In Australia, heatwaves are the deadliest natural hazard and a major driver of peak electricity demand and blackouts. Heatwaves are exacerbated by urban heat island effects in cities, and becoming more common due to climate change. Keeping ...

Adapting building designs for climate change is about managing the unavoidable. While there is debate around what level of adaptation is needed, there is growing awareness that design practices need to take into account predictions of increased risk ...

Bushfire has long been a part of Australian landscape ecology and mythology, but climate change is now driving an increase in fire emergencies and a greater regulatory response. There are new levels of bushfire frequency, severity and ...

This note was reviewed in October 2018 and has been retained for legacy. In 2003 a demonstration home was constructed by a local authority in Perth to raise public awareness of practical ways to reduce the energy needs for heating and cooling. The ...

Put simply, solar access is the availability of sunlight to a property. For architects, the need to consider solar access in the overall design of a structure is two-fold: Firstly, the structure must be designed and situated on the property to ...

Section J of the National Construction Code (NCC) Volume One codifies minimum glazing thermal performance measures for both facade vision glazing and roof lights. NCC 2019 contained the first major revision to the Section J measures in nine years. A ...

While concrete is the most widely used building material in the world with many architectural and engineering benefits, it is associated with a high environmental cost that somewhat offsets this benefit. Previous EDG papers have investigated ...

Read time: 18 minutes Water is necessary for human survival, but it is also a key ingredient in the production of construction projects. Increasing water scarcity means that we must reduce water use and improve water efficiencies across all human ...

Kelvin Grove Urban Village is the first inner-city development of its kind in Australia. It is a master-planned community that demonstrates best practice in sustainable, mixed-use urban development, and brings together educational, residential, ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency in August 2018.  Green building and sustainable development efforts are helping to reduce negative impacts associated with the built environment. Yet, current global challenges require societies to ...