Council's sustainable house is up for sale

Officially opened in September 2011 at a cost of $350,000 the property was created to give Bathurstians new ideas on sustainable home construction.

While 500 people viewed the property when it initially opened, only a further 1300 have visited it since.

Despite being open for less than four years, Bathurst Regional Council mayor Gary Rush said it is time to sell the four bedroom, two bathroom home.

“We think it’s served its purpose in allowing people to come in and realise there are alternative products people can use to construct a home,” he said.

The house opened to great fanfare in September 2011 with hundreds of people flocking to see what council touted as a new direction in environmental design.

House designer Dick Clark told the Western Advocate at the time that the secret to environmental design was passive design.

He said there were seven key elements to passive design which included orientation, zones, thermal mass, shading, insulation, ventilation and glazing.

“It’s not rocket science, it’s just a matter of getting rid of the old way of thinking,” he said at the home’s official opening.

Cr Rush said while many of the home’s environmental features were still “very, very relevant” technology does change over time.

“The reality is in anything like  this that the technology does improve and does change,” he said. “It allowed people to think that there are alternatives.

“A lot of the sustainable designs it features are now being used in design construction features [in other new homes].”

Cr Rush said while council has no plans to construct another sustainable house, he would not be opposed to it in the future, should the need arise.

“If we thought that there was a great advance in technology and being able to showcase that to people [would be a benefit],” he said.

With the house now listed for sale, it will no longer be used for community open days

The house is located at 17 McGirr Street, Bathurst and has been listed for sale for $499,000 with Raine and Horne Bathurst, The Professionals and Bathurst Real Estate.

For more information contact Bathurst Regional Council’s property officer on 6333 6235.

View the listing on Domain.