Our Community Vision for the Hazelbrook site
Location: 11 Glendarrah Street Hazelbrook, NSW 2779 minutes walk to shops, train station.
Land Size: 3200sqm
Proposed Developed area: 1100sqm
Asking Price: $680,000
Estimated No’ of dwellings 12 + 1(diversity of 1BD-4BD & common house)
A Community Living, eco- cluster development with options for an inter-generational population and to provide flexible housing for a population trending towards smaller household size and to ensure these dwellings are flexible for future needs.
The major benefits of our proposal are:
- Encouraging exemplar developments which demonstrates substantially greater sustainability than current best practice ( local controls and Basix)
- Adopting new methods to reduce private car use substantially, which can be more wildly replicated (car share, car pooling)
- Enabling local communities to create resident –led sustainable developments to meet local needs.
- Making best practice environmental construction more financially viable
- Encouraging cohousing and other approaches which enhance mutual support and wellbeing Innovating new integrated approaches to reduce overall carbon footprint, (food, transport....) Adopting universal design principles
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| Conceptual Site Plan for the Hazelbrook Site (Site Workshop #1 March2013) |
COMMON AREAS ________________________
Residents will have extended access to communal land and Common House.
The Common House is the heart of the community, where most of the activities happen; the CH is the extended of the private house providing facilities and amenities which enables the private homes to be smaller. including:
- Meeting/function/ workshop rooms etc.
- visitors’ and family accommodation,
- a large kitchen dining room
- shared laundry and drying facilities
- large open spaces
- native species shrubs and bushes & extensive veggie garden, fruit & nut trees, and edible landscaping
- Workshop
- playground
HOUSES __________________________
High quality, adaptable, flexible and accessible (20%), energy efficient homes, 20% smaller than average. Range of sizes to accommodate diverse needs (1bd-4bd)
- Small footprint houses, range from 50m2-125m2
- 1 or 2 storeys
- All normal house facilities –kitchen, bathroom, space for laundry, private yard
- Same style for all the dwellings (materials, finishes, roof forms etc.)
- Appearance to complement scenic character of the site
- Verandas to face the common areas as transition between the private to the public areas.
- Majority of the dwellings to be designed based on universal principals
SOCIAL BENEFITS:
- Shared facilities encourage social interaction and collaboration.
- A sense of belonging is created through the sharing of responsibilities and skills.
- Neighbours look out for each other. They feel safer and fewer ancillary services are required; especially children who have spaces and people to play
- People can socialize without going out in the car. Spontaneous social life;
- Sharing of resources enables people to own less and use more;
- Gardening provides exercise, fresh, healthy food, and is more pleasant when work is shared;
- Resident led development and management ( residents are accountable)
SOCIAL BENEFITS:
- Shared facilities encourage social interaction and collaboration.
- A sense of belonging is created through the sharing of responsibilities and skills.
- Neighbours look out for each other. They feel safer and fewer ancillary services are required; especially children who have spaces and people to play
- People can socialize without going out in the car. Spontaneous social life;
- Sharing of resources enables people to own less and use more;
- Gardening provides exercise, fresh, healthy food, and is more pleasant when work is shared;
- Resident led development and management ( residents are accountable)
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
WATER CONSERVATION ________________________
- Rainwater to be collected in semi-centralised tanks for watering the vegetables gardens etc
- Hard surfaces minimised/ Permeable surfaces where possible
- Plants selected for common areas to minimise watering requirements.
- Exploration of open loop grey water system.
ENERGY CONSERVATION _______________________
- Passive solar design where possible, efficient insulation and efficient glazing & internal thermal mass
- House grouping designed to maximise solar access
- Solar hot water
- Solar panels, to reduce electricity use and costs
TRAFFIC / MOBILITY _________________________
- Walking distance to shops, train and public transport
- Car free site with centralised parking at the periphery,
- Reduced parking spots to encourage car sharing /pooling (recognized in our by-laws)
- Bike parking provided
- Reduction of noise and pollution
WASTE _________________________
- Reduction of onsite waste
- Recycle and composting facilities
AFFORDABILITY _____________________
Achieving affordability is one of our aims, however for this small development with only 12 units for sale, building and buying is not cheap. It is assumed that cohousing developments are the answer for affordable housing. The reality is that cohousing development will cost usually more than similar housing type developments (townhouses, duplexes etc’.) the extra costs are usually due to the extensive common facilities ( Common House, Workshop...) and high quality and standards of the construction which includes emphasis on green design. Therefore what we are seeking is long term affordability by creating the platform that will allow us to live more affordably. Even though we hope that we can still create some opportunities for affordable rentals, achieved through agreements with pioneers or housing associations to enable more diversity.
FINANCIAL _______________________
This is an opportunity to join the E-Co-Neighbourhood BM and be involved in the design of this great community.
RISK:
- Pre-Development risk involves getting control over a site ( money for lawyers, Conveyancing, project manager)
- Obtaining Council development approval- this stage will involve the professional team of architects, and consultants. Any delays in approvals or changes to the design will result in additional fees.
- Construction risk, involves delays, change orders, rising costs, whether.
- Estimated Purchase Price:
- The proposed average prices for purchase “off the plan” (pioneers/ investors) are slightly lower than the current market prices in the area. The costs of homes are not definite and may vary depending on the final size number of dwellings, diversity of dwellings and contractor bid.
Investment (Core Members/ Non-residents investors)Cash investments- to finance site purchase and pre-development project costs. Expect return on investment commiserate with risk taken .Other investment discount on the dwellings purchase price will be available for ‘early bird’ community members.
There are 4 ways to invest with us to make it real.
1. Invest in purchasing the site
2. Invest in fund to obtain Development Approval and establish legal structure
3. Obtaining construction loan- funds towards the purchase of the dwellings
4. Purchase a dwelling on completion
for more information do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours in Community
Gilo
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