How green is your six pack?

Adding active and passive sustainability features to a house, an architect with supportive clients can be lulled into thinking that everything is rolling the right way. But there is a great gap in the market not being catered to – those living in apartments.

Whether they are renting or own, apartment dwellers face insurmountable hurdles trying to get anything changed legally. I wrote an editorial about this last year, concerning the situation with owners’ corporations blocking any attempts to upgrade flats, and the state of the law in Victoria (it isn’t helping things).

The Fifth Estate follows up today with an article about how things are travelling in New South Wales. It paints a picture of flat owners not being very aware of what owners’ corporations do, and owners’ corporations being unskilled and hamstrung. Sustainability incentives in NSW work for stand alone houses, but don’t apply to multiresidential buildings where utility usage is measured collectively, and a consensus agreement is hard to get. 5th Estate reports on a couple of positive initiatives by Willoughby Council and Sydney Water, but overall these efforts are piddly considering what is needed – legislation, incentives, and education.

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Posted by Peter on 04.06.10 in sustainability