Unveiling Melbourne’s first certified Passivhaus townhouses

ECHO, Melbourne’s first Passivhaus-certified townhouses, is now move-in ready with the final release for sale. C. Street Projects has collaborated with award-winning Neil Architecture to bring the world’s best standard for energy efficiency to Melbourne’s leafy Hawthorn. 

These rare three-bedroom homes are continuously ventilated with fresh, filtered air, significantly reducing allergens and pollutants in the home. 

Designed to maintain a comfortable 23 degrees during all seasons of the year while using 70% less energy than a typical Victorian home, the Passivhaus-certified homes are also incredibly quiet, thanks to triple-glazed windows, straw panel insulation, and intelligent airtight membranes. 

Additionally, they are equipped with EV chargers, PV solar, and battery storage, operating as net zero energy buildings for the ultimate sustainable lifestyle.

Kin Seng Choo and Michael Robertson, the duo behind C. Street Projects, have spent the last five years developing a method and design approach to scaling certified Passivhaus projects suited to the unique challenges of Australian conditions. 

“Australians should have access to sustainable homes built to global best practice. Turnkey homes certified to the Passivhaus standard provide that independent verification and surety of quality,” says Choo. 

“Passivhaus certification is the exemplary benchmark for high-performance building, recognised globally. While relatively new in Australia, this model is well established in Europe, the United States and Canada. The guaranteed performance from its stringent certification process is a major selling point.”

C. Street is committed to improving the quality of buildings with international best practices and innovates approaches that pair architectural design with excellent performance.

“It has been a challenge to deliver Passivhaus certification consistently and reliably because there is a rigorous testing and commissioning process at the end. We’ve worked tirelessly on our approach to ensure this can be done at scale,” says Robertson. 

Kin Seng Choo and Michael Robertson, the duo behind C. Street Projects / supplied

“Living in a Passivhaus is an awesome experience. It will change your perspective on what’s important in a home – away from surface finishes, to focusing on what’s under the hood and what true comfort really means.”

According to Choo and Robertson, purchasing a home is a significant decision, and it’s important to consider how the building will perform in a harsher climate and a strained energy grid in the years to come. 

“Great architecture and material finishes must be paired with energy-efficient design and the quality of execution. Building your own certified Passivhaus is daunting, but now ECHO provides a brand new, turnkey solution available to the market. Buyers have a choice,” says Choo.

Images: ECHO, Melbourne’s first Passivhaus-certified townhouses / supplied