10 Star rating

Josh Byrne's new home in the Fremantle suburb of Hilton drew a huge crowd.  Billed as Perth's first 10 star energy rated house it was no surprise to see the queue that was waiting to gain entrance to the newly completed homes.

Yes, there were two houses built by Highbury Homes both of which managed to attain a remarkable 10 stars and even more surprising was the price, which came in at A$1200/sq meter, the same as any other house of a comparable size.  So it is possible to achieve a solar passive design (design consultants Solar Dwellings) without breaking the bank. Unfortunately many builders are less than happy to accommodate those of us who believe passive solar design is the way of the future in house building in WA.  In fact recently introduced legislation requiring builders to meet a mere 6 stars caused a great deal of angst with many in the construction industry saying the price of building a home would have to soar to meet the added requirements.

It was quite refreshing to find a builder willing to take on the challenge and succeed in keeping the costs in line with current ones.

After giving one of his talks, Josh still found time to answer many questions.