Griffith University Emeritus Professor Ian Lowe says that: 'Thinking about a sustainable future involves moving to sustainable resource use, maintaining the ecological values of natural systems, developing social cohesion, nurturing our cultural traditions, and finding durable economic activities'.

To encourage these ideals, the South-East Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils (SEQROC) developed a Draft Sustainable Housing Code, which presented performance criteria and acceptable solutions for improving the design of new houses. This code was intended to deal with housing design measures that were not covered by Queensland’s minimum 3.5 star energy efficiency design standards under the Building Code of Australia (BCA) for the house’s building shell.

Representatives of SEQ local governments, relevant state agencies and key housing industry stakeholders provided significant input into the drafting of this code.

Code Purpose - to enhance the sustainability of housing by increasing the extent to which it could:

• reduce its environmental footprint, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, saving energy, conserving water and reducing waste.
• incorporate the economic, physical, and social wellbeing of people and communities, including life-cycle, affordability, accessibility, safety, and security.

Whilst SEQROC’s Draft Sustainable Housing Code was never formally adopted by governments, it has been major trigger in setting new industry standards towards more sustainable housing with its point scoring system.

Sustainable Home Brisbane far out-scored the intended minimum 40 points for a house of this type, with an expected score of 94 – easily the highest ever ranked using this assessment system.