The Build Notebook #3 (15 November 2024)
Including new sustainable design inspo and ASMR videos you'll want to watch over and over!
5 things I’ve learned this week…
A ring main is a system that uses a circulating pump to keep hot water moving through pipes to make sure it’s always available (no running the tap for ages waiting for the water to warm up). While it sounds like a good idea in theory, the discussion during Jon Hindry’s (@hiper_haus) presentation at the Australian Passivhaus Association’s online Pecha Kucha event last week suggested that they’re fraught with problems and waste a lot of energy. Much better to design your house with wet areas close together and short runs from hot water systems.
Renew have announced that Sustainable House Day 2025 will be on Sunday 4 May. Pop the date in your diaries!
The Sustainability Awards were held last night in Sydney. The shortlist for new residential homes provided plenty of design inspiration to gush over.
Governments are working on a new Home Energy Ratings Disclosure Framework, which will require disclosure of a property’s energy and thermal performance at point of sale or lease. Having lived in the ACT for 20 years (where a similar scheme has been in place since 1999), I’ve wondered why it’s taken so long for broader adoption! [HT to Sarah @ Cooee Architecture for alerting me to this]. Related, this blog post from Transformed provides some more insight about what the expansion of NatHERS to existing homes will look like in practice.
I’m a little bit obsessed by Blaise Building Services ASMR videos on Instagram. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched this HRV pipe installation one.