A Great Leap Forward for Single Family Homes

What leap forward do we need to take in the way we design, build and operate our single family homes to regenerate our communities of life, human and non-human? For many of us, this is where we live, work and play but it is also where we are failing to embrace a new set of values, responsibilities and practices which we desperately need to build a more resilient and vital Australia.

The land on which our home sits is a modest 670m2 and typical of many lots around Melbourne. According to the ecological survey we had conducted, the number of indigeneous species growing in the existing garden is zero, and the number of native species is two. The stormwater runs off our land and into Port Phillip Bay with dangerous and ecosystem depleting consequences in many cases. Today for instance the Environmental Protection Agency reports that the water quality at our local beach is poor and stormwater pollution is likely. The embodied carbon of the existing home hasn’t yet been quantified but is estimated to be the order of 120 tonnes CO2e, with most of that destined to landfill under a business-as-usual demolition and re-build approach. The community around us, the Bayside Council, declared a climate emergency in 2019 in recognition of the fact that our local climate is changing (and will be more like that of Wangaratta in north east Victoria by 2050!).

So as new home owners, eager to renovate and rebuild a home for our family we wondered what our legal responsibilities are to make sure our project responds to these ecological imperatives. In short pretty much nothing. Our project doesn’t trigger planning requirements so there are essentially no sustainability requirements that we have to meet, aside from achieving a building permit and its minimal thermal energy performance requirements.

So what is a home owner to do? We think its time we collectively stepped up to call for change in the construction industry, catalyse transformation in the way we build and renovate, and strive for regeneration. Every home has the opportunity to either degenerate and deplete - or renew, restore and revitalise its ecosystem. Regeneration is at the centre of our Biophilic Bungalow project, a challenge we have set for ourselves and hopefully others as we attempt to explore and demonstrate what regeneration might mean for a single family home renovation project. Regeneration is a process that is unique to place and will be different for everyone so our approach is certainly not one size fits all.

We hope our project isn’t just a place to us to live, but also contributes in positive ways to the community of life around us.