The Australian Institute of Architects’ incoming President, Shannon Battisson, believes it's time Australians look towards building smaller homes, in a bid to drive down carbon emissions.

Speaking with the Sydney Morning Herald, Battisson describes the family home floorspace average of 229 square metres as excessive.

“That’s a crazy amount of floor area,” she says.

“Even with the most efficient house, the bigger it is, the more energy it uses. There is really something to be said for designing only the amount of house you need. And that’s something Australians are not good at doing.”

The 229sqm national average sits as the largest amount of residential floorspace in the world alongside the United States. The ACT has the highest amount of average floorspace in the country at 259 sqm, with Victoria and NSW coming in second and third with an average of 239sqm and 223sqm respectively.

A study conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for CommSec indicates that larger Australian homes provide approximately 100sqm of space per person, which is greater than the entire average floorspace of homes in Ireland and the Netherlands.

The AIA’s NSW chapter has implemented a sustainability checklist architects must now complete before submitting entries for the annual awards. Architects will be asked to provide information in regards to floor area, occupants per square metre, energy consumption and sources and air tightness.

“We are getting to the crunch time,” says the AIA’s NSW Awards Committee Chairman, Sam Crawford. 

“We have less than 10 years to get our act together. All buildings need to be carbon-neutral. If concrete were a country, it would have the third largest footprint in the world.”

Battisson says there needs to be a shift in terms of thinking around house sizes, and that Australians should be looking to build ‘just enough’, as well as the need for more diverse housing options. 

“Every square metre you build has an impact. You can help mitigate that by building as absolutely as sustainably as you can,” she says.

“An eight-star house that’s 300 to 400 square metres is going to be using a large-house size worth of energy. Even the most efficient house, the bigger it is, the more energy it uses.”

The report released by CommSec has found that the size of new houses has grown by over 60 square metres, from 162sqm in 1985, to 229sqm. CommSec’s Chief Economist Craig James says the recent growth in average floor space could be attributed to homeowners looking for additional space to allow them to work from home on a regular basis. 

“It’s not just COVID-19, but also environmental considerations as well as power needs that have implications for home builders, trades, building materials, homeware stores, electrical stores and housing fit-out businesses including kitchen and bathroom fixtures and fittings,” he says.

To view the report in full, click here.