30 Gugandi Rd
Narara 2250
Learn valuable ways to make older homes more comfortable and energy efficient
1. Tour Dorothy – a retrofitted Queenslander featured on Restoration Australia (ABC iview)
2. Learn how to plan a retrofit
3. Practice on a real example
Enjoy this experiential workshop where you will learn about principles of passive solar design applied to retrofitting for energy efficiency. Tour a retrofitted ecovillage home, Dorothy, as seen on Restoration Australia and meet the owners, Rosemary and Rafaele. https://iview.abc.net.au/video/DO1911H006S00
Join with other participants and experts to have fun creating your own retrofitting plans for an existing home.
MAKE A DAY OF IT – Come along at 10am to join in our Open Morning Village Tour and talk before a delicious lunch at Neville, our Coffee Cart. See calendar entry above or click here to book the Open Morning tour.
This unique workshop is being co-led by GRAHAM HUNT (www.dhwdesign.com), a Thermal Comfort Assessor with Delisle Hunt Wood Architects who strive to deliver sustainable, connected and considered architecture. Graham was the architect responsible for transplanting Dorothy and bringing her up to 21st Century standards. DHW’s designs aim to be affordable and practical with people in mind. Graham was an architect for over 35 years and has been a NatHERS assessor for 25 years. A member of ABSA (Australian Building Sustainability Association) since its foundation. He was doing QA audits for ABSA for ten years. Between 2016 – 2024, Graham represented the AIA (Australian Institute of Architects) on various national government committees in relation to the NatHERS system and energy efficiency in the building regulations. Graham is a longtime member of Renew – www.renew.org.au and has been involved in the committee of the Sydney Central branch since its formation around 2008. He is currently Renew’s Board Secretary.
Graham’s co-leader is Adjunct Professor Rosemary Leonard, co-owner of Dorothy, and Chair in Social Capital and Sustainability in the School of Social Sciences at Western Sydney University. Rosemary also leads the Research Group at Narara Ecovillage. Her research interests include community development, the role of not-for-profit organisations in a variety of contexts, including community responses to sustainability issues. She was a Principal Research Scientist with the CSIRO for more than 5 years where she worked on Australian’s attitudes to climate change, and led projects which addressed the effects on communities of coal seam gas development and water-sensitive urban design.
For a list of publications please see: Google scholar https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=gICev9sAAAAJ&hl=en )
ResearchGate profile (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rosemary-Leonard)