For over two years, Sustainable House Day Northern Rivers has provided a great opportunity for hundreds of people to learn about new and innovative ways of living sustainably.

2016 is gearing up to be one of our best yet with a Tiny Homes Design Competition to inspires our creative designers, a one-day Expo to showcase the many different ways to become more sustainable along with our “Date a Designer” segment and our Open Homes Day to show us smarter ways to  live.

For information on the Design Competition (including entry forms), the Expo, and Open Homes locations check out the new website.

 

When small is beautiful, affordable AND sustainable.

Imagine a sustainable house and the ability to live debt-free, with utility bills as low as $10 a month.

It’s not just a dream; the tiny house movement is a reality more Australians are adopting as a means of achieving freedom from debt, minimal environmental impact, and the opportunity to live simply.

For that reason the focus for the Northern Rivers Sustainable House Day Design Competition this year is Tiny Homes. The competition is now open to residents, architects, designers and young people in the Northern Rivers.

“A Tiny Home in footprint is far smaller than a traditional home and is sustainable in the sense that we have only used as much room as we need and as little building materials as possible. Add simple design criteria with creative and talented local designers and we should have a fantastic array of designs to choose from” said Event Coordinator, Sandi Middleton, from The Sustainable House Day Northern Rivers Collaboration.

Previous years design competitions have seen over 80 entries that were enjoyed by over 1500 viewers. The 2016 Design Competition will culminate in a Showcase Awards and Expo at Mullumbimby Civic Hall on Saturday 17 September. Residents will be able to view the entries, meet the designers and vote for their favourite design.

A new feature for the event this year is a special “Speed Date a Designer” segment where community members will be able to talk to our leading designers and receive unbiased advice.

Adam Bennett-Smith from Koho, a key sponsor of the event, knows just how important tiny homes are in allowing for more people to access secure, affordable, well designed housing. “We believe that with good design tiny homes can offer more amenity in better locations than larger conventional homes.  In addition to offering affordable long term leases of up to 3 years, we are really interested in exploring new entry level pathways to home ownership like ‘rent to buy’.”

Byron Shire Mayor Simon Richardson looks forward to the competition generating great local conversations. “It will stimulate ideas and demonstrate ways we can live sustainably in a small space. With rising housing affordability, looking at best practice housing designs that have a light environmental footprint is an outcome that many people in our community are aspiring to achieve,” he said.

With a share of over $5,000 in cash and prizes, interested entrants are encouraged to visit www.sustainablehousedaynr.org for more information and to download the Design Competition Guidelines. Entries close 1st September.

 

The Sustainable House Day – Tiny Homes Design Competition is a joint project by Lismore City Council, Byron Shire Council, Ballina Shire Council, Tweed Shire Council, The Green Building Centre, Nimbin Neighbourhood & Information Centre, North Coast TAFE, Self Seed Sustainability & Dorroughby Environment Educational Centre.