WestWyck News

WestWyck was featured recently in the online sustainable property magazine Fifth Estate.

A brief excerpt:

A living example of the uplift in value possible with sustainable urban housing is the WestWyck eco-development, an urban sustainability project developed by Lorna Pitt and Mike Hill, which Roberts had been targeting to green minded and dollar-minded residents alike.

Read the full article online.

Gavin Jennings, Minister for Climate Change and Innovation officially declared Stage One of WestWyck opened on 25th August 2010 in apartment #4 WestWyck.

It might have appeared a bit late to open a village that has had people living in it for some time now but developer Mike Hill said in his presentation to the celebratory gathering that the time to declare a project open was when the back of the last builder could be seen departing down the road!



Councillor Alice Pryor, representing the Mayor of Moreland City Council said that Moreland was proud to have a development of such quality and that Council encouraged other developers to learn from the WestWyck example. Councillor Pryor paid tribute to developers Mike Hill & Lorna Pitt and was able to recall extremely youthful memories of their civic involvement in the area.

Minister Jennings acknowledged the innovation and commitment behind this project and hoped that it really would provide insight into the way our cities might evolve with great collaboration and an enhanced sense of community in the midst of quality medium density villages. The Minister also acknowledged Mike and Lorna’s history of community activism and involvement, particularly on the environment front and their strong belief in community values.

The notes of Mike’s speech in response are posted here, but in summary he said that the WestWyck project has brought an inner-urban heritage-listed building, the former Brunswick West Primary School, to new and vibrant life as an urban residential demonstration showpiece of advanced ecologically sustainable development and good design. WestWyck is now acknowledged nationally and internationally as a well-integrated comprehensive development that addresses sustainable building and living and the launch was a milestone in this recognition.

The completed Stage One of the development comprises a housing cluster of five new town houses on the school grounds and seven warehouse-style apartments skillfully designed into the Victorian era school building, creating twelve low environmental impact dwellings.

WestWyck’s key sustainability features include sustainable energy, sustainable materials use and advanced water efficiency.

WestWyck is recognised for providing a model of a very different medium density development; it aims to connect people together in more of a traditional ‘village’ environment, sharing scarce land and resources. WestWyck features shared spaces and resources like gardens and bike sheds. The outdoor spaces are designed to provide a mix of privacy and interactivity. During its construction, WestWyck supported the local economy by giving priority to engaging local workers, professionals and tradespeople.

At the launch the Australian Institute of Architects delivered the 2010 Victorian Interior Architecture Award to Multiplicity Architects and Designers for their creation in apartment 4 at WestWyck. This honour, in the form of a plaque was bestowed by Fiona Windsor, a member of the AIA judging panel and Fiona spoke of the creativity and interpretation work of Tim O'Sullivan and Sioux Clark and the Multiplicity team. Fiona acknowledged the hot competition for this award and the quality of entrants.

Guests at the launch included many past and present residents of WestWyck, many of whom contributed to the catering and hospitality for the event. The very recently returned Member for Wills, Kelvin Thomson, Carlo Carli, Member for Brunswick and Jane Garrett, Mayor of Yarra attended. Amongst the other guests were Anita Roper, CEO, Sustainability Victoria, Carolyn Lloyd, Acting Chair VicUrban, Bill Forrest, CEO, ICLEI, Noel Blencowe, CERES, Judy Bush, NAGA Convenor, John Lawson, former Director, Urban Land Authority, Paul Murfitt, CEO Moreland Energy Foundation, Yvonne von Hartel, Peck von Hartel, Rob Brunton, Jenny Merkus Anne Gartner and Sue Vujcevic of Moreland City Council, tree and water guru, Professor Peter Fisher, Helen Millicer, PACIA and Kelly O'Shanassy, CEO Environment Victoria.

There were also so many people who have been involved in building and creating and running WestWyck including, Greg Tainsh of Jura Nominees, Bryan Forby, Community Living, Mark Hansen, plumber, Leanne O'Shea, landscape architect, Mel Ogden, landscape artist, Peter Fenaughty, arborist, cabinet maker Peter Tragardh-Daly of Cantilever and Brent Papadopoulos and Ruth Czermak of Sustainable Plumbing.
And a final very special mention was made of engineer extraordinaire, Trevor Huggard, who maintained his belief that the project was achievable and kept finding creative solutions that would make it happen.

"Understanding How Behaviour Is Affected Within WestWyck Eco-Village"

In 2009 WestWyck was approached by French Sociologist researcher Victor Zylberberg from Sciences Po at Toulouse who was undertaking studies into eco-villages. Victor had found WestWyck on the web and asked whether we would be interested in facilitating his research.

WestWyck OC agreed to this request and WestWyck and the Moreland Energy Foundation (MEFL) managed to negotiate additional work experience for Victor at MEFL and he eventually spent three months this year in Brunswick which included in-depth one-on-one interviews with nearly all those living at WestWyck both in the new dwellings and the communal household.

Victor presented his report (in English) to a mixed audience of WestWyckians and MEFLites and the final report is available now to download. We think it provides some insight into WestWyck, sustainability, human behaviour on environmental issues and into Victor himself. We enjoyed having him with us!