News
Sanctuary 56 out now: Sustainable House Day special
Sanctuary 56 is our annual Sustainable House Day special, tying in with this year’s event themes with deep dives into building and design, retrofitting, building materials and climate-resilient homes.
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Sanctuary: modern green homes is Australia's premier magazine dedicated to sustainable house design.
House profiles
Exactly enough
A small-footprint, one-bedroom retreat designed for passive solar winter comfort proves perfect for this couple’s lifestyle in northern Tassie.
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House profiles
Laying the groundwork
Architect Simon Anderson experimented with creative and technical ideas for his own off-grid, bushfire-resistant home in the Blue Mountains, developing a successful prototype for client projects.
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Outdoors
Nourished by nature: Garden design for mental health and wellbeing
There’s plenty of evidence that connection with nature is beneficial for both mind and body. We speak to the experts about designing gardens for improved mood and wellbeing, and what we can do at home to create green spaces that give back in a therapeutic way.
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Ideas & Advice
A knotty issue: Responsibly sourced timber
While timber is a renewable resource, its harvesting is often associated with deforestation practices that are harmful to the environment. We look at the current state of sustainable timber in Australia, and how to make sure the wood you use for your build is as responsible as possible.
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Building a 'suburban beach house'
Watch our webinar with building scientist Jenny Edwards of Light House Architecture and Science, whose Canberra house is featured in Sanctuary 50. We hear about how she and her partner achieved a high-performing family home on a budget, using standard materials, a modular design approach and careful attention to detail. Subscribe to Renew on YouTube to keep up with our future videos.
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News
Announcing Green Rebuild Toolkit
Renew is using its expertise on sustainable homes to empower fire-affected communities to rebuild and retrofit their homes in a climate resilient way.
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Climate Resilient Homes
An energy transition for social housing
Social housing must not be left behind in the transition to renewable energy. Read Renew's submission.
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Climate Resilient Homes
Community coalition backs 7-star homes with solar
A coalition of 23 not-for-profit community organisations has declared its support for 7-star rated homes with solar as a national minimum building standard.
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Ideas and advice
Ideas & Advice
Beating bushfire: Retrofitting for safer homes in fire-prone areas
Architect and bushfire design expert Nigel Bell outlines what owners of existing houses can do to improve their homes’ chances of surviving a fire.
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Ideas & Advice
Avoiding the winter cold: Housing retrofits as a health intervention
As well as reducing your energy bills and your carbon footprint, upgrading your home’s building envelope can have a positive effect on your health and wellbeing. Health researcher Dr Toby Cumming explains.
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Ideas & Advice
On the drawing board: Testing out 10 Stars
What does it look like to aim for the top of the Star rating scale, and can it be done without costing an arm and a leg? Builder Craig Riddle set out to design and build a very high-performing house using iterative energy rating assessments, careful construction and standard, readily available materials.
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Sustainable design events
Design workshop
Design workshop
Design workshop: A higher-performing volume build
Kirsten and James are keen to make the project home they’re planning in Camberwell, Victoria, as energy-efficient and comfortable as possible, and have budgeted for some upgrades. Architect Penny Guild and ESD consultant Erika Bartak give the couple some advice on achievable tweaks to improve their home’s performance.
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Ideas & Advice
Design Workshop: Down by the river
Having lived in their beloved riverside suburb of Melbourne for ten years, Rowan Doyle and Fiona Cock are planning an updated, more flood-resilient home to accommodate changing family needs. They are interested in prefabrication and Passive House; Sven Maxa of Maxa Design is knowledgeable about both, and gives them some pointers.
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Design workshop
Design Workshop: New house from the old
On Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Lisa Hartmann and Kurt Weinert are planning to deconstruct their ageing, inefficient house and use the materials to build a sustainable new family home. Experienced in the use of recycled materials, Peter McArdle of ptma Architecture gives the couple some pointers.
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House profiles
Space upgrade
Architect Emma Scragg designed a modest two-storey rear addition to a Brisbane home that has a large impact on how the homeowners live, and minimal impact on the existing house.
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House profiles
Proof positive
Veteran of an owner-built, deep green backyard flat project in Mittagong, NSW, Andy Lemann applied his learning to the main house, retrofitting it for much improved energy efficiency.
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House profiles
Stepping it up
Passive Houses can have a tendency to be cubic or boxy in shape, as the simpler the building form and the lower the surface-area-to-volume ratio, the easier it is to achieve the required airtightness and energy efficiency. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. A recently completed Passive House Plus in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield South takes a different form, as the challenging block called for a solution that was ‘outside the box’.
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