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{{propApi.successMessage}} {{region}} Change locationThe future needs resilience
The future needs resilience
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Kerryn Ramsey
Senior Content Coordinator
HIA’s recent Future Homes Forum brought together Australian thought leaders in construction, design, policy and innovation. Hosted by Jamie Durie and held at Sydney’s Doltone House Darling Island, the forum explored how to house the nation without breaking the planet or the bank, with keynote presentations from industry leaders who are driving innovation, sustainability and resilience.
Following is an overview of the ideas and solutions put forward at the forum.
Sustainability as a journey
Keynote speaker: Jocelyn Martin, HIA Managing Director
Opening the forum, Jocelyn Martin talked about her long journey to create her own comfortable, sustainable home. In 2000, her family moved into a small two-bedroom home that was draughty and poorly insulated. Over the next 25 years, the house was gradually turned into a sustainable four-bedroom residence. It features double glazing, sealed gaps, solar panels, efficient lighting and a large water tank.
Jocelyn’s sustainability quest now extends to growing vegetables, composting, making soap, preserving food and experimenting with aquaponics and mycology-based soil enrichment.
‘Going fully off-grid may be a distant goal for many, but meaningful change happens over time,’ Jocelyn said, adding that she sees HIA’s role as sharing knowledge, helping shape standards, and inspiring both builders and consumers to take their own steps.
Designing for resilience
Keynote speaker: Simon Croft, HIA Chief Executive – Industry & Policy
According to Simon Croft, Australia’s housing challenge is twofold: meeting demand while ensuring homes can withstand an increasingly unpredictable climate.
‘Resilience begins with smart siting,’ he said. ‘Avoiding or adapting to flood, bushfire and high-wind zones is essential.’ This extends to neighbourhood-scale measures such as effective stormwater systems, urban cooling and emergency access. Using a ‘hierarchy of controls’ approach, builders should design for dominant risks: ember-resistant construction, cyclone tie-downs, flood-tolerant materials, shading and robust roof and glazing systems.
Simon said he wants to see an embrace of recovery-ready design. This includes planning for easy repairs, documenting replacement pathways, and using standardised methods to speed up rebuilding. Most disaster damage occurs in older properties so retrofitting and owner education needs to be happening now. Simon believes an industry collaboration beyond the NCC, with risk-first decisions at every stage, will deliver homes that are safe, comfortable and durable for the future.
Policy, partnerships and practicality
Keynote speaker: Dai Le, independent MP for Fowler, NSW
At the forum, Dai Le warned that political ‘quick fixes’ risk inflating demand without addressing the real constraints: land supply, skilled labour and infrastructure. Speaking from her experience representing Fowler, one of Australia’s most multicultural electorates, she said too many families are facing overcrowding, soaring rents and the near impossibility of buying a home.
Dai wants to see Australian manufacturing securing supply chains, stabilising prices and creating jobs. The object is to reduce reliance on costly imports. ‘Affordability must go hand-in-hand with sustainability, making greener homes accessible to all.’
Another critical issue, workforce shortages, can be solved by practical training and targeted skills programs, she said. For Dai, cost-effective, sustainable housing is the cornerstone of health, security and community wellbeing. This can be achieved with effective partnerships between government, industry and residents.
The ‘Ferrari’ of eco-buildings
Keynote speaker & MC: Jamie Durie, landscape designer and TV host/producer
According to this well-loved presenter, Jamie Durie’s biggest challenge was building his own sustainable home in Sydney’s northern beaches. ‘It was not an easy process,’ he told the forum, ‘but I felt it was important to share with Australia.’
Dubbed ‘the Ferrari of eco-building’, the home is a showcase of innovation: low-carbon concrete, recycled kitchen joinery, FSC-certified spotted gum, bamboo cladding, and double-glazed timber windows. Geothermal heating maintains the temperature at 22 degrees without cost; 230 plants purify the air for Jamie’s asthmatic wife and young son; and a chemical-free pool is so safe, fish could swim in it.
‘We wanted to push the boundaries, then take those lessons and feed them into something all Australians could adopt,’ Jamie said. While the seven-level home is luxurious, the aim was to trial eco-technologies at the high end, then adapt them for more affordable builds.
‘Sustainable building isn’t just about materials,’ Jamie added. ‘It’s about creating a home that nurtures people and the planet.’
EV safety facts and myths
Keynote speaker: Emma Sutcliffe, Founder/Director of EV FireSafe
Emma Sutcliffe provided a reality check to the contentious issue of electric vehicle (EV) battery fires. Funded by the Australian Department of Defence, her company researches incidents, consults on risks, trains responders, and assists in recovery.
The world’s only global database of EV battery fire incidents shows just 11 confirmed cases in Australia versus hundreds of fires from smaller lithium-ion devices such as e-bikes and power banks. The most common causes of EV fire include collisions, saltwater immersion, manufacturing faults and external fires. ‘Only 15% of fires occurred while charging,’ said Emma, who’s also an operational firefighter.
She highlighted the amount of misinformation online while emphasising the importance of well-designed EV charging stations. Emma has authored a 15-point fire safety plan, developed with the Australian Building Codes Board, that’s considered a global best-practice model.
Electrifying the home
Keynote speaker: Chris Kerr, CEO of Clipsal Australia
Clipsal’s Chris Kerr gave a passionate presentation about accelerating the shift from fossil fuels to home electrification. He believes Australia’s main tasks are to reduce energy demand through efficiency and replace carbon-emitting power with renewables.
Households account for around 43 per cent of domestic emissions and rising energy prices are driving ‘bill shock’. Chris shared his own four-year journey installing an oversized solar system, electrifying all appliances, adding battery storage, and adopting an EV – slashing costs and increasing independence.
He highlighted the potential of vehicle-to-grid technology, enabling EVs to power homes, and framed electrification’s benefits not just in terms of return on investment, but also as ‘return on comfort’ and ‘return on environment’.
‘Meaningful collaboration between manufacturers, electricians and builders will be key to making electrification simpler and more accessible,’ he said.
Passive house performance
Keynote speaker: Nick Sowden, Owner/Operator of Sowden Building Solutions
Winner of the 2025 HIA Australian GreenSmart Professional award, Nick Sowden is a qualified builder who specialises in sustainable construction practices. At the forum, he showcased his award-winning EnerPHit Passive House renovation in Sydney’s inner west. In just five months, he transformed a leaky, mould-ridden semi into a high-performance, healthy home for his family.
The retrofit had clear priorities: airtightness, thermal bridge elimination, and continuous fresh air via a heat recovery ventilation (HRV) system. Sustainable and healthy materials were used, such as wood fibre insulation and low-VOC paints, and most of the demolition waste was recycled. Triple-glazed windows, a polished concrete slab, and carefully considered detailing keep indoor temperatures stable without active heating or cooling.
The result is lower energy bills, a mould-free environment and improved family health without sacrificing comfort and quietness. On resale, the home set a price-per-square-metre record in Balmain, reinforcing Sowden’s belief that sustainability can add market as well as lifestyle value.
Rethinking the great Australian dream
Keynote speaker: Lucinda Hartley, urban designer
Lucinda Hartley encouraged the audience to reconsider and update the definition of the ‘great Australian dream’. While home ownership still underpins stability and intergenerational wealth, she argues the ideal must evolve beyond the quarter-acre block in the world’s least-affordable housing market.
Lucinda pointed to generational shifts and used social data from her company, Neighbourlytics, to show that neighbourhoods often function in ways for which they weren’t designed. The answer is more flexible housing types and people-centred design.
‘In the ’50s and ’60s, Australia built more homes per capita than we do today,’ she said. ‘We can do so again by embracing small improvements that really make a difference. Off-site construction, improved technology, faster approvals, and streamlined delivery can make a huge improvement.’
Future of technology
At the HIA Future Homes Forum, three industry leaders took part in a panel hosted by HIA’s Simon Croft. They explored how technology, data and smarter processes can transform the way we design, regulate and plan Australia’s built environment.
Kareen Riley-Takos, Chief of Engagement, Standards and International Relations at Standards Australia, outlined efforts to make the nation’s 5000-plus standards more accessible and useful. Removing paywalls is a great start but standards also need to be searchable, machine-readable and tailored to specific users – whether they’re onsite trades or engineers in the office. PDFs are being converted into structured, tagged XML that enables AI-assisted searching and integration into software. Partnerships with technology developers will embed standards directly into tools and apps, while AI will clarify ambiguous clauses and provide guidance. Kareen stressed that better standardisation reduces risk and gives innovators, such as those working with 3D printing, greater certainty.
Neil Savery, Managing Director of ICC Oceania, spoke on creating smarter, more adaptable codes. ‘While regulation must safeguard the public, it should also enable innovation,’ he said. AI-driven, machine-readable codes hold promise, but human oversight remains essential. With global urbanisation set to double floor space within 35 years, Neil detailed collaborations on carbon quantification standards, ESG data protocols, and a National Building Products Assurance Framework. He also highlighted the need to adapt codes for modern construction methods, focusing on manufacturing processes and circular economy principles.
Will Sullivan, Founder/CEO of PropCode, addressed the complexity of local planning rules. Unlike nationally developed building codes, planning controls come from thousands of different councils and agencies in a range of formats. In NSW, these rules span 27 million words. PropCode digitises and standardises them, using specialised AI to analyse sites and proposals. The platform gives instant clarity on what can be built, helping industry to respond quickly to changing policies and unlock new opportunities.
A shared call to action
The consistent message from HIA’s Future Homes Forum was that Australia’s housing future depends on collaboration, innovation and a willingness to rethink how we design, build and regulate homes. It showcased ideas and mapped a path forwards. The tools, technologies and policies are available now. The challenge is to scale them, connect them and ensure they work together to deliver homes that are affordable, sustainable and resilient for the decades ahead.
HIA’s Future Homes Forum also included the HIA Australian GreenSmart Awards, recognising those specialising in building and designing environmentally friendly homes. To learn more about the 2025 winners, visit 2025 HIA Australian GreenSmart Award Winners
To learn more about the GreenSmart program and responsible and sustainable housing, visit GreenSmart.
First published on 7 October 2025.