The Fifth Estate

Technology is changing many of the ways we access information, particularly through AI and is now about to shake up how housing is built in Australia. As part of the NSW government’s recent budget, the Premier and Treasurer have announced that the government “will invest in a world-class facility to harness cutting-edge prefabrication, modular construction and digital technologies to produce high quality housing faster.” Spinifex is an opinion column.

I expected London Climate Action Week to leave me thinking about climate policy, renewable energy and the pace of global emissions reductions. Spinifex is an opinion column. If you would like to contribute, contact us to ask for a detailed brief. Instead, one of the strongest memories I brought home was the pain in my feet. During the late June heatwave, London’s public transport repeatedly ground to a halt.

Just as we pull together the final strands in our revised and enhanced Q3 and Q4 events program, there’s been a stream of stories that shows how bang on target our topics are. Carbon Triggers First up – and soon to be revealed in detail – will be the next Big Debate. It’s called Carbon Triggers and will be hosted by Hassell at their beautiful retrofitted Sydney studios.

The Electrifying Apartment Buildings Program in Melbourne is calling for expressions of interest to electrify. Up to 10 medium and high-rise strata titled apartment buildings will be provided with grants to owner’s corporations to carry out energy efficiency upgrades and work to slash common area energy bills. The initiative is a joint initiative of the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action and the City of Melbourne.

Mirvac has completed the electrification of its EY Centre at 200 George Street in Sydney, which it co-owns with M&G Real Estate, making it the fifth fully electric office building in its portfolio. The developers are expecting upgrades to the building’s current 6 Star Green Star and 5.5 star NABERS Energy ratings now that gas based systems have been replaced with high efficiency electric heating and hot water, as well as use of natural refrigerants to reduce environmental impact.

The New York Times made a bold and powerful statement this week. It says we need to retrofit the entire planet to survive the coming heat waves. In Australia, we already knew what to expect. Right now, it feels like the entire northern hemisphere is facing dangerous heat and humidity. Australians are bracing for the impending climate nasties a Super El Niño will bring this coming summer, with searches for heat and summer temperatures on the rise.

A joint initiative by Landcom and Orange City Council will set a new sustainability benchmark, combining net zero ready, all electric homes with water-sensitive urban design, affordable housing, and biodiversity protection. The project is leveraging its location, designed on a water catchment site, to boost green development goals and meet environmental, regulatory, and structural challenges that frequently restrict development in the area.

More than 530 tonnes of food scraps from apartments are set to be diverted from landfills under a $4 million trial funded by the South East Queensland Council of Mayors and participating local councils. The Multi-Unit Dwellings (MUDS) Food Organics Pilot Program aims to use a mix of on-site processing technology and community-based collection methods to divert the equivalent of about 100 garbage trucks’ worth of food waste for recycling into compost, fertiliser, and renewable energy.

The federal government is set to offload about $3 billion of land thanks to surplus defence sites and a CSIRO Ginninderra site near Canberra that’s past its use by date. What a great opportunity to change the game on housing, according to reasoned independent Australian Capital Territory senator David Pocock and his supporters. Around the world governments in some countries riven by the housing crisis are starting to move and show some muscle.

CSIRO will close down its North Ryde Fire Technology Laboratory in NSW once its lease expires in December, and the Housing Industry Association (HIA) and Australian Institute of Building Surveyors say it’s bad news for construction. According to the HIA, the facility is used extensively for fire resistance testing of construction materials and systems. Australia was losing one of its “most important building-product testing facilities”.