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Five Star Thermal Performance Houses > Articles > Construction

Progress to end of March

Construction of the houses is gathering pace.

The houses (of six houses being built on the site) are standard small houses with varying configurations, namely:

  • A Five Star Timber House – a compact, affordable house that includes a timber framed floor and achieves at least a five star rating when assessed under AccuRate. This is the house being framed up in the centre of the photo;

  • A Five Star Timber Frame and Concrete Slab House – a compact house with an orientation and general building fabric identical to the Five Star Timber House, that achieves at least a five star rating and has a standard concrete slab on ground. This is the house at the bottom left of the image; and

  • A Four Star Timber House – a compact, affordable house that includes a timber framed floor and achieves a four star rating when assessed under AccuRate. This is the house to the right with the floor frame ready for the walls;

Installation of monitoring equipment has started and will continue until the houses are ready for detailed monitoring during the southern winter.
Installing cables under the slab
Installing cables under the slab



Monitoring plan
The thermal performance of the test houses will be monitored in a free running state for three months in winter 2007 and then for a further 18 months occupied. Sensors will be used to determine temperature variation in various parts of the houses and measure heat movement through the cells' fabric.
Monitoring thermal performance
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.



Slab ready to pour and some wall frames up
Slab ready to pour and some wall frames up


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