Amelia Cutting
Light-coloured roofs and trees in gardens will be mandatory in a new plan to help tackle climate change in some areas of Sydney.
Initially applied to the southwest suburb of Wilton, light coloured roofs will be mandatory on new homes and residential lots must be big enough to allow a tree in every back garden.
Our aim is to make Wilton more than liveable – we want it to be resilient.
Why has this decision been made?
The decision was made after a bleak picture was painted by the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report.
Called a ‘red code for humanity’ by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the report is the work of 234 scientists and is overseen by 195 governments.
Australia has already warmed 1.4 degrees since 1910: ‘heat extremes have increased, cold extremes have decreased and these trends are projected to continue’, a summary in the report for Australasia says.
Planning and Public Spaces minister for New South Wales (NSW), Rob Stokes, said that the Wilton Development Control Plan achieves the need for more housing whilst ensuring its green future.
‘Our aim is to make Wilton more than liveable – we want it to be resilient. A place where the natural environment, new homes, and even entire neighborhoods complement each other,’ Member for the Wollondilly area Nathaniel Smith said.
How will the plan help?
The plan mandates that residential buildings constructed from now on ‘use, where possible, recycled and renewable materials, lighter-coloured roofs and use lighter-coloured materials and finishes on main external parts of the building.’
We need to say goodbye to the trend of having dark roofs that not only attract and retain heat and raise ambient street temperatures, but lead to astronomical electricity bills because of the need to cool homes.
It also says that, for a residential lot of 15 by 18 metres, there needs to be a tree of at least eight metres mature height in the front and back gardens. The canopy created by everyone planting a tree is expected to keep the area at a cooler temperature. This is one rule among many in an area where more than 9000 homes are expected to be built in the future.
‘We need to say goodbye to the trend of having dark roofs that not only attract and retain heat and raise ambient street temperatures, but lead to astronomical electricity bills because of the need to cool homes.’ Rob Stokes said.
Reactions to the plan
Professor Mattheos Santamouris of the University of New South Wales said that the ‘cool roofs’ could decrease the energy consumption of buildings that are uninsulated in western Sydney by up to 50%. He went on to say that the summer extremes are exacerbated by radiant temperatures from dark roofing.
Simply choosing a light-coloured roof has no additional costs, delivers substantial benefits to household energy bills, and temperatures in suburbs more broadly.
However, Stephen McMahon, NSW branch president of the Urban Development Institute of Australia and a developer involved in building Wilton’s town centre, said that the plan supports environmental objectives but the controls are ‘ill-conceived and unworkable’.
He objects to the rules requiring roofs to be painted a light colour, and to ‘the control that requires bigger backyards for the planting of trees….how will government police compliance with this? Will swimming pools and garden sheds be prohibited?’
President of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC), Barry Calvert welcomed the move: ‘simply choosing a light-coloured roof has no additional costs, delivers substantial benefits to energy bills and temperatures in suburbs more broadly.’
Featured image courtesy of yeonhwa510 via Pixabay. Image licence can be found here. No changes were made to this image.
Amelia Cutting
I'm Amelia- a graduate from the University of Leeds and current NCTJ Level 5 Diploma student!