Incorporating good design when building or renovating , that takes into account the surrounding environment, is easy and can help ‘future proof’ your home.
Every step makes a difference… and you’ll find 25 of them in this booklet! Together we can really help the environment — the more of us that step up, the bigger the difference we’ll all make.
Design your home to take advantage of its location while saving power, water and money.
When building or renovating, try to use materials that have been produced with the environment in mind.
Daylighting is the use of windows and skylights to bring sunlight into your home.
Good quality, well-installed insulation in the ceiling, under the floor and in external walls will make your house easier and cheaper to heat.
The planning stage is the best time to build water efficiency into your home.
A healthy home is well-ventilated. High moisture levels in household air are linked to health problems like asthma, eczema and headaches.
A good glazing system will insulate your house, while letting in heat to encourage passive heating.
A lot of the waste produced during building or renovating can be reused or recycled instead of going to landfill.
In most cases it is possible to design attractive, uncomplicated sustainable buildings that operate in a straightforward manner, achieve high standards of energy efficiency, and incur little or no additional cost.
