![Developer Rob Gordon is leading work on 30 townhouses that could be built in White Hills with a 10 star energy efficiency rating. Picture by Brendan McCarthy Developer Rob Gordon is leading work on 30 townhouses that could be built in White Hills with a 10 star energy efficiency rating. Picture by Brendan McCarthy](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/Tom.OCallaghan/040e2f87-a912-4acf-be4b-546bd2aaf77f.jpg/r0_0_5568_3712_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A developer has revealed grand plans to build some of Bendigo's most energy efficient homes.
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Rob Gordon and his team are about to launch the push to get planning permission for 30 homes with a 10-star energy rating.
To put that rating in perspective, Victoria has agreed to raise energy standards for new homes from six to seven stars from May 2024.
Mr Gordon wants to transform one hectare of vacant land at 371-383 Murphy Street, White Hills, which could become a case study for home builders citywide.
"This is how we will have to live in the future," he said.
July was hotter for four out of five people on earth thanks to global warming, a recent Climate Central report found, and climate change is expected to intensify extreme heat events in decades to come.
The homes will need extensive energy efficient designs and materials ranging from the solar panels on roofs to heat pump heating, cooling and water systems, along with heat recovery ventilation to bring fresh and filtered outdoor air inside.
Houses would be carefully located to ease the effects of the sun's rays and promote cross ventilation, and include features like heavy duty insulation, double glazed windows and high efficiency LED lighting, Mr Gordon said.
Energy efficiency would not be limited to the houses themselves.
More trees and less hard surfaces would be vital outside, Mr Gordon said.
His houses would be two-storeys high so that there would be more space for gardens and trees, with designated park space nearby for residents to gather.
"That keeps the area cooler. That's why those green leafy suburbs in Melbourne's southeast will better survive extreme heat in the future," Mr Gordon said.
"Astonishingly in our major cities, we are still building suburbs with 80 per cent hard surfaces. And to add insult to injury, they have black roofs, which can be 15 degrees hotter than white ones.
![This land could be transformed if a plan for 30 townhouses wins the approval of the City of Greater Bendigo. Picture by Brendan McCarthy This land could be transformed if a plan for 30 townhouses wins the approval of the City of Greater Bendigo. Picture by Brendan McCarthy](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/Tom.OCallaghan/9720fbc9-d1b8-41bb-856c-011d311816a2.jpg/r0_0_5568_3712_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"Those sorts of suburbs could become unliveable heat islands in the future."
The mix of two and three bedroom townhouses and be close to the Apiam Bendigo Racecourse and White Hills' main business strip.
"The location is definitely no coincidence," Mr Gordon said.
"It has to be a financial success to justify the extra expenditure on that 10-star requirement. This area is good enough to make that viable."
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Mr Gordon's team would consider a joint venture with a kindred spirit.
"But we are going to build regardless, and we would start with six townhouses sold off the plans, and see how we go," he said.
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