Guides
The way you design and build your home and garden can have a big impact on your ongoing living costs. Thinking about how you will make your home efficient and great to live in for all seasons can help reduce your bills. It’s also great for our climate and environment.
We've lots of useful tips and guides to help you design your home and garden to:
- suit Canberra’s climate
- reduce your energy and water use
- produce energy and food.
Your Resilient Home
The climate is changing, and so is the way we need to design homes.
Your Resilient Home Guide was created by SLA to help you to build a resilient home suited to Canberra's changing climate.
Resilient homes are robust, flexible and ready to withstand extreme weather while keeping your family safer. They are also cheaper to run, with lower utility bills and a reduced likelihood of replacement and rebuilding costs across the lifetime of your home.
The guide is filled with tips to help you make simple and smart choices during the design of your home, so you'll live a more comfortable, sustainable life once you've moved in.
Plant a Tree in Your Canberra Garden
Plant a Tree in Your Canberra Garden is a practical guide to choosing the right tree for your garden, based on your house design and local conditions.
When planted in the right spot, trees can create shade and privacy in your garden, provide habitat for birds and bees, block winds and grow fruit that you can harvest for years to come.
The trees recommended in the guide are suggestions based on Canberra's unique climate and soil conditions, including their frost tolerance.
Climate Wise Garden Designs
The Suburban Land Agency has worked with local landscape architect Edwina Robinson to create a selection of climate-wise gardens that residents can use as inspiration for their own homes.
The Climate Wise Garden Designs booklet contains beautiful illustrations of gardens that centre on three themes: climate-wise, low-maintenance and edible gardens.
We have included advice on:
- how to design your dream garden
- how to plant a garden that will flourish under local conditions
- a 'bee to zee' list of plant species that are ideal for Canberra’s changing climate.
Rebate programs
Our rebate programs provide financial assistance and incentives to eligible individuals within our specific neighbourhoods. Whether you're a first-time buyer, looking to build your dream home, or interested in sustainable living, explore how our rebates can help you achieve your dreams of sustainable, affordable living.
Currently there are rebates worth up to $10,000 for land bought from SLA in Whitlam. While there are are rebates worth up to $7,000 for land bought in Jacka.
Find out more about our rebates and rebates and initiatives and see if you qualify.