Equal Parts Modern and Sustainable

The Clovelly House is a three bedroom, south facing semi-detached residence, with in-ground pool and off-street car parking, in Clovelly, an inner city suburb of Sydney, Australia.

The house, designed by Kennedy Associates Architects and completed in 2004, was designed to meet the very specific spatial and accessibility needs of the client with ambulant disabilities.

The Clovelly House meets best practice in both urban design and environmental design within a complex and constrained site and brief and demonstrates a model for the integration and management of an open plan format with thermal and acoustic comfort.

The house incorporates a range of innovations beyond the normal approaches of passive solar and environmental design, including a vertical ‘green wall’ grey water treatment system, the first of its kind in Australia.

The house has won several prestigious awards for its achievements in integrating sustainable principles and innovations within a strong modernist architectural language and, in particular, for its outstanding performance in water management on a 234m² site.

SUSTAINABILITY:

The Clovelly House meets best practice in both urban design and environmental design within a complex and constrained site and brief. Initiatives include:

water
• the house benchmarks water management technology including a triple pipe reticulation system to accommodate rainwater harvesting and grey water reuse
• retains and reuses all water on site other than black water and is the first building in Australia to use a 'green wall’ grey water treatment system
• achieves a minimum 75% reduction in town water usage
• treated grey water used for the toilet and washing machine
• onsite rainwater storage for 9000 litres used for showers, baths and hand basins
• in-ground swimming pool exclusively maintained by on site storage of roof water
• onsite management of overflow stormwater to recharge aquifer thermal
• thermal chimneys provide solar space heating and cooling to living areas
• skylights enhance passive solar performance of living areas
• full insulation of internal and external walls and ceilings
• adjustable external louvres to western sun

power / lighting
• provision for solar power generation
• low wattage lighting, including PL and LED
• solar space and water heating including the pool

ventilation
• thermal chimneys / solar space heating and cooling to living areas
• cross flow ventilation
• ceiling fans

materials
• zero voc / bio paints
• vegetable based oils to all timber floors
• sustainable timber and building products
• minimal use of off-gassing materials
• non use of copper in plumbing

landscape
• native and indigenous plantings
• green wall utilises bio systems and plantings to purify and polish grey water

appliances
• 5 star refrigeration
• induction heating to stove
• solar hot water and pool heating spatial
• bathrooms, master bedroom office, stairs, kitchen and living spaces are all wheelchair accessible.

WATER:

The Clovelly House benchmarks water management technology in residential domestic architecture, including a triple pipe reticulation system to accommodate rainwater harvesting and grey water reuse.

Rainwater harvested from 100sqm of roof area is stored in three 3000 litre tanks. This water is used for the in-ground pool, showers, baths and hand basins. Overflow stormwater is directed to the stormwater pit to recharge the aquifer.

All water on site, excluding black water, is retained and reused on site. The Clovelly House is the first building in Australia to use a 'green wall’ grey water treatment system, designed by Kennedy Associates and Environmental Design and Solutions. Grey water filtered and polished through the wall is diverted for use in the toilet and washing machine.

The Clovelly House achieves a minimum of 75% reduction in town water usage.

That is a saving of approximately, 115,000 litres of water per year in a two person household.