Sustainable Thermomass Insulated Concrete Sandwich Panels

Thermomass used in "the most environmentally sustainable medium density public housing development in Australia."

The K2 apartments in Windsor, Melbourne, are "the most environmentally sustainable medium density public housing development in Australia", built in 2007 at a cost of $32.3m.

Developer: The Department of Human Services, Office of Housing, Property Services and Asset Management.
Architect: DesignInc Melbourne
Builder: Hansen Yuncken

THERMOMASS insulated concrete sandwich panels were used to the east and west end walls. Thermomass was used to provide a high level of insulation with an internal concrete skin that provides thermal mass benefits which help modulate internal temperatures and reduce heating and cooling needs.

Each K2 Apartment is anticipated to need:

• 55 per cent less mains electricity
• 46 per cent less gas from the mains supply
• 53 per cent less mains water (including irrigation)

than a standard apartment each year due to the very high level of ESD components such as high thermal inertia, orientation, cross ventilation, shading, rainwater harvesting and grey water re-use.

With features such as rainwater storage, grey-water recycling, reduced gas and electricity needs and photovoltaic panels to generate solar power, K2 is the landmark development putting Victorian State Government approaches toward issues such as climate change and water scarcity into practice.

The K2 complex consists of 96 units, one common room and 52 car parks. The K2 apartments were designed to create a healthy environment for tenants.

True sustainability takes into account far more than energy and water savings. The approach taken with the K2 Apartments was to combine the notion of a healthy building and environment. The project considered the social and economic aspects of sustainability to be as important as the natural environmental aspects.