Sydney West branch

When: Saturday, 5th April, 2014, 1.15pm for 1.30pm start.

Where: Hawkesbury EarthCare Centre, Cnr Science Road and Campus Drive, University of Western Sydney, Richmond, NSW.

Cost: $5 donation to cover expenses. Afternoon tea provided afterwards.

“Bushfire Resilience:  Planning and Design”

After the horror bushfires in the Blue Mountains in mid October last year, some people have decided to move away from the area, but most want to stay and rebuild to be safer and more environmentally friendly, as well as conform with all the sometimes confusing new regulations for homes in bushfire zones.

The ATA Sydney west branch have been fortunate enough to engage Nigel Bell of ECOdesign Architects in Katoomba, an Accredited Professional on the Green Building Council of Australia, as a speaker on the subject of planning and design for living with bushfires, which would also interest others who plan to build anywhere near natural bush, including Hawkesbury, the Hills and Ku-Ring-Gai, which are all heavily treed.

Nigel has been involved in environmental design and social issues for decades, has run the very popular EcoTours in the Blue Mountains for ten years and is the winner of many awards including Churchill Fellowship, Banksia Award, TDA Timber (Environmental) Award and the practice was judged a few years ago as the Blue Mountain’s “Outstanding Environmental Business”. He was also a consultant for Sustainability Victoria on the correlation between sustainability and bushfire regulations after the terrible Black Saturday fires in 2009.

RSVP to Marianne by 2nd April for seating and catering purposes.