Join the third SLA Sustainable House Tour by buying a booklet that describes the houses on this year’s tour and includes relevant articles. The booklet acts as a ticket for a carload of people to visit the 11 houses.

2016 Tour: Saturday July 23^rd and Sunday July 24^th

Each house is open two half days, 10am–12:45pm & 1:30pm–4:30pm

Booklets are on Sale for $25 ($20 Concession):

• Knight’s Store corner of Mann & Marsh Streets, Armidale
• Armidale Outdoors, 152, Rusden Street, Armidale
• Barking Dog Gallery, 36, Bridge Street, Uralla
• Z-NET Uralla Street stall in the middle of the Uralla shops from now until Sunday afternoon

While only a few people are in the market for a brand new house, there is a lot of interest in how houses can contribute to living sustainably. To broaden awareness of what’s possible, we showcase materials, design, technology and even behaviour. We have chosen mid-winter to highlight the benefits of passive solar design—assuming we have sunny days.

Thanks to the assistance of Uralla Z-Net, five of the houses are in Uralla, with six in or near Armidale. One house was built in the 19^th century, one in the 1920s, and four are less than a year old. They range from quite large to quite small, recognising that both age and size affect the embodied energy of the building—the energy required to produce and maintain the materials used.

Interesting use of materials includes insulated panels/SIPs, sprayed-in wall insulation, retrofitted double glazing, recycled wood, a pre-fab house and straw bale and compressed earth construction, the latter with a demonstration. Two houses are off the electricity grid, one is grid connected but with the latest lithium battery storage, one has geothermal heating, three have hydronic heating and most have solar panels and solar hot water.

Visitors will be able to talk to the householders and hear their house stories, as well as share ideas with others on the tour. We hope everybody will find something of interest, be inspired to find out more, and take home at least one idea that they might try.

Here is the video of the last tour: