No Bills House & Best Five Star Houses Project

Introduction

Buildings are a major source of environmental impacts. In response to this, the Building Code of Australia now includes a Performance Objective for residential buildings of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by using energy efficiently.

The 5 Star thermal performance project is to test the accuracy of the methods being used to determine 'energy efficiency' in the regulations and to demonstrate the real thermal performance of timber construction.

Construction of the three houses

Construction progressed well in April

4/28/2007 11:52:15 AM

The construction of the 5 Star test houses by major Hobart builder, Wilson Homes, in Auburn Rd, Kingston progressed well in April with the houses close to lock-up stage.

Progress to end of March - 4/28/2007 1:22:18 PM
Construction of the houses gathered pace during March, with walls and roofs going up, data cables for monitoring being installed and the interior fitout beginning. The houses (of six houses being built on the site) are standard small houses with varying configurations.

Monitoring thermal performance - 4/28/2007 1:19:05 PM
The thermal performance of the buildings will be assessed in line with a protocol for providing data to assess house energy rating programs. The thermal performance of each house will be monitored for two winter cycles (about 21 months) with an initial 'free running' period of about three months when the buildings will be unoccupied.

Designing and building the houses - 4/28/2007 1:12:56 PM
The research funding does not cover the cost of building the houses. The houses are being built on an existing development by commercial developer Wilson Homes. This has several major benefits as it ensures the houses suitably reflect market demand and accepted construction practice. .

Design process - 4/28/2007 1:11:39 PM
The design process was a collaboration between building and design company Wilson Homes and University of Tasmania (UTas) researchers.

All participants...