1.13 Chippendale, New South Wales

‘Sydney’s Sustainable House’ is one of Australia’s best-known examples of an attempt at sustainable urban living. It was the result of renovations in 1996 to an inner city terrace, with the goal of making the home self-sufficient in water and energy.

At the time, the focus was on creating a healthy environment, capturing solar energy, improving appliance effectiveness and treating wastewater; rather than improving the passive design which would have further reduced energy demand and assisted the achievement of sustainability.

The main components of the renovation were:

A renewable energy system
A rainwater collection system
A wastewater treatment system

As a result of the renovations, the house’s sewage is now treated on-site and no longer pollutes the ocean. The rainwater and sunlight which fall naturally onto the site are utilised as a precious resource.

The original project was well documented in the owners’ book, The Sustainable House, 1998. This case study focuses on the successes and the lessons learnt.

The significance of the project Several factors made ‘Sydney’s Sustainable House’ unique when it was completed in 1996. It showed that it was possible to create an almost entirely autonomous house on a compact, inner city site and within a relatively modest budget.

The greatest contribution of the project is that it has made the concept of sustainable home design more accessible, largely due to excellent publicity and the detail with which the renovation process was documented.

‘Sydney’s Sustainable House’ is the subject of a book and an ABC online feature, and features in the Ecologic Exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. In addition, over 15,000 people have visited the house on the tours run weekly.