The paper specifically reports the actual performance of this development in the three key areas of sustainability: environmental, social and economic performance. The three units monitored have different construction/materials and orientation to solar access; however, the monitoring results show that from summer to early winter this year the indoor conditions are within the occupants’ thermal comfort range. The calculated embodied energy in each of the three units is also about half of the embodied energy of a similar house with a brick veneer-construction. The occupants have also expressed satisfaction with the performance of their house and the sense of community of the whole development. One strong message learned is that the success of any sustainable development depends on the commitment of the people involved. This development is successful in terms of its environmental and social performance outcomes because all of the ‘stakeholders’ have been committed to the idea of sustainable living, even if that means a change in the way they live.