Understanding the potential of your site for a sustainable, energy efficient dwelling.
Many of the most important design decisions that impact the sustainability of a project happen with the first sketches. Siting, orientation, positioning and sizing of a development are the most significant factors that impact nearly all elements of sustainable design. Making the right choice here can be the difference between a 7 star build with high glazing specifications, or a 9 star home with more modest specifications.
If sustainability is important for your project, this service allows us to engage with the site and the brief as early as possible, either working in our capacity as architects to develop a sustainability-driven sketch design, or in collaboration with an architect or building designer.
This includes iterations of the design that make the most of siting and orientation for natural light, proposes material palettes and solar array options, as well as water and biodiversity management plans. This process will also start tracking your NatHERS star rating from the very beginning, allowing clients to clearly understand the way design changes can impact the thermal performance of the building.
Studio Bun can carry this through into full design and documentation where required. Equally it can be issued as a standalone piece of advice, to take to another architect, to a lender, or to a decision about whether to proceed at all.
Early stage design and performance advisory for a site, undertaken before or at the outset of schematic design, delivered as an illustrated feasibility report with preliminary NatHERS and Whole of Home assessments.
The study establishes the compliance pathway the project will follow, the performance targets realistic for the site, and the design moves required to reach them. Where the project has planning requirements, it identifies the controls that will shape the envelope.
Suited to owners assessing a site before purchase or before committing to design, developers testing yield against performance ambition, and architects who want the environmental strategy resolved before schematic design begins.
Stage 1 — Project Initiation. Studio Bun reviews the site, your brief and any existing material, confirms the scope of the study and the number of options to be tested, and issues a fixed fee covering the full process.
Stage 2 — Site & Constraint Analysis. We analyse the site and the planning controls that apply to it, and issue a constraints summary establishing what the site permits and what it makes difficult. A preliminary briefing is prepared taking into account the brief of the project and its compatibility with sustainability goals on the site.
Stage 3 — Option Testing. We develop and test high level design options against the constraints, assessing each for likely performance, compliance pathway and the design implications of the targets under consideration.
Stage 4 — Final Reporting. We issue an illustrated feasibility report setting out the recommended direction, and meet to work through the findings. This can include floor plans, sections, elevations and solar studies as required. Further options tested after the report is issued are charged at an additional rate.
Site analysis covering orientation, solar access, overshadowing, prevailing winds, topography and vegetation
Opportunities and constraints analysis covering heating and cooling systems, water management options, and biodiversity initiatives
Planning constraint review, including zone, overlays and relevant provisions
High level sketch design testing one or more options for siting and massing
Preliminary performance assessment indicating the rating band each option is likely to reach
Identification of the applicable compliance pathway across energy, stormwater and any local requirements
Recommended performance targets, with the design implications of each
An illustrated feasibility report
A meeting to present and work through the findings
A few items sit outside this scope and can be quoted separately:
Planning permit documentation and application
Town planning advice from a qualified town planner
Land survey, title and easement investigation
Cost planning, quantity surveying and development feasibility modelling
Detailed design and construction documentation, available under separate architectural engagement
Structural, civil, geotechnical and services engineering
This service assumes a site with title details and any existing survey or concept material available at the outset.
Studio Bun offers fixed sum packages for feasibility studies, priced on the size and complexity of the site, the number of options tested and the scope of engagement.
Contact us for a quote.
What is a sustainability feasibility study?
It's an early-stage piece of advice that maps out how a project will handle sustainability and compliance — which pathway to take, what performance is achievable, what the site and climate allow, and what it costs — before the design is fixed. Think of it as setting the strategy so the later assessments go smoothly.
When should I get one?
As early as possible — ideally at concept, before schematic design. The whole value is in informing decisions while they're still cheap to change. Orientation, form and glazing are set early and are expensive to revisit later, so that's exactly when strategic input pays off.
NatHERS or Deemed-to-Satisfy — which should I choose?
That's one of the core questions a feasibility study answers. NatHERS (thermal modelling) gives more design freedom and usually a more comfortable home; DtS (prescriptive) can be quicker and more predictable for standard designs but may push you toward higher-spec construction. The right choice depends on your design and priorities — the study weighs it up for your specific project.
Is Passivhaus feasible for my project?
A feasibility study is the right place to find out. It looks at form factor, climate, budget and ambition to gauge whether Passivhaus certification is realistic and worthwhile for your project, before you commit to the (significant) additional design discipline it requires.
Does the feasibility study count towards compliance?
No — it's strategic advice, not a compliance assessment. But it sets up the compliance work efficiently: you go into NatHERS, DtS or WSUD with the pathway already chosen and the targets already understood, which usually makes those services quicker and smoother.
Tell me about your project and I'll scope a feasibility study.
enquire now