The Cape’s 8.2 star home open

Step inside the first fully completed sustainable demonstration home at The Cape this Easter weekend and see for yourself what life could be like in Victoria’s most exciting and environmentally-friendly new estate.

The opening of the home is a major milestone for the award-winning development, which will eventually comprise 219 home sites along with a sports precinct, café, conference centre and community garden all within an area that is more than 50 per cent open space, habitat and parklands.

The impressive demonstration home features a terrific 8.2 star energy efficiency rating – well above the national standard. It’s a double storey family dwelling, complete with four bedrooms, two bathrooms and all the bells and whistles of a modern sustainable home, including five kilowatts of solar energy, double glazed windows, clever shading, thermal mass and electric vehicle charge points for those who want to plug their car into the power of the sun.

Additional features include 10,000 litres of rainwater storage, raised water-efficient food gardens, clean energy for heating, cooling, cooking and lighting and ultra-efficient white goods.

All interested people are invited to come to the Cape and visit the display over Easter to see the house for themselves.

The Cape project director, Brendan Condon, said the demonstration home – which is an excellent example of the quality of all the homes at The Cape – will generate significantly more energy than it uses.

“It will cost a fraction of what is required for a conventional home to run, so homes like this one throughout the site will start saving residents thousands of dollars as soon as they move in,” he said. This home, along with others built at The Cape, will be comfortable in all types of weather,” Brendan continued.

This incredibly high level of energy efficiency has been achieved by using a combination of materials and state-of-the-art design concepts. The home’s polished concrete flooring holds and maintains temperature over time, plus special aluminium blade window shades have been cleverly positioned to exclude the hot summer sun whilst welcoming in the warm winter sunshine.

Project builders, local firms TS Constructions and ArchiBlox, hope The Cape inspires the next generation of Australian builders and designers to help move Australian housing in the right direction and prepare communities for rising energy costs and climate change.

TS Constructions manager director, Tony O’Connell, said the demonstration open to the public this weekend is the most energy efficient structure his company has ever built. “We started with one concept and continued to redesign it until it became even more efficient than we originally aimed for,” he said. “Most importantly, though, we’ve tried to keep it as affordable as possible.”

“The demonstration home is attracts a very small cost premium compared to a 6-star rated home, and this new home will only use half the energy of a 6-star residence.” The project architect, designers and builders have prepared 10 additional house designs to the same standards, and will work with residents to customize their own sustainable home to their individual taste.

House prices range from $280,000 to $290,000 per home for a fully fitted out 2-3 bedroom home through to $380-390,000 for a four bedroom family home, making this form of housing affordable for ordinary Australians.

Visit The Cape this weekend to be one of the first to explore the future of high quality sustainable housing.

The site will be open from 12pm to 5pm on Easter Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and each weekend following between 2 and 4 PM.

Visitors will be able to enjoy finger food and refreshments whilst having the opportunity to chat to the team who built the home and see the quality of the workmanship and finishes.

For more information, visit liveatthecape.com.au or call Lisa Roberts on 0413 265 362.