Energy ratings rise for new NSW homes

New residential buildings will need to attain 7 star thermal performance ratings under a new BASIX policy announced by the NSW Government today.

Treasurer and Minister for Energy Matt Kean said the Sustainable Buildings SEPP is designed to reduce household energy bills while delivering more comfortable homes to residents.

“These new standards will drive more energy-efficient homes from Bondi to Broken Hill and beyond, with better design, better insulation and more sunlight,” Mr Kean said.

“People living in new high-rise apartments in suburban Sydney will save up to $150 a year, new Western Sydney homeowners will see a reduction of $720 a year, and our regional communities as much as $970 a year.”

The announcement represents an update to the Building Sustainability Index (BASIX) tool, increasing the average star rating from 5.5 to 7 and will come into effect from October 2023. The new ratings will also apply to renovations greater than $50,000.

Minister for Planning and Minister for Homes Anthony Roberts said the announcement would also impact the construction of commercial buildings.

“We recognise the importance of good design and sustainability in planning, that’s why we are progressing updates to our online Building Sustainability Index (BASIX) tool and introducing sustainability requirements for new commercial buildings,” Mr Roberts said. “We need to ensure the places we live, work and stay in are more comfortable – all while we save people money on their power bills and contribute to our net zero target.”

The Department of Planning will also be including an index to measure embodied emissions of construction materials.

The personal wardrobe of the late fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, who is credited for introducing punk to fashion and further developing the style, is headed to auction in June.

Christie’s will hold the live sale in London on June 25, while some of the pieces will be available in an online auction from June 14-28, according to a news release from the auction house on Monday.

Andreas Kronthaler, Westwood’s husband and the creative director for her eponymous fashion company, selected the clothing, jewellery, and accessories for the sale, and the auction will benefit charitable organisations The Vivienne Foundation, Amnesty International, and Médecins Sans Frontières.

The more than 200 lots span four decades of Westwood’s fashion, dating to Autumn/Winter 1983-84, which was one of Westwood’s earliest collections. Titled “Witches,” the collection was inspired by witchcraft as well as Keith Haring’s “graphic code of magic symbols,” and the earliest piece being offered from it is a two-piece ensemble made of navy blue serge, according to the release.

“Vivienne Westwood’s sense of activism, art and style is embedded in each and every piece that she created,” said Adrian Hume-Sayer, the head of sale and director of Private & Iconic Collections at Christie’s.

A corset gown of taupe silk taffeta from “Dressed to Scale,” Autumn/Winter 1998-99, will also be included in the sale. The collection “referenced the fashions that were documented by the 18th century satirist James Gillray and were intended to attract as well as provoke thought and debate,” according to Christie’s.

Additionally, a dress with a blue and white striped blouse and a printed propaganda modesty panel and apron is a part of the wardrobe collection. The dress was a part of “Propaganda,” Autumn/Winter 2005-06, Westwood’s “most overtly political show” at the time. It referenced both her punk era and Aldous Huxley’s essay “Propaganda in a Democratic Society,” according to Christie’s.

The wardrobe collection will be publicly exhibited at Christie’s London from June 14-24.

“The pre-sale exhibition and auctions at Christie’s will celebrate her extraordinary vision with a selection of looks that mark significant moments not only in her career, but also in her personal life,” Hume-Sayer said. “This will be a unique opportunity for audiences to encounter both the public and the private world of the great Dame Vivienne Westwood and to raise funds for the causes in which she so ardently believed.”

Westwood died in December 2022 in London at the age of 81.