Perth's first SomerVille ecovillage at Childlow will provide a lifestyle revolving around style and sustainability. Located two km from the centre of Childlow, the SomerVille is set on 400 acres of land, 70 per cent of which is covered by natural bush vegetation.
Dominic Carlino, director at ecovillage developer Greenedge Projects expounds on its environmental features, as part of its strategy. “The installation of solar panels and 60,000L rainwater tanks at every home including design guildelines ensures that each house will attain a thermal performance rating of at least seven stars.”
More specifically, all homes within SomerVille collect their own rainwater for full potable water self sufficiency. There will be water saving devices and the use of energy efficient devices to minimise power consumption. They have a minimum 1 kW PV system and use non-potable water for laundry and outside use.
All liquid waste is treated individually on each home site ensuring a high awareness of self responsibility for disposal as Carlo explains, “The effect of disposal of harsh chemicals and harmful substances is then bourne by individual households rather than to a third party treater of waste.”
Residents will also get exercise within the village as cars are not encouraged within the area. “46 per cent of all houses will not have direct car access but will have undercover parking within 50m of their front door. Every house has access to a walkway/cycle way, which will take them anywhere within the village — it is a very walkable neighbourhood,” says Carlino.
On development implementations for Somerville, Carlino says that it will commence its infrastructure construction later this month to early October. “This will deliver all the essentials for intending residents to commence construction of their homes which will be in the middle of 2009.”
