Corporate News

Bill-busting carbon-neutral housing is on the rise as builders and developers work together to make greenfield projects the epicentre of a ground-breaking sustainability movement.

With minimum 7-star energy ratings and carbon-neutral performance, new mainstream home-buyers are paving the way for a wholesale change in replacing non-renewable energy sources with clean, green sources.

Villawood, together with Arden Homes, are enabling climate-conscious buyers to purchase new-design homes that meet demands of both their head and their heart. And our new gas-free Redstone project at Sunbury is site to two of the Arden’s 7-star display homes – one, 40 squares and the other, 29 squares in size. Arden’s beautiful 7-star homes are designed with:

• All electric cooking appliances including induction cooktop
• Integrated heat pump hot water service
• 18kW solar PV system
• 14kwH Tesla 2 battery
• Ducted reverse cycle air-conditioning

Double-glazing, increased insulation to external and internal walls, and tweaks to the size of some windows and doors have also assisted the homes’ sustainability. A telling aspect of these homes is their large size. Most sustainable homes rely on a smaller footprint to achieve their ratings. These aren’t tiny and they have capacity to power a ducted reverse cycle air-conditioning system.

Dollar-wise, the single-storey home will save an estimated $753/PA and the double-storey home $768/PA by making the home carbon neutral alone. The homes on display have a battery so any excess power will go towards running the house, however, they are still carbon neutral with no battery. Which, frankly, is excellent.

Arden has also been working on 7-star house designs at Villawood’s Aquarevo community at Lyndhurst in Melbourne’s southeast, where additional high-tech water savings and existing solar mandates have made it the most sustainable mainstream estate in the country.