Sustainable Features

Macarthur Centre for Sustainable Living demonstrates many sustainable building and gardening practices on site. For further information on these sustainable features visit the centre.

Sustainable building materials

Solar tiles

Timbercrete bricks

Timbercrete is handcrafted and its energy foot print is quite low compared with other masonary walls. It has both thermal and insulation qualities.

Reverse veneer

Steel sheeting on the outside walls.

Ritek roof

Lightweight panel with polystyrene sandwiched between metal sheeting – a complete system incorporating insulation.

Louvre windows

Louvre windows allow low cool air to enter the room.

Polycarbonate doors and windows

Located above the sliding doors allow warm air to escape from the room.

Air-cell insulation

Directly beneath the corrugated iron roof sheets in the office to stop the heat before it enters the roof cavity.

Concrete slab floors

Used for their thermal inertia. The slabs are heated in winter and cooled in summer using water pipes.

Evacuated tube solar hot water heater

Suited to colder climates as they can perform well even on cloudy days to send heat to hot water tank.

Fibre-cement wall cladding

Low embodied energy material, designed to be deconstructed and reused in oppose to demolished.

Reused materials

Old concrete path and driveway

Telegraph pole

Collected and recycled water systems

Billabong

Rain water collection

Water tanks

Reed bed system

All grey and black water produced on site is recycled on-site through a reed-bed system. The waste water system is completely sub-surface.