It took ten years of negotiations with Bass Coast Shire Council before the Minister for Planning gave approval for The Cape sustainable housing project at Cape Patterson. Tony O’Connell of TS Constructions is one of the preferred builders at The Cape, a high-standard sustainable housing estate. He is also a keynote speaker at the 2016 Green Living Conference at the BLSC on 26 August.

Located on the Bass Coast of south eastern Victoria, Cape Patterson is a small coastal village with an approximate population of 720, serviced by a little more than a general store and a tavern. Having holidayed at Cape Patterson for many years as a child, project founder Brendon Condon identified the site for The Cape over a decade ago.
Brendon’s work history in large-scale environmental construction projects helped create the plans for a 220-site sustainable village complete with community food gardens, natural space and provisions for future ownership of electric cars.

Five sustainable architects, a group of energy efficiency experts and two preferred builders were brought together at an open forum with the set task for each architect to develop two house designs each. The ten designs were drawn up, presented and openly critiqued with the outcome an impressive suite of diverse and flexible designs. The high- performance sustainable homes have their floor plan displayed on the project’s website which has attracted 30,000 downloads in the past 24 months.

The Cape clients are encouraged to either choose from among the ten architecture designs or to work with the builders to design a new home that meets the same project guidelines. To date, most clients choose to modify one of the current templates.

Standards set out in The Cape Design Guidelines have proven an essential guide to participating developers and builders when understanding how to build passive solar efficient houses and communities for the future. These include building homes to a minimum 7.5-Star energy efficiency standard, installation of water tanks and onsite solar systems.

The Cape team first introduced their project at a public meeting, to sceptical residents of Cape Patterson, in 2003. One such resident included Tony himself, initially planning to oppose the introduction of a housing development. However, once the facts were presented about the benefits of living in a sustainable village, the flexible housing designs, future cost savings and meaningful outcomes for the environment, Tony changed his mind and soon enrolled into Master Builders Certificate IV in Environmental Management and Green Living Domestic courses. He later became an Accredited Green Living builder.

Over the last eight years Tony has made dramatic changes to his building practices, including the implementation of a review on waste management and encouraging clients and architects to beyond the standard 6-Star  rating, for 7.5-Startar or even higher. Tony and his builders have adopted a method of making beautiful natural granitic sand earth blocks, using a hydraulic press on site, for cost effective thermal mass.

The greatest challenge and most rewarding outcome has been changing mindsets about sustainable living. Most notable among his converts are workers on site at The Cape, like plumbers and painters who have now undergone sustainability training, and an electrician who now installs only LED lighting.

Recent independent modelling of the first home at The Cape has revealed annual running costs less than $500 per annum, which is 15 per cent of the running costs of an average home in Victoria. The first street of nine homes is likely to have annual energy bills less than $5000 per annum, representing an annual saving of $20,000 each year – money that stays in the hands of residents.

With high-speed NBN fibre-optic cables and the ability to charge electric cars using surplus solar power from rooftops, every facet of future living has been carefully incorporated into the planning phase. This also includes materials containing no formaldehydes.

It is no surprise that The Cape’s project team is already hosting walks for visitors, including schools and tertiary student groups, with many more groups keen to visit in future, this ambitious project just commencing.

Click here to register for the 2016 Green Living Conference.

Read about our other Green Living Conference keynote speakers, Nick Wootton and Sally Wills.

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