Innovation House 2.0 in Townsville is a smart home in the making. It sets out to challenge the ‘how it’s always been done’ mindset by presenting future home owners with better solutions. Source: Timberbiz
They relate to smart technology, design, health, products, energy, water management, and in particular, ongoing cost efficiencies in an environmentally responsible way. This empowers independent, informed choices on the design, build and ongoing lifecycle costs of new homes.
Innovation House 1.0 has already been completed in Townsville and Innovation House 2.0 is an upgrade on the initial design.
Once completed in early 2018, Innovation House 2.0 will be a unique display home that makes it easy for families looking to invest: to see, touch, smell and learn about innovative solutions that may suit their family’s ongoing needs and values including through the use of an industry first App. The app allows you to learn about the house’s technology as you walk through.
In a report by Fabiano A. Xiamenes and Tim Grants titled, ‘Quantifying the greenhouse benefits of the use of wood products in two popular house designs in Sydney, Australia’, 2013, it found that the use of a ‘timber maximised’ design offset between 23% and 25% of the total operational energy of the houses with a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of between 40% – 60%. (The final publication is available at link.springer.com).
By building Innovation House 2.0 with Hyne Timber T2 Red framing, along with other energy saving and innovative solutions, it is likely to achieve a Green Star rating of 9, which is significantly better than the compliance rate of 6 for standard new homes, again, demonstrating the projects’ ability to take housing to the next level.
Hyne Timber’s Marketing Manager, Jeremy Mead said with environmental credentials and construction methods which meet or exceed Townsville’s cyclone requirements in place, the remaining factor to address is termites.
“We all know termites are more aggressive up north and it’s a fact some species enjoy timber.
“But what many home owners don’t realise is that home insurance doesn’t cover termite damage. And that’s a problem because you can’t see what’s happening inside your walls until it’s too late.
“That’s why treated timber is essential and ours actually comes with a comprehensive, fully transferrable, 25 year termite guarantee.
“With over 350,000 Australian homes built and protected over almost two decades, we haven’t had a single termite failure yet.
“Ensuring the use of termite resistant timber in your home is an extremely reliable and costefficient solution to a surprisingly common problem, which, according to a 2012 industry study commissioned by Australian Environmental Pest Managers Association, costs the housing industry billions of dollars every year.”
Innovation House 2.0 will become the Stockland Land Sales Office early in 2018.
