Stockland Highlands launches Carbon Neutral Homes pilot program

Stockland has today announced the launch of its Carbon Neutral Homes program for its Highlands masterplanned community, located in the north of Melbourne. With support from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Stockland has partnered with the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) and the Federal Government’s “Climate Active” program to complete a pilot research program to better understand how to mitigate carbon emissions from homes across Australia.

Highlands is home to “Sustainable Drive”, a street which incorporates a variety of innovative features that makes it one of the most sustainable streets in Australia. All homeowners in the street were offered free rooftop solar and battery storage systems by Stockland to support the sustainability of the homes on Sustainable Drive, making it one of the first solar powered streets in the country. Residents were then offered the opportunity to participate in the Carbon Neutral Homes Pilot program.

The program is a research study that will help understand the effects of solar and battery on the liveability and affordability of the home. Over a period of twelve months, the residents will provide data on the utility and energy usage within the home.

These will be the first homes in Australia to be certified under the Climate Actives Buildings standard for residential operational emissions.

Amy Hogan, General Manager of Sustainability, said Stockland has been steadfast in its commitment to sustainability and ensuring communities are in great shape for future generations.

“We place a high value on sustainability within our communities. The energy infrastructure we installed was with the intention to make the homes more liveable and affordable for residents, while vastly reducing the homes’ carbon emissions and energy costs.

“We’re looking forward to seeing the results of the program, and being able to provide our future customers with real data about how sustainability features can help them save on their energy bills.”

Davina Rooney, CEO at the GBCA said: “Stockland is a long-term sustainability leader, both with their work on net zero in home design and a leading participant in piloting the GBCA’s new draft Green Star Homes Standard through our early access program.

“It’s exciting to see Stockland bringing these together to certify net zero existing homes at Stockland Highlands and we see this project as a critical step towards net zero buildings within Australian residences The Highlands pilot will provide critical insights about how we can effectively drive wholescale transformation in the residential sector to create a market for future homes. This is what leadership looks like.”

CEFC Director Property Michael Di Russo said: “The benefits of carbon neutral housing are widespread. It brings down energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions and also reduces stress on the electricity network. Understanding the energy demands of our homes is an important first step toward making them carbon neutral. This pilot program will provide critical information about energy consumption and what it takes to make residential property carbon neutral, which will help accelerate change across the sector.”

To find out more about Highlands, visit the Sales and Information Centre at 1 North Shore Drive in Craigieburn, call 13 LAND (13 5263) or go to www.stockland.com.au/highlands. You can also follow the community on Facebook at www.facebook.com/highlandscraigieburn.