SHAC! New Zealand

"Sustainable Habitat Challenge" is a New Zealand based organization formed to encourage young people to get involved with the sustainable housing world. Nine teams from around the country will compete to design and build the best projects by October 2011, when there will be a SHAC National Conference with peer review, expert review, & awards.

The teams focused on many things ranging from building with materials from recycling, building an adobe, and composting through worm farms.

Overall, this gives us great insight into how far ahead NZ is in the Sustainable movement, and they are proving that their standard of living does not have to take a hit over and over now.

www.shac.org.nz

Sustainable Projects DOWN UNDER

As we embark on our soon-to-be epic journey DOWN UNDER, I know we all have specific "Sustainable" projects we would like to visit. I have detailed a few that have caught my interest below:

1)2010 National Award for Sustainable Architecture--Surrey Hills Library, Sydney
http://inhabitat.com/surry-hills-library-australias-new-standard-of-sustainable-excellence/

2)Complete Redevelopment of the Waterfront area in Auckland, NZ
http://www.waterfrontauckland.co.nz/Home.aspx

3)30 THE BOND--Sydney's Greenest Office Building
http://inhabitat.com/30-the-bond-sydneys-greenest-building/

4) CUNDALL Sydney Headquarters--ONLY LEED Platinum Building in the Southern Hemisphere, although, I CANNOT find a picture of the building ANYWHERE...kind of weird...maybe we can drive by this TOP SECRET HQ!
Click first link and scroll down to AUSTRALIA...only building!
http://www.mlandman.com/gbuildinginfo/leedplatinum.shtml
Property Address from Website...
http://www.cundall.com.au/contact.html

5)Kakariki House in Hamilton!--small/cozy/recognized project to check out...
http://www.wisegroup.co.nz/page/71-What-039-s-new+Kakariki-House-Waikato-039-s-first-green-building