Calendar

We are excited to welcome visitors to our Ecovillage each month at our Open Day, as well as at a range of Ecovillage events and workshops – click here for regular events. We offer site tours as well as private tours by appointment.

Please watch this page or our Facebook page for updates and new event listings. For further information please contact us on  02 4328-1588 or [email protected].

Agenda
Agenda
April – May 2025 Apr – May 2025
Collapse All Expand All
Apr
27
Sun
Energy-Efficient Buildings – Designing for Sustainability
Tickets
Apr 27 @ 1:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Energy-Efficient Buildings - Designing for Sustainability @ Narara Ecovillage

This workshop is part of our quarterly Open Weekend – why not make a weekend of it?  We have a range of accommodation options for you to stay on Friday and or Saturday evening – CLICK HERE – or drop in for the Saturday or Sunday – or for both days!

At Narara Ecovillage we have possibly the most eclectic collection of sustainably designed and built houses in the country.  The village, in a beautiful, secluded valley on the Central Coast, bounded on three side by the Strickland State Forest, yet only ten minutes from Gosford and 70 minutes from Sydney, has now been under construction for a decade.
One of the first questions our ecovillage community had to answer was: “what is a sustainable home and how do you go about designing and building a sustainable community?”  Over the past ten years we have learnt a lot about designing and building sustainable homes and an eco-friendly community.
In this seminar you will:
  • Learn the principles of passive solar design
  • Gain an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of a range of natural building materials and construction methods including rammed earth, straw bale, hempcrete and earth bag.
  • Hear from first-hand experience the lessons of doing owner-builder from design, to DA approval, to construction (including natural building workshops) and certification.
  • See practical examples of passive solar design and carbon neutral living.
  • Learn how the village runs on its own solar energy 24/7 and the role that EVs will play in powering our future homes.
Geoff Cameron has an MSc in Applied Science from UNSW.
Geoff has been involved in design and construction of the village civil infrastructure, built his own 8.8 star hempcrete passive solar house as owner-builder, has served as a director of NEV Co-op and NEV Power, and is currently head of the village Water & Sewer utility NEV Water.
Read more
Categories: Growing Learning Natural Building Open Days
May
4
Sun
Sustainable House Day – a range of houses to visit at Narara
Tickets
May 4 all-day
Sustainable House Day - a range of houses to visit at Narara @ Narara Ecovillage

Sustainable House Day 2025 (Narara Ecovillage)

Sun 4th May 2025, 9:00 am – 4pm
Narara Ecovillage is partnering with Renew to host another Sustainable House Day.  It is an annual event that provides the opportunity to explore some of Australia’s most inspiring homes, and learn from the people who built them, and live in them.   Narara Ecovillage provides a great opportunity to see a variety of environmentally sustainable designs and construction methods on one site.  We will offer four guided tours of three houses each in the morning, leaving at 9.15am, returning approx 11.30am.  Registrations essential.  In the afternoon you can purchase an open ticket to the Village when seven houses will be open at various set times – see below or in the ticketing section for details.  House details are on the Sustainable House Day website.  Tour and ticket details here.  Please arrive before 9am for tours.
Open Houses

The open houses are:

Talks

Two talks will also be held in the Village hall.  Free but registrations essential:

9.15 – 11.30 Retrofitting sustainably for energy efficiency and comfort:  Dr. John Shiel (sustainable building expert) and Kel Lupus (energy efficiency and thermal comfort) with visit to retrofit Queenslander “Dorothy”

1.30 – 3.30 Setting up Microgrids and Community Batteries:  Toby Roxburgh (online) (zero emissions consultant) and Dave Parris (Electrical engineer and member of NEV Power team) with visit to the Ecovillage’s community battery and microgrid switch room.

“Neville” our community coffee cart is open for food, including lunch, until 1.30pm and coffee until 2pm.  Please pre-order lunches on the day.

Make a Weekend of it!  On Saturday 3rd May we are one of the destinations for the Central Coast Edible Gardens Trail.  Have a full and wonderful weekend and stay on Friday and or Saturday evenings in one of our accommodation options: CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Read more
Categories: Growing Learning Natural Building Open Days
April – May 2025 Apr – May 2025