East Village at Knutsford: A Case Study in Sustainable Urbanism

Abstract

With increasing pressure to ensure that sustainability features in homes are commercially viable, demonstration projects are vital to highlight the real-world challenges and opportunities for innovation. This paper documents the incorporation of sustainability objectives into the “East Village at Knutsford” residential “living laboratory” development, within the Knutsford urban regeneration precinct, approximately 1.5 km east of the Fremantle central business district in Western Australia. The sustainability objectives for the project include being a “Net Zero Energy Development” using 100% renewable energy and maximizing the self-supply of energy, reducing mains water consumption as much as is practical, and using the landscape design to complement these objectives without compromising a best-practice urban greening outcome. The paper documents the design initiatives and strategies that have been included to achieve these objectives in a commercially viable project and the results of modelling where it has been used to test the design against the objectives to ensure their validity. The key features that have been incorporated into the townhouses component of the development are outlined, illustrating integrated design and systems thinking that builds on previous demonstration projects, incorporating solar energy storage and electric vehicle charging plus significant mains water savings by adopting water-sensitive features in the homes and the within the private and public gardens. The expected grid energy and mains water consumption levels in the homes through modelling compared to the metropolitan average is 80% lower. The project is presented as an important step in the application of available technologies and design features to meet stated sustainability objectives, highlighting the benefits of an embedded living laboratory research approach.

Developing a Decision-Making Framework for Regenerative Precinct Development

“…EVK is a 1.5 ha urban residential infill development currently under construction just outside of Fremantle in Western Australia (Figure 4). It aims to demonstrate an innovative and commercially viable example of sustainable urbanism [33]. EVK aspires to become a net-zero energy development and empowers the inhabitants of its 36 townhouses to be collectively responsible for its shared infrastructure, which includes an Australian first shared battery that allows real-time energy trading between households and a battery operator using blockchain.…”

Distributed Green Technologies for Regenerating Greyfields

“…5). There is a growing ability to do this at precinct scale that has been mainstreamed in many places (Byrne et al, 2020;Kenway et al, 2019;Newton & Rogers, 2020). Harvesting rainwater at building and precinct scale is now increasingly on the urban-planning agenda in an age of drying climates for many cities.…”

“…The use of small-scale wastewater treatment systems has been trialled in places like Hammarby-Sjostad in Sweden (Newman et al, 2017) but this is not likely to be easy for most cities. However, the most obvious need is to build water-sensitive cities that use grey water for local purposes (Byrne et al, 2020). This is part of an integrated water system that includes rainwater harvesting and stormwater capture.…”

“…East Village is a planned, 1000-person residential development similar to neighbouring WGV that incorporates a blockchain system built in from the outset for sharing energy, water, and solar-power systems (Byrne et al, 2020). The first stage includes 36 townhouses and two adjoining apartment sites for 60 dwellings, to be occupied at a higher density than WGV (https://developmentwa.com.au/projects/residential/east-village-at-knutsford/overview).…”

Implementing SDGs to a Sustainable Rural Village Development from Community Empowerment: Linking Energy, Education, Innovation, and Research

“…An example of interest is the case of "East Village at Knutsfod" (EVK) [19], located 1.5 km from the central business district of Fremantle (Western Australia). The project aims to create semi-detached houses that incorporate solar energy storage through photovoltaic solar systems (designed to produce more energy than is consumed in the domestic environment), a battery deposit for charging electric vehicles and integration of the urban water management (through stormwater infiltration, alternative urban supplies, and biophilic urban designs) to reduce dependence on centralized water sources.…”