This note was reviewed and approved by the Author in September 2018. Filter House design was developed as an entry to the Broome Sustainable Housing Competition, organised by the Western Australian Department of Housing and Works.  The competition ...

The 811 square metre site had been owned by the Mathews family since the early 1970’s, and was used as a car park by nearby businesses up until construction commenced in 2002. In 1998 several family members (including this author) formed a company, ...

David Baggs looks at the role of the built environment in our un-sustainability and explores the full spectrum of strategies and solutions as to how our buildings might become a pathway towards a low-carbon future. Baggs explores the concepts of ‘ ...

Good indoor environment quality (IEQ) can have a positive impact on the health, wellbeing and productivity of occupants in office buildings. Productivity benefits can potentially be financial as well as intangible in nature, and can be realised at ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency of underlying principles in August 2018.  The disassembly of buildings to recover materials and components for future reuse is not widely practiced in the modern construction industry. This note ...

As Australia faces a number of challenges, including water shortages, rising fuel costs, expanding population and insufficient land, resources and services to support it in a sustainable manner, there is a growing need to address these issues, adapt ...

'Sustainable Urbanism' encompasses Australian urban design and transportation practices that seek to create vibrant, liveable communities.  This approach proposes the creation of compact, walkable communities centred around high quality public ...

This note was reviewed and retained for legacy in November 2018. This paper discusses a pilot study which involved altering the thermostat set-points to 2-3°C above the normal summer setting in two air-conditioned buildings during a Brisbane ...

Environmental design is in the broadest sense, the human response to the understanding that we are a part of our environment. This is the design realisation that ecology matters.  This area of human endeavour has undergone a rapid transformation in ...

This note was reviewed and retained for legacy in October 2018, with the qualification that some references are now superseded. In order to deliver sustainability in the built environment, planning policies and statutory requirements need to ...