The home in Altona North received a gong at the BPN Sustainability Awards. 90501 Picture: CONTRIBUTED
AN ALTONA North home, which produces more power than it uses, has won a prestigious award.
Marion House has been named the Most Sustainable House of the Year in the national BPN (Building Products News) Sustainability Awards.
The environmentally friendly residence, designed by the Seaholme-based business Positive Footprints, took out the new single dwelling category at the awards.
Positive Footprints is run by husband and wife Jeremy Spencer and Chi Lu and is a sustainable design and construction company.
They designed Marion House for a family which had been living in Antarctica and wanted a house which utilised their overseas experiences in efficient resource usage.
Positive Footprints designed Marion House to produce more power than it uses, saving the owners around $2500 in bills per year.
The home uses an eight-star solar design system so the sun heats the premises in winter and wind cools them in summer.
Through rainwater collection, efficient appliance selection and saving water run-off the Marion House uses about 70 per cent less mains water than the average home – equal to 100,000 litres of water every 12 months.
In addition, the Altona North abode features temperature sensors which open and close upper windows to maintain comfortable temperatures when the owners are at work or asleep.
The home’s owners spent $300,000 building their sustainable premises.
The BPN judges described Marion House as “elegant with a modesty of scale” and said there was “a little bit of poetry” in the home’s design.
Positive Footprints is also designing another sustainable home in Seaholme which is in the process of being constructed.
