With South D’Aguilar National Park as our backyard, we believe in paying homage to our natural bush surroundings by encouraging sustainable home designs that minimise environmental impact, reduce energy use, and save on running costs.
Our design standards include Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) principles, which encourages residents and home builders to include simple and effective considerations throughout the design process to create a more sustainable home.
These ESD principles include working with designers at the planning stage to ensure: indoor and outdoor living areas are facing north where possible, floor plans allow for room zoning to save energy when needing to cool or heat areas of the home, cross flow ventilation has been maximised, and passive solar design has been considered.
Home owners can also choose fittings and appliances to make their spaces more energy and water efficient — like installing and using ceiling fans over air conditioning, selecting LED lighting options, using gas where possible, and choosing taps, toilets and shower heads which reduce water consumption.
Installing separate bins in the kitchen to identify waste, recycling, and compost, helps households to successfully recycle, while establishing rainwater tanks and greywater recycling systems saves water, cuts down on water bills, and prevents wastewater ending up in our sewers.
And that’s just the beginning, with the whole community strongly encouraged to explore other ways to improve home efficiency and sustainability, in the design process and beyond. Further ideas include installing solar electricity, establishing gardens for home-grown produce, and using local or recycled building materials where possible.
We provide landscaping to each front yard within Ellendale, with our landscaper consulting with residents on yard design, including a push for waterwise turf, the use of natives and drought tolerant plants that are suited to the local conditions here in Upper Kedron.
This focus on environment and sustainability stretches beyond our homesites. The Ellendale land sales office has a reduced need for heating and cooling, thanks to its north-facing orientation, maximised cross flow ventilation, and well-insulated construction.
Throughout construction of Ellendale, stormwater is captured and used for dust suppression, topsoil is reused to reduce waste, and mulch needed throughout our wildlife corridors is taken from within the site when possible. Our ecologist and landscaping teams work to reduce the use of chemicals in weed management by manually knocking down weeds with brush cutters.
Our dedication to the environment is exemplified by our award-winning approach to land management. Ellendale’s work to retain, rehabilitate and enhance key corridors within the site, achieved by working in with the natural slope and features of the land, has helped to enhance the biodiversity of our area.
Since establishing wildlife corridors we’ve noted a decrease in weed loads, an increase in species diversity, and an increase in fauna — including parrots, cockatoos, squirrel gliders and ring tailed possums.
We pride ourselves on being a neighbourhood like no other and look forward to other environment-minded community members joining us in our leafy, tree-lined haven.
If you would like to discuss environment or sustainability initiatives, or find out more about upcoming releases for our Ellendale homesites, please visit us at 324 Canvey Road, Upper Kedron, or call 1300 720 858.