Christie Walk

Christie Walk is a medium density co-housing development located in downtown Adelaide which combines many ecologically sustainable and community enhancing features.

It was initiated by Urban Ecology Australia as a demonstration project, to promote nature and people friendly urban development by example.

You can see it for yourself by coming on a
Christie Walk Site Tour

Basic Facts

Site area: 2000 square metres

Number of households: 27

Number of residents: around 40

Location: 105 Sturt Street, Adelaide, Australia.

Key issues

Issues addressed by the design of Christie include:

Water and energy conservation.
Material reuse and recycling.
Healthy, people-friendly public spaces.

Most people in Australia live in cities. Therefore the way we choose to design and live in them has a huge impact on our environment and its finite and precious resources.

Features

Features designed into Christie Walk include:

Pedestrian friendly spaces.
Shared gardens including roof garden.
Local food production in onsite community food garden.
Onsite storage of stormwater - water used on gardens and to flush toilets.
Passive solar/climate responsive design. Heating, cooling and humidity control using breezes, sunlight and vegetation.
Solar hotwater.
Power from photovoltaics - panels to be installed on pergolas above roof garden.
Recycled, non-toxic materials with low embodied energy.
Reduced car dependency due to inner city context.

The energy requirements of all dwellings are reduced by the passive solar design and the use of very highly insulated, low embodied-energy materials, and the provision of solar hot water (stages 1 and 2), and photovoltaics (stage 3).

Recycling of stormwater reduces reliance on mains water.

The avoidance of products containing toxins damaging to human health and the environment and the minimising of artificial air conditioning means much healthier interior spaces.

Designed to ecological criteria from the ground up, the first two stages of Christie Walk incorporate four townhouses, six apartments, four highly popular straw bale cottages, a productive community garden, a rooftop garden (with spectacular views of the city and hills), all set amongst a creatively landscaped, pedestrian space.

Community facilities for the use of all residents are located on the ground floor of Stage 3.

Energy conservation

Refer: Inner City Residential Energy Performance, by Monica Oliphant

Homes at Christie Walk require less energy (ongoing electricity and gas consumption), and so cause fewer CO2 emissions, than the average SA home, because they can keep within a comfortable temperature range with minimal heating and cooling, and have solar hotwater heaters.

Using minimal or no air-conditioning, Christie Walk homes also contribute much less than the average SA home to peak electricity demand on hot days.

Quick Comparison Data

The following data compares the energy use and consequent CO2 emissions of Christie Walk homes and SA average all-electric homes and "all-gas" homes (homes that use gas for cooking, heating and hot water). Results for Christie Walk were for 2003-2004. Results for SA average homes were for 1997-1999.

	Christie Walk	SA average
		all gas	all electric
CO2 emissions (kg) per person per day
1 person homes	6.95	11.96	16.25
2 person homes	5.76	8.62	11.17
Energy use (kWh) per person per day
1 person homes	electricity
	6.28	7.14	14.97
	gas
		15.12
2 person homes	electricity
	5.20	5.03	10.07
	gas
		11.39

Architects

Christie Walk was designed by Ecopolis Architects.

Name

Christie Walk was named after long-time peace and environmental activist, the late Scott Christie.

Stage 3

Christie Walk Stage 3 is a 5-storey building with 13 apartments, a communal laundry, plus a ground level community area with kitchen, dining/meeting room, library, and toilets (disabled access).

The building was completed at the end of 2006.

Refer: Christie Walk Stage 3

Site Tours

Urban Ecology runs public site tours on the 3rd Sunday of each month (except December) at 11.00am. Please make a booking if you want to come.

We also run weekday tours for organised groups including school groups and university and TAFE groups. Contact us to organise your tour.

Refer: Christie Walk Site Tours for more details.

External links

Links to articles on other websites discussing Christie Walk.

Building Design and Management (PDF). pp117-119. Chapter 7. Inquiry into Sustainable Cities Report. Parliament of Australia. 2005.9

Christie Walk - Some Firsts. Paul Downton. Ecopolis Now. 2006.7.12

Christie Walk Eco-Dream an Incredible Journey. Lisa Reid. Lumen. 2005 Summer

Green Housing Development in Line for Award. John Kerrison. ABC - Stateline SA. 2006.7.28

Sustainability Assessment of Housing Developments - Case Study Application. (In chapter 7 of) Complex Science for a Complex World. Australian National University. 2006

Your Home Technical Manual | 9.2 City of Adelaide, South Australia (PDF)

Your Home Technical Manual | 10.1 City of Adelaide, South Australia

2010-5-18