innovation estate
the gold coast's green living centre
The Gold Coast City Council has adopted the award-winning environmental community, the Ecovillage at Currumbin, as its first Innovation Estate.
The 12 month partnership will promote to developers, the general public, regulators and visitors to the Gold Coast, world’s best practise in sustainable development.
The Innovation Estate collaboration is the first time a living community has been used by an Australian local government to help promote sustainable development and is consistent with Council’s ‘Bold Future’ vision.
The Interpretive Centre at The Ecovillage, well equipped with it’s displays, design room and environmentally friendly product suppliers brochures stocks, is open 7 days a week as a Green Living Centre. Friendly staff, all residents of The Ecovillage are well qualified to provide information and practical knowledge on how to live green and incorporate ecological practices in your life.
Council’s Bold Future is part of the Corporate Plan for the next five years and sets out to ‘inspire the city’s leaders and the community to achieve social, environmental and economic sustainability into the future’.
The Bold Future covers six key themes which form the framework for its Corporate Plan: a city leading by example; a city loved for its green, gold and blue; a city connecting people and places; a city with a thriving economy; a safe sity where everyone belongs; and a city shaped by clever design.
The concept of the Ecovillage as an Innovation Estate follows Council’s Innovation House programme which saw the third in the series situated in The Ecovillage. Innovation House 3 was the last in a series of Council chosen innovative residences on the Gold Coast and was selected for its multi-award winning sustainability achievements. It was the best attended of the Innovation series and therefore showed public interest is indeed high for good quality environmental criteria.
The objectives of Innovation Estate are to promote to the public and industry: energy efficient and more sustainable home design; the concept of more sustainable subdivisions; and more sustainable products, features and services associated with home construction and operation.
This announcement comes at a time when climate change and sustainable economics are the number one global issues. Being chosen as Council’s first Innovation Estate is further recognition of what The Ecovillage residents are achieving and shows governments are starting to take notice.
The Ecovillage boasts huge sustainability credentials including complete water autonomy and focus on energy self-sufficiency. Smart design and excellent energy ratings assist homes within the estate to be comfortable year round with low environmental impact. Other features including grid-connected solar power, edible landscapes, vast areas of open space and environmental reserve, permaculture and waste minimisation and recycling. All of these things show innovation in residential living with a developer who has implemented them for the community in order to make it easier to achieve.
Careful building codes ensure homes are not only architecturally-stylish but also energy-efficient. They feature rainwater tanks, solar power and EcoVision - an intelligent monitoring system that allows residents to keep track of their water, gas and electricity consumption.
Mayor of the Gold Coast says of Innovation Estate: “After 14 years in the making, the Gold Coast’s own The Ecovillage represents the pinnacle of sustainable living. The Ecovillage is the future of the housing industry.”
