Industry leader close to nature

The Weekend Post - Cairns Post May 26, 2007

Story by: Caitriona Murtagh

This Goldsbrough Valley house is close t nature in more ways than one.

Meters away from its back deck mist-shrouded hills roll down to emerald stretches of field and forest.

Inside the house is a green dream, built from plantation timber, cooled by cross ventilation, powered with solar panels, supplied with tank water and plumbed with a waste treatment system that recycles sewage.

This week, its environmentally friendly design won developer SALA homes the Ministers Award for ClimateSmart Leadership at the State Governments Sustainable Industries Awards. SALA homes managing director Scott Elsom said the house was part of a strategy to bring sustainable housing to he mass market.

'There have been about 30 built in the last 9 months. Things have really hotted up', Mr Elsom Said.

'We have got about 27 on our books at the moment and the plan is to build 50 this year and 100 next year.'

The kit style houses currently cost about 10% more than a standard home, but SALA plans to drive prices down this year. 'We will be able to give people a house for the same price as a what they get in a subdivision, but, we think, better,' he said.

And as the houme was being feted in Brisbane, its proud owners, the Guest family, Andrew 41, Junko, 37, Ray, 4 and Kiara, 6, were settling in.

'The whole process was started a couple of years ago' Mr Guest said.

In was interested in recyclable energy... a house that could create all its own energy interested me'.