Crace goes greener
Crace—Canberra’s greenest suburb and the city’s first HIA GreenSmart estate—is upping the ante for Sustainable House Day with a range of talks and presentations to help renovators and new home buyers get greener.
The suburb’s demonstration village, which will be open from 11am to 5pm on Sunday 12 September, will play host to some of the region’s best and most knowledgeable sustainability experts including Leigh Duxson from the Home Energy Advice Team, Kristen Tomkins from the Housing Industry Association and Nick Gorrie from James Hardie.
The demonstration village homes will showcase the best in green building in the ACT for all types of housing and enable visitors to see the benefits up close, ask questions of our experts, and learn from the advice and experience of some of our professional builders. You can also meet our suppliers and hear first hand about their products and services to apply the ideas you see and hear to your own home.
Each member of the Crace builder’s panel, including APA Homes (link to http://www.apahomes.com.au), ADR Homes (link to http://www.adrhomes.com.au), Classic Constructions (link to http://www.classicconstructions.com.au), Today’s Homes Link to http://www.todayshomes.com.au) and Vogue Constructions (link to http://www.vogueconstructions.com.au), will also be available to answer questions about their approach to sustainability and to show people inside some of Canberra’s best built and most environmentally friendly homes.
Crace is the first HIA GreenSmart estate in the ACT and one of only 14 estates nationally to receive accreditation for its environmentally sustainable features, including its industry-leading carbon management program.
Located just 10 minutes from Canberra’s CBD, the suburb is being developed over five years as a joint venture between the ACT’s Land Development Agency and Crace Developments Pty Ltd—a consortium led by Canberra Investment Corporation, Defence Housing Australia, CHC Affordable Housing and Tatebrook Pty Ltd.
Through a partnership with Greening Australia, Crace Developments is securing land and re-establishing an area of native woodland that will absorb the equivalent of the emissions resulting from the land development over the next 20 years. The initiative means that not only will carbon offsets be achieved for Crace, but biodiversity will be restored to the landscape through the revegetation process.
Other environmentally sustainable measures to be implemented at Crace include:
- master planning that optimises the solar orientation of blocks, and homes that are designed with passive solar principles in mind
- urban design that will allow homes to achieve a minimum 6 star energy efficiency rating
- dedicated cycle and pedestrian paths, and positioning of homes to ensure the majority are within 400 metres of a bus route to minimise car use
- a stormwater water management strategy that will enable the suburb to use 40% less water than most Canberra suburbs
- water sensitive urban design features that include bio-retention rain gardens and street tree pits to slow down water runoff
- a network of open spaces that help to retain existing vegetation and waterways.
You can register your interest in Crace at crace.com.au to receive email updates. The website also includes the latest news, information about buying and building at Crace and an interactive map of the suburb.
You can also contact the Crace sales team on 1800 751 878 with any questions or visit us at 9 Abena Avenue (off Gundaroo Drive)—we’re open from 11am to 5pm Saturday through Tuesday and 1pm to 7pm Wednesdays.
