ACF branch calls for PUDS assessment

A full ecological assessment of the draft Peninsula Urban Directions Strategy should be conducted before it is adopted, according to the Central Coast branch of the Australian Conservation Foundation.

The ACF branch has also called for the release of a report on "ecological urban design guidelines" for the Peninsula prepared for Gosford Council in 1994 for comparison.

The ACF branch fears the strategy could have "a disastrous ecological footprint", according to branch president Mr John Wiggin.

Peninsula residents would be hot in summer and cold in winter if house designs proposed in the draft strategy were adopted, he said.

"The result will be increasing energy use.

"Even the most basic energy-efficient design principles are ignored," said Mr Wiggin.

"For example, semi-detached houses are proposed which are long and thin, with their narrow side facing north.

"They have large areas of east or west facing windows and internal layout prevents any breeze through the house."

Mr Wiggin said this should be contrasted with good design practices.

"A well-designed energy-efficient house is only slightly rectangular with its broadest side to the sun," he said.

"It's largest windows face north and it has no windows or only small windows to the east and west. This gives maximum heating from the sun in winter and minimises summer heat.

"Windows to the south and an open plan design allow breezes to cool the house in summer."

Mr Wiggin said the strategy proposed over-shadowing rules where a home is guaranteed just four hours of sun, 10 to 2, at the equinoxes in March and September.

"This makes a mockery of energy-efficient design principles and building code requirements," he said.

The new compulsory Basix Certificate, described on the Council's website as showing "what you will do to make sure your new home uses less water and energy", favours large north facing windows and uses the winter solstice rather than the equinoxes for the measure of sunlight.

"Why have building requirements for large north-facing windows for passive solar heating and at the same time allow those windows to be shaded for the four winter months?"

Mr Wiggin said, under the strategy, two-storey buildings may be built which would shade their neighbours' north-facing wall for the four months when an energy-efficient home needed sun the most.

He said homes in the shadow of a six-storey high-rise would receive no sunlight on any part of the building from mid-May to mid-August.

This would result in rocketing energy consumption, said Mr Wiggin.

Mr Wiggin said three basic house design styles had been proposed in the strategy: semi-detached, townhouse cluster, and flats of two and three storeys.

He said that no attempt had been made to make use of natural heating and cooling with the design of the flats.

Only the townhouse designs held some promise - being compact and allowing the flow of breezes.

"The draft strategy acknowledges that this design is similar to a model identified in a 1994 study for the Peninsula."

Mr Wiggin said Gosford Council should release the study, Ecological Urban Design Guidelines for Woy Woy by Ecopolis Pty Ltd, for comparison.

"The ACF is not opposed to urban consolidation or decentralisation, provided it is planned in an environmentally-sound and socially-equitable manner.

"And we are not opposed to multi-storey development.

"Our own headquarters in Melbourne is an energy-efficient naturally-ventilated multi-storey building," he said.

"But this plan seems to defeat the whole purpose."

Any urban consolidation proposal should have an environmental rationale and include a full assessment of its environmental benefits.

"This one does nothing to adequately address fossil fuel and energy consumption, water consumption or water quality issues," said Mr Wiggin.

"It does nothing, for example, to address and protect the use of natural ventilation in single-storey buildings, let alone in multi-storey buildings."

The branch is also concerned that the strategy may not be sustainable because it neglects to consider the social consequences of the plan, which could affect its successful implementation.

Assessment of the social impact of the strategy should also be conducted, he said.

Media release, July 6 John Wiggin, ACF Central Coast