66 Ash Road, Leopold VIC 3224

Sustainability key points

- Passive solar design
- Rainwater harvesting system
- Integrated grey water re-use system
- High efficiency solar hot water system
- Vegetable production system
- Low energy transport options
- Emerging transition community

A sustainable lifestyle is available now on the Bellarine peninsula, within cycling distance of Geelong to the west and the beach at Ocean Grove to the south east.

This home represents an astute choice for the person yearning for a lifestyle with a small ecological footprint whilst having easy access to the work and recreation possibilities of the Geelong region. Built in 1989, this house is still at the cutting edge of sustainable design. No expense was spared in developing the property which includes major earthworks and many building features that can't be retrofitted. It is in a unique position 300 metres from a vibrant local shopping precinct yet it has a tranquil rural outlook.

The home features a spacious lounge, separate dining, kitchen/family room, three generous bedrooms, master with separate toilet and bathroom plus walk in robe and a study. The brick garage has space for two vehicles plus large workshop and carport.

The house is designed to make best use of the sun's energy. The main living area is north facing with a verandah which allows the winter sun to stream in across the tiled floor to collect the midday solar energy in winter but allows no direct sun during summer. The large areas of window glass are double glazed. The floor slab is insulated as are the external and internal walls. This design creates the novelty of room temperatures as high as 20 degrees inside at 1pm whilst it is 10 degrees outside during winter. This effect is reversed in summer and is aided by the clever design of passageways and storage spaces that create insulation zones within the house.

The floor slab also has hydronic heating zones within it which are ready for connection to roof mounted solar collectors. For extreme weather there is gas ducted central heating with an integrated high efficiency 3 phase refrigerated air conditioning system. The return air from this system flows through a drying cupboard for efficient drying of clothes.

The rainwater harvesting system is designed to cope with rainfall events of more than an inch/hour. An average year it will collect around 1 megalitre of water, enough to fill the 33,000 litre tank 29 times creating an abundant supply for food production. The raised brick garden beds are exposed to full sun year round and are designed for the square foot gardening concept. Each bed has dual reticulation with solenoids for both town and rain water giving plenty of flexibility for programming the watering controls. As well as mains water, other parts of the property are serviced by five tap stations which offer a choice of either rain or grey water.

There is potential for the subdivision of two blocks at the front of the property. This could be achieved in such a way as to not diminish the sustainability values or visual appeal of the property.

The grounds include a cute two storey studio with ground level storage for gardening equipment and ride-on mower.