RESIDENTS curious about passive house design, straw bale walls or off-grid living can step inside four sustainable homes on the Mornington Peninsula this Sunday.
Sustainable House Day takes place on Sunday 17 May. A $15 all-day pass gives access to three peninsula homes that will welcome visitors in person, plus an online tour of a fourth property at Red Hill.
“If you’ve ever watched Grand Designs and thought ‘I wonder what it’s really like…’ you’re in luck! The famous Cave House in Rye (S12 E3) is one of this year’s open homes, so come and see it for yourself,” said acting mayor Cr Paul Pingiaro.
Bittern Farm House is a north-facing brick veneer home with a polished concrete floor, double-glazed windows, 600mm eaves and a wood heater fuelled by a sustainably harvested timber supply. The owners said the polished concrete floor kept the temperature stable year-round, meaning they rarely needed to use heating during the day in winter.
At Safety Beach, the Passive House on Canal was designed on Passivhaus principles to minimise energy use and allow accessibility as the owners age. Designed by Jon Pye and built by Croft Wootton Constructions, it features a 9.6kW solar system with Tesla battery, heat-pump technology for hot water, pool and spa, a built-in elevator, 10,000-litre rainwater tanks and a 7.4-star energy rating. The owners said their power bills were routinely in credit.
The Rye Cave House, by Seaspray Homes, is a certified Passive House with triple-glazed windows, granite boulder bathrooms and a recycled concrete floor. An internal edible garden grows jackfruit, guava, mango, avocado and papaya inside the home’s thermal envelope, alongside ginger, turmeric, chilli and native citrus.
JnJ’s Red Hill, available as an online tour, has external straw bale walls, internal mud brick walls, double-glazed windows, an 11.5kW solar system with a 10.5kWh battery and a worm farm waste system. The home is not connected to mains water or sewer and harvests rainwater for household use.
In addition, the Eco Living Display Centre at the Briars in Mount Martha will open free of charge from 12pm to 3:30pm the same day. The retrofitted display home showcases sustainability innovations, with accredited home energy assessor and director of Green Moves, Danielle King, on site to demonstrate home energy audits using energy kits and FLIR cameras available from peninsula libraries. Electric vehicles will also be on display, with their owners on hand to answer questions.
Bookings for Sustainable House Day are at sustainablehouseday.com
First published in the Mornington News – 12 May 2026
