CSR, today unveiled CSR House, a state-of-the-art buildings research centre in Schofields, Western Sydney that represents the future of energy efficient housing design for Australia.

Unique to the industry, CSR House is not only a practical and energy efficient 8-Star product display home but also a working research and development facility, representing a major investment in industry innovation.

The facility was launched today at an event hosted by industry luminary Professor The Hon John Thwaites, Professorial Fellow at Monash University, Chair of the Australian Building Codes Board and Chairman of ClimateWorks Australia, and attended by key figures from the Housing Industry Association, CSIRO, UNSW and Green Building Council amongst others.

CSR’s many divisions worked in tandem (including the provision of 44 different CSR products) to explore how a cost-effective and energy efficient Australian home could best be constructed. The goal was to create a home with outstanding build quality, comfort, internal air quality and acoustics – as well as all-important thermal and energy efficiency.

The resulting house has a heating and cooling load 45% lower than that of a 6-star home. In fact, early indications suggest that CSR's focus on reducing air leakage has resulted in even further reduction.

Some of the lessons learnt during the design and construction process will be employed by CSR in a brand new business division, CSR Energy Solutions. Using its knowledge of how to improve the energy efficiency of residential and commercial buildings the company will offer comprehensive energy audits, along with the professional installation of energy efficiency product solutions, accessing CSR’s broad range of expertise.

To ensure the ongoing research facility of CSR House, it has been fitted with 140 data collection points, generating a huge body of knowledge to be shared with the industry. CSR is working with leading Australian institutions in a bid to learn more about achieving lower cost energy efficient homes.