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Retrofitting your Home

COVID-19 has forced people home for most of this year. What better time to fix up your house to save energy and use you free time productively.

Post COVID-19, we predict that there will need to be a price hike in energy bills until governments implement smarter integration of solar power into the grid.

 

Ecotect-Architects can help in many ways:

  1. Advisory service by skype or zoom to work out the best ways you can maximize DIY and engage experts contractors to help you with the work (socially distanced of course). The first step is to take some photos and jot down some ideas and questions you would like to discuss. Having a copy or a diagram of your home would be very useful.
  2. One of our associates will make contact and book an online session and discuss the fee involved.
  3. Once the session is completed the verbal advice may suffice for simple action plans but a brief report can be sent and a fee proposal for follow up architectural work can be sent.
  4. At the same time as making the home more energy efficient and effetely use solar energy, both passive and actively using PV technology.
  5. It may be a good time to renovate and add the spare room at the same time, whereby drawings can be done and submitted for approval and assistance with quotes given by the associate.

You’ll find the service valuable and surprisingly affordable and will pay for itself from energy savings in quick time. Please contact us for more information.

 

‘Ilios Gardens’ is Ready for Launch

Asking the prices for ‘Ilios Gardens’ is really the wrong question. The investment potential and quality speaks for itself. Transparency by the Trust ensures that contenders for the community will be exactly that, part of the community. We are looking for the right people for an eye to Architectural quality and Ecological Sustainability.

It is a chance to be part of history in this unique location and future values are highly likely to reward a bold visionary decision to be part of this development.

Similar locations in Melbourne rate at 3 times the prices asked at this location in Cottesloe / Swanbourne Railway station precinct. Land values in Melbourne are up around $10,000 per square metre. Augurs well for the ‘Future Prahran of Perth’ over the next decade.

Here is a quick look of what has been happening in Melbourne for some time now:

http://swanbournevillagetrust.com/blog/video/2015/11/12/town-houses-in-swanbourne-should-we-be-inspired-by-melbourne-1

The land was purchased in 2014 but it was a mammoth job transforming early approvals into a final result. The negative influence of then politically entrenched views against progress made it very time consuming and unnecessarily expensive to attain into a final approval. Fortunately the silent majority now holds the balance of power at the Council.

The project is now ready to be sold to genuinely informed interests. We only have 6 properties remaining.

If our project became the norm, we have calculated 35% emissions currently produced from Human Impacts on Climate Change would be achieved by the end of the century. In addition, It would be well underway by 2050.

We are encouraging people in Perth and interstate and beyond wanting a beach lifestyle to do something for themselves as well as create a legacy for future generations.

See; www.swanbournvillagetrust.com to see the latest electronic brochure and presentation of final plans.

We are actually part of the solution to Climate Change not the cause of it!

See Realestate.com.au for sales information, or contact our office. https://www.realestate.com.au/property-unitblock-wa-cottesloe-133048190

 

Parisa Receives her PhD

Friday night was an big night and a step forward for building analytics in WA. Parisa Esmaeili Moakher was awarded her PhD for energy efficiency analytics for social housing. It included Qualitative analysis for ‘use-culture’ as well as Quantitative analysis for the thermodynamics realities required for achieving comfort. 

As co-supervisor and Adjunct Professor at Murdoch University, I know that Parisa did an incredible job as she completed an exhaustive study and data collection exercise with minimal resources.

Parisa’s main supervisor Associate Professor Tania Urmee was extremely pleased with the achievement as well Dr Francis Norman who had an valuable interest in mentoring Parisa to cope with the organisational and emotional load of studying in the field (especially with English as her second language and extra load of managing her time caring for her baby girl over the last 3 years). All who attended agreed that her achievement was remarkable.

Parisa’s data collection in 13 social houses included thermal inertia readings which gave tell tale evidence to back assumptions made over each occupant’s use-culture. The work included liaising with the CSIRO looking at the back end of the AccuRate program. We are hopeful that Murdoch University will some how continue with this multi-disciplinary approach to possibly help improve the future evolution of the program, particularly its back end assumptions over the coming years.

Parisa’s accumulated skills and acquired expertise are already being recognised with an analyst job with a large engineering firm, who want to stay at the cutting edge.

Hopefully, Parisa will over time will remain in WA and increase the technical knowledge base for building science. 

Parisa is now an adviser at Ecotect-Architects on energy ratings, please contact us for more information.

From Left DR Francis Norman

PhD, AFIEAust CEngA EngExec NER, MICCPM

Dr Parisa Esmaeili Moakher (with baby daughter) – Awarded PhD in energy analytics for social housing

Dr Tania Urmee, Associate Professor and Research Leader at Murdoch University School of Engineering next to Parisa

Adjunct Professor, Garry Baverstock AM, Murdoch University School of Engineering and Energy, Director of Wise Earth Research Centre (WERC), Principal for Ecotect-Architects

Passive Solar Homes are naturally resistant and safe havens for bush fires if designed correctly

Ecotect- Architects are offering a Free Architectural Advisory Service for those affected in Bush Fire Regions across Australia.

The architects at Ecotect-Architects have banded together to help the community by offering a 1 hour Free of Charge consultancy to improve a person’s planning strategy, before embarking on a new project or retro for re-buildings after fire catastrophe, or those considering building in fire risk areas as well as  retrofitting your home for natural comfort using passive solar principles and increasing fire resilience.

Please see an article we published recently on the NatSCOPE and NEXUS Architectural websites for ideas – http://nexusarchitectural.com/what-can-architects-do-to-help-with-bush-fires-the-answer-is-plenty/

Phone our team for a face to face chat if you are located in the Perth region, or we can arrange a  skype session for regional WA and other States.

Insurance Companies

Ecotect-Architects will also extend this free service to all insurance companies and their customers to help make sure such damage is quelled in the future. We understand compliance, but also good fire proofing design.

Building solar homes are part of the answer to reducing fire damage risk. In Perth WA we are building a multi- home project which demonstrates all these principles. There is zero risk that these homes would ever catch fire. Our mass houses do not burn! Our passive solar houses always are superior to all other planning solutions, not just for energy conservation but also fire, and sustainable economics generally with inter-generational appeal.