Newsletter No. 4 - Winter 2007
Newsletter No. 3 - April 2006
Newsletter No. 2 - June 2005
Newsletter No. 1 - November 2004
 Newsletter No. 4 - Winter 2007SV comes to Nillumbik After extensive negotiations with Sustainability Victoria (SV) we have secured fully funded training for members in the new FirstRate5 software. SV are generously sponsoring twenty places in a three-hour, introductory training session. The course will follow the software release in August (dates to be confirmed) and include an overview of the capabilities of the new software, with particular reference to the rating of mudbrick homes. In addition to this session, SV have agreed to cover course fees for four NMA members at one of the University/TAFE run FirstRate5 courses. Enthusiastic members can register their interest in either course or obtain further information from Michael Young (NMA President) on 0417 599 677. We wish to thank SV for their generous contribution. Making Ground! At last, another newsletter! We have been busy negotiating with agencies over the FirstRate5 software. Despite frustrating delays, we anticipate real improvements with the latest version. The original Software Program (created 4 years ago) inadequately rated the thermal capacity of Mudbrick homes. Sustainability Victoria acknowledged the need to adjust the software and are due to release FirstRate 5 in June (clearly their most accurate and realistic assessment tool). FirstRate 5 may well show that a well designed Mudbrick home will out perform your more conventional home. Embodied Energy (the energy used in making the materials and building the house) is another great saving for Mudbrick homes. Dr Graham Treloar from Deakin University confirms this stating "...they save five to ten years of operational energy and they do it at day one". The cutting of Greenhouse gas emissions is the focal point of the Building Commission's 5 star energy rating system...build a well-designed Mudbrick home and that is precisely what you will achieve! Once again, I thank you for your ongoing support. Our membership is strong, but I urge you to renew your membership and encourage others to join us too. Cheers- Michael (NMA President) A Personal View In recent weeks mud brick houses have received ill-conceived criticism in The Age based on old information about their inability to gain a 5 star rating. This article was responded to more than adequately by the President of the NMA (31/5/07, The Age, Opinion section). The article indicated that people who criticise mud brick houses seem to know little about them, whilst those who live in them know that they maintain an even temperature and meet the Victorian Government's needs. The Government's desires for low emissions and energy savings are fulfilled by mudbrick houses. Most 'muddies'
This under valuing of mudbrick houses has stalled our industry and spread misinformation for no real reason. The industry is still alive and well and you too can live in harmony with the environment knowing that you are doing your bit for the environment. Mudbrick House Tours Many of you have probably asked yourself "Is there anything I can do to help"? Well, this is your chance! Panton Hill Preschool have a long tradition of running mudbrick house tours as part of their annual fundraising efforts. The tours provide fantastic exposure to the industry and the issues we are fighting for. As an association, we have the opportunity to assist in reigniting this community tradition, and at the same time spread the word about the industry and our campaign for appropriate ratings. The tours will run on Sunday October 28 and require the help of skilled and unskilled volunteers. If you are prepared to give up just a few hours of your time to assist with:
Green Wedge Plan Margaret Abbey and the Nillumbik Shire are in the process of writing the Green Wedge Management Plan. We urge NMA members to write to the Shire endorsing the making of mudbricks as part of a permitted Cottage Industry in the Green Wedge. Correspondence can be addressed to: Margaret Abbey, C/- Nillumbik Shire Council, PO Box 476, Greensborough, 3088. www.mudbrick.org.au The NMA in conjunction with member Cecilia Sharpley, continue to expand our website - www.mudbrick.org.au. The website features the latest news from the association, historical information, past newsletters, links to other websites, membership forms and much more! We invite contributions of photos, articles and relevant resources from our members. Your Committee President: Michael Young 0417 599 677 Vice President: Robert Marshall 0414 890 212 Treasurer: Barbara Pittard 03 9437 1525 Secretary: Kate Riddell 0415 944 403 Committee: Alan Grimes 03 9437 0733 Greg Slingsby 0419 889 563 Colin Cook 0408 136 507 Registered no: A0045709U Return to Newsletter Top |
Newsletter No. 3 - April 2006The NMA in conjunction with our dedicated and generous member Cecilia Sharpley, are proud to announce the creation of our website - www.mudbrick.org.au The website features the latest NMA news, historical information, copies of past newsletters, links to like-minded websites, membership forms and much more! We would appreciate any member contributions (articles, photos, suggestions, etc.). These can be emailed via the contacts section of the website. Thankyou to Cecilia who volunteered her time and expertise to make this project a reality. G'DAY MEMBERS! We continue to fight the battle to have mudbrick homes duly recognized and applauded for their great thermal and ecological values. The wheel turns slowly, but we are making progress. We continue to lobby the State Government to improve their Energy Assessment Program and are hopeful of an opportunity to address the Attorney General Rob Hulls: Minister of Planning soon. With enormous support from the Shire of Nillumbik we are pursuing an alternative solution through the Building Code of Australia. This avenue will bypass the building Commissions' requirement to do a 5 star assessment. It gives us direct input into devising a broader, more appropriate environmental framework for 'Mudbrick Building Applications' to be assessed. The 7-day test in Christmas Hills provided some interesting, but inconclusive data which may be helpful in future testing (refer to next article for more detail). We are in discussions with the Building Commission, Nillumbik Shire, and Australian Greenhouse Office in the hope of support for future longer term testing. We really need your support. I urge you to renew your membership if you haven't already and nab a neighbor or friend to join up too! Cheers- Michael (NMA President) TESTING TIMES Thanks to the Shire, M.A.B.E.L, C.S.I.R.O, the Building Commission, the Australian Greenhouse Office and some of our members, the first ever Australian data on the thermal effectiveness of mudbrick as a building medium has been produced. We were amazed to see that while the overnight outside temperature hovered around 3°C in the depths of winter, the test house was over 10°C warmer without heating! Although moving us forward, the results of the tests have highlighted some of the principle issues that must be addressed in the future. These include:
Your Committee President: Michael Young 0417 599 677 Vice President: Robert Marshall 0414 890 212 Treasurer: Barbara Pittard 03 9437 1525 Secretary: Kate Riddell 0415 944 403 Committee: Alan Grimes 03 9437 0733 Greg Slingsby 0419 889 563 Colin Cook 0408 136 507 Registered no: A0045709U Return to Newsletter Top |
Newsletter No. 2 - June 2005G'DAY MEMBERS! It's been over a year since we registered the Nillumbik Mudbrick Association and we are well overdue in getting you a newsletter. I want to start by saying "Thankyou". It is only through having a healthy and vibrant membership that we have opened doors and had some wins. I would like to thank the hard working committee members - Rob, Frank, Greg and Alan. When these guys put their hands up to start the association we had our first win! There have been changes along the way. John Cust (an original member) resigned for personal reasons. Barbara Pittard is now helping Frank with the treasury work and Kate Riddell stepped in to the secretarial position when Greg (complete with wife and new baby Jemma) decided to help in other areas of the association. NMA has certainly had an impact (see our list of achievements) but there is a lot of work ahead if we are going to win this battle and get the industry pumping again. Please help us to continue this valuable work by renewing your membership! Cheers- Michael (NMA President) TESTING TIMES A two year old mudbrick house, located in the Shire of Nillumbik has been selected for testing. It is on a concrete slab, faces north, is fully double-glazed, has no pergolas or verandas and is well finished. Data will be collected late in June. For the first few days the house (main living areas and kitchen only) will be kept at a constant, predetermined room temperature and the required amount of energy monitored. Following this, the house will be left to itself, and the fluctuations monitored against outside temperatures. NMA are hoping to assist with this testing by donating time and materials, helping to install monitors and do repair work where required afterwards. Any volunteers with rendering experience can contact Michael on 0417 599 677. Thanks go to the Evans and Charlton family for the use of their beautiful home for these very important preliminary tests. THE FIGHT ISN'T OVER! Although we are happy to see the testing of 'real' buildings (rather than relying on algorithms in a model such as 'First Rate') we believe these one off results will not provide a definitive result. Hopefully they will uncover some useful parameters for further study, but results will not be comparable to any other building or building medium. For this to happen we may need to design a control environment, where the walls can be isolated as the only variable in further tests. Ideally, possible future testing would see us construct several identical buildings in the same location, with the same orientation and varying only the wall fabric. The 'fired brick' industry is already sponsoring such tests in NSW. As an Association we should be prepared, if required, to dig deeper and push for these more comprehensive tests. The Shire will support us, so lets work together, spread the word and get the recognition 'Mud Bricks' truly deserve! FIRST YEAR ACHIEVEMENTS:
A big thankyou goes to the Shire of Nillumbik for their support in the following:
President: Michael Young 0417 599 677 Vice President: Robert Marshall 0414 890 212 Treasurer: Frank Taylor 0419 889 563 Secretary: Greg Slingsby 0417 599 776 Committee: Alan Grimes 03 9437 0733 Barbara Pittard 03 9437 1525 Kate Riddell 0415 944 403 Registered no: A0045709U Return to Newsletter Top |
Newsletter No. 1 - November 2004Dear Members, It is with great pleasure that the Association is able to announce with the publication of it's first (long awaited!) newsletter that we have been instrumental in getting the powers that be to agree to fund testing of mudbrick homes. At a meeting on the 8th of November it was revealed that the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO), Sustainable Energy Authority Victoria (SEAV) and the Building Commission (BC) have all agreed to allocate funds for testing. It is proposed that the study will have three stages:
The committee members of the Association would like to thank the President, Michael Young who has actively been promoting the cause. He has put a lot of energy into putting forward our case to our local MLAs and the relevant regulatory bodies and armed with your support has done very well. We would also take the opportunity to recognise the efforts of the Earth Building Association of Australia (EBAA), and Eltham member of parliament, Steve Herbert in achieving this great result. SO WHY DO WE NEED TESTING? There appears to be some consensus on the 'R' Values of mudbricks, however, the effect of thermal mass in mudbrick construction has not adequately been addressed. There is an urgent need to look more closely at the role of mass in buildings and to what extent it may compensate for low R Values. (CSIRO Building Innovation and Construction Technology No. 13, June 2000) SOME FACTS:
There are also the issues of the dynamics of a mudbrick home and how the various materials and thermal properties interact. SO WHAT NEXT? A TEST BUILDING?!! There is talk that a test building(s) might be built in Nillumbik shire. Various bodies have suggested support for this idea. Nillumbik Shire has, and continues to, vigorously promote earth buildings and is willing and keen to discuss what it can do for this project. There is also the possibility that the Association may be asked to offer expertise and labour to make it happen. If we need our 'army' we'll let you know! If we get this test building(s) up, running and monitored, we will have gone a long way down the road in securing the long term future of the industry but what about the short term? Although the Association applauds the testing of mudbricks and is thankful that it will happen, the results from such testing may take years to appear. Given this we still intend to keep up the pressure on these groups to ensure that homes can still be built in the interim. There has been some mention that mud homes may be approved at a '4 star' rating but nothing is confirmed yet. It is vital we receive some assistance from the powers that be to keep the industry alive in the mean time. It was tempting to put this in as the headline of this newsletter!. It is very important that if you take anything away with you from these pages it is this. YES YOU CAN. It is important to remember that we are still building mudbrick houses following a path streamlined through the Nillumbik Shire using the Building Appeals Board. More information is available through the shire web page or by contacting Chaz McKinna or Warren Brooker from Nillumbik Building Inspection Services on 9433 3240. TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW! Membership: We now have 191 members, many of whom are living in 'magnificent mudbrick' houses and enjoying the steady thermal atmosphere in their abodes. Thank you for your support. Without you onboard there is no way the government would have listened to us. Don't forget letters to newspapers/radio stations expounding the great value and virtues of 'mudbrick living' can only be helpful. Also use the form at the end of this newsletter to sign up your friends or anyone else you feel may be interested. NUMBERS ARE OUR POWER, so do encourage others to join us. Membership is $20.00 and is open to anyone who has an interest in the future of this significant industry. OTHER NEWS:
The existing computer model make various assumptions as their base. Some of these we are challenging such as:
Regards and MERRY CHRISTMAS from your NMA Inc. Your Committee President: Michael Young 0417 599 677 Vice President: Robert Marshall 0414 890 212 Treasurer: Frank Taylor 0419 889 563 Secretary: Greg Slingsby 0417 599 776 Committee: Alan Grimes 03 9437 0733 Registered no: A0045709U Return to Newsletter Top |
