Oak Place sparks the future of community living
Sustainability principles are providing an opportunity to ‘design the way people live’ at Stockland’s first all-electric community.
Construction has started on Stockland’s first all-electric (gas-free) townhome community, Oak Place, in Victoria. The community will be home to 303 architecturally-designed two, three, and four-bedroom townhomes in the established suburb of Wantirna, approximately 35 kilometres east of Melbourne’s CBD.
Victorian Minister for Planning and Minister for the Suburbs, the Hon. Sonya Kilkenny MP, said: “Oak Place is another great example of what the Victorian Government’s Housing Statement is all about, delivering more types of homes right where people need them – close to jobs, transport, and services.”
The townhomes at Oak Place are situated and designed to make the most of the natural light and heat of the sun, with solar panels included as standard. All townhomes will have either a rainwater tank or a solar-boosted hot water service, double glazing on all windows, and cool roofs painted with a light colour to reflect solar radiation and reduce heat transfer.
Each townhome will embrace eco-friendly practices, and be built using lower-carbon construction materials, such as timber frames and green concrete, a sustainable alternative to conventional concrete.
Stuart Marsland, Principal Architect at Rothelowman, worked on Oak Place, calling it a special project that provided the “opportunity to create a community” and “design the way people live”.
Speaking about the sustainability of the community, he said: “We were given a high-level brief which was to achieve a minimum of seven stars NatHERS energy rating. Oak Place sits on a hillside. For us, this was a really good opportunity to get good solar access into all the public spaces” he said.
Stockland General Manager, Communities Victoria, David Allington, said: “Stockland Oak Place is an innovative example of how existing urban space can be repurposed into a community that will be full of energy, soul, and life, while keeping sustainability at the forefront of our design.”