Sustainable House Day 2023
Four private homes at The Cape will be open for in-person tours on Sunday 19 March, 2023 as part of Sustainable House Day.
About The Cape
The Cape is a 43ha sustainable housing estate at Cape Paterson, in South Gippsland about two-hours drive from Melbourne. The Cape has stunning natural beauty and is a great example of contemporary, all-electric sustainable living, with nature and community at its heart.
The build out of the Cape is about half way through, and when it’s finished there will be about 200 homes. All the homes built at the Cape must meet or exceed the following requirements:
- 7.5-star thermal rating (NATHERS);
- 2.5kW solar PV;
- 10kL of rainwater-collection capacity;
- No mains gas;
- No wood-fired heating;
- An upper limit on internal dwelling size of 200m2 (most new estates impose a lower limit);
- Orientation for good passive solar performance.
The Farm. The Cape estate also hosts the Cape Community Farm, an ambitious 4800m2 facility that shows how to make communities more food-secure.
The Landscape. The landscaping at the Cape incorporates three significant created wetlands to encourage biodiversity. The Cape’s landscape is home to a large permanent mob of Kangaroos.
Other shared facilities at the Cape include:
- Public EV charging (currently out of order);
- A sports precinct (under construction);
- An off-lead dog park;
- A playground including a flying fox;
- A lookout overlooking Bass Strait;
- Over 5km of walking trails.
SHD 2023 – open homes
Three homes requiring ticketed access
Three of the four homes open to the public are restricted to ticketed attendees only, with tours limited to twelve people per tour. Homes open include two certified Passive Houses. The other open home is a great example of how to achieve high performance with conventional building techniques.
Group-tour tickets for can be obtained from Eventbrite for $10:
- https://www.eventbrite.com/e/557527909987
- https://www.eventbrite.com/e/557578832297
- https://www.eventbrite.com/e/557575050987
Proceeds from ticket sales go to community projects at the Cape.
Addresses are shown on the Eventbrite page for each home and on the map at the bottom of this page.
One house available to all comers
The Cape’s display home, known as Coast, will be open from 10am till 4pm at 2 Trumpeter St. Access is free.
Community farm open day
The Cape Community Farm will be open for visitors to SHD to talk to the farmer and farm members about the community farm or have a self-guided tour of the farm. There will be fresh, organic Community Farm grown produce, seedlings for sale. It will be open from 10:30am – 3:30pm.
ABOUT THE CAPE COMMUNITY FARM
The Cape Community Farm is a community-run, not-for-profit association that aims to share, inspire, educate and engage the community. The Community Farm is a state-of-the-art community facility that provides its residents and the broader community with many opportunities to engage in growing, producing, and sharing fresh local and organic fruit and vegetables, and celebrating the success that comes from this.
The Cape Community Farm features cutting-edge landscape architecture featuring formal and semi-formal mixed fruit and herbs, a fully integrated water capture and storage system, and an innovative growing system using wicking garden beds. It showcases intensive community food production in a water-efficient, low-maintenance and food-abundant landscape.
Site map
Our Cape Life 