After 12 months of lead up work since Wirranendi's purchase of 101-105 Sturt Street in Adelaide in January 1999, the construction of Christie Walk Stage 1 is underway. Christie Walk itself, named after long time peace and environmental activist, the late Scott Christie, will be the first development in the Whitmore Square EcoCity Project, which we hope will grow to include several sites in the South West corner of Adelaide's central 'square mile'. Designed to ecological criteria from the ground up, Christie Walk will incorporate six townhouses, six smaller apartments, a straw bale cottage and an adobe community house. Solar hot water, photovoltaics, wind power and grey water recycling will all be in use.
All designs are solar passive and use only non-toxic, low embodied energy materials.
Stage One begins with the straw bale cottage, currently under construction. With the easy buildability of straw bale, this small dwelling in being built with mostly volunteer labour. Raising the walls will also be the focus of a straw bale building workhop run by John Glassford, Australia's only licensed straw bale builder. The rest of Stage 1, consisting of four townhouses, will use a greater degree of work by professional tradespeople, but will still allow for considerable volunteer input and 'sweat equity' work. These will be constructed over the next seven to nine months.