Sustainable House Day is an event from Renew that provides the opportunity to explore some of Australia’s most inspiring homes, and learn from the people who designed them, built them, and live in them.

Following a day of open-home tours around the country on 21st April 2024, a month of Extension Sessions offered a deep dive into a range of sustainability topics. Australia's best architects, designers, tradespeople and experts came together to offer guidance, and homeowners offered first hand experience. If you're considering a sustainable build or renovation, this series is for you.

You can book for this recording independently, or grab an Extension Session Pass to attend the whole series at a discounted price.

Session 7: Out of the box: prefab and modular house design

This session explored new developments in prefab and modular design. We explored if this approach is still an affordable option, and discussed its other benefits such as fast installation timelines and the sustainability merits of offsite construction.

An expert panel of leading sustainable architects and experts offered guidance and advice.

Featuring:

Sophia MacRae, Policy and Program Officer, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Sophia MacRae works for the Commercial Building Policy Section within the Energy Division of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water. She works to improve energy efficiency outcomes for existing and new commercial buildings in jurisdictions across Australia. Sophia is very familiar with multiple sectors and intersections of policy, planning, and property development, in the context of Victorian regional and metropolitan local government.

Josh Chaplin, New Business Director, Modscape

With over 20 years in modular construction, Josh brings high-level expertise to the Modscape team. Josh oversees all aspects of Modscape’s pre–construction process spanning both commercial and residential sectors including procurement, project management and consultation, production management and sales management. Josh is passionate about the evolution and growth of the modular space – both locally and internationally.

David Ritter, Grimshaw Sustainability Lead, ANZ region

David Ritter is the Grimshaw Sustainability Lead for the ANZ region. He is passionate about embedding sustainability and resilience principles into the core concepts for our cities and communities. With 25 years of experience, he has a deep and holistic understanding of interconnected sustainability drivers and green technology applications. Globally, his work has included the low carbon systems retrofit for the Palaces of Westminster, a sustainability master planning for IKEA, and multi-residential passive house projects in China.

He is also homeowner of 'Prefab Perfection', a Victorian cottage with a high-performing prefabricated extension. The extension provides a comfortable, quiet oasis in a busy inner-city Melbourne neighbourhood. This home was featured in Sanctuary 64.

Hosted by:

Helen Oakey, CEO, Renew

Helen Oakey has worked in sustainability, climate advocacy and community engagement for over two decades. As Executive Director of the ACT's peak environment organisation she led work on fossil gas and transport emissions, biodiversity and planning. She instigated community engagement programs to help Canberrans get off gas and to better utilise active travel. She led an advocacy campaign for the ACT to go gas free, which was committed to by government in 2022. Her knowledge of campaigning and public policy is grounded in her experience as a parliamentary advisor and leading Greenpeace’s advocacy team.

Tickets

You can purchase a ticket to this event individually, or consider an Extension Session Pass, giving you access to all of our Extension Session recordings at a discounted price.
Sustainable House Day is an event by Renew.

Our sponsors

Sustainable House Day wouldn't be possible without our amazing sponsors, we are so grateful for their support. Gold Sponsors: NSW Architects Registration Board. Silver Sponsors: Bank Australia, Witchcliffe Ecovillage. Bronze Sponsors: Cargocylces, Envirotecture, and Light House Architecture and Science.