About Wattblock

​Wattblock provides independent advice to strata committees, strata managers and local councils. See our company overview video.

Over the past 10 years, we've consistently observed the same problems:
  1. strata committees don't have the info they need to move to solar, EV charging and energy efficiency
  2. owner occupiers pay too much for energy
  3. owner investors don't get the property valuations they deserve.

Wattblock has  a process that:
  1. helps strata committees make good decisions
  2. saves owner occupiers money
  3. boosts property valuations
​

How Does Wattblock Work?

Wattblock uses data analytics to estimate energy wasted in buildings and prepare the building for a new energy future of solar, batteries, EV charging, heat pumps and efficiency.  
We analyse your building data, propose a solution and support you requesting quotes. Most importantly, you have the final say.
We can also assist with finance options, approach to by-laws and measuring and verifying your success.​
Wattblock is working with local councils on sustainability reports for apartment buildings in local communities.  We are currently working with North Sydney Council's Futureproofing Apartments, Inner West Council's Go Solar for Strata, Lane Cove Council's Greener Apartments, Mosman Council's Apartment & Strata Savings, Ryde City Council's Our Common Ground, Woollahra Municipal Council's Apartment & Strata Savings,Kur ring gai Council's Smart Units program, Willoughby Council's Apartments Program and City of Canada Bay's Solar for Community on the challenging issue of engaging and mobilizing strata buildings on sustainability and futureproofing.

Strata schemes have been described as the 4th tier of government. Wattblock has developed an approach which views the challenge from both a social and technical perspective. With assistance from UNSW, Wattblock has deployed over 200 researchers from different disciplines over the past 10 years.  We provide the right level of information in a format that is easy to understand and share within a committee environment. Zoom recordings allow strata committee members to view a narrated version of their report, at a time which is convenient to them.

Read our case studies for more information about the kinds of projects Wattblock recommends to assist apartment buildings with energy optimisation. View over 100 videos on solar, EV charging, sustainability, hot water, ventilation, lighting, smart monitoring on our youtube channel.

Background

Wattblock was founded by Brent Clark, Ross McIntyre and Telstra's muru-D startup accelerator program.

​Brent Clark, was previously a Chairperson of a residential apartment building which ran 13 energy saving initiatives over a 3 year period to reduce common area energy costs by 77%.   

Ross McIntyre brought his skills in business intelligence to the problem of energy waste in apartment buildings, following 8 years at First Data and data analysis work for Westpac Bank.

muru-D Pty Ltd brought the expertise of people such as Charlotte Yarkoni, Mick Liubinskas (Climate Salad) and Paul Fox (ex AGL, Evie Networks) and provided initial seed funding.

Wattblock has now assisted over 1,000 multi-tenant buildings across Australia and has upgraded over 100 strata buildings for energy efficiency and renewable energy.

History

  • ​In November 2014, Wattblock won the 1776 Challenge Cup - Sydney (Energy and Sustainability).
  • In December 2014, Wattblock created a relationship with University of New South Wale's "NS Innovations" team. UNSW creates more startups than any other Australian university and provides high quality student resources for challenging tasks.
  • In January 2015, Wattblock was accepted into Microsoft's CityNext program to create tomorrow's smart cities.
  • In Februrary 2015, Wattblock was selected for the Australian Graduate School of Management's "Startup Entrepreneurship program", receiving international MBA interns from Australia's leading business school.
  • In March 2015, Wattblock went on a China Trade Mission to Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing with Telstra's muru-D.
  • In April 2015, Wattblock returned to Shenzhen, China as state guests also visiting Zhuhai and Hong Kong.
  • In May 2015, Wattblock was awarded Australia's "Best Social Change Entrepreneur" by StartupSmart.
  • In May 2015, Wattblock was a finalist in CEBIT Australia's "Best Community Support" award.
  • In May 2015, Wattblock was runner-up in CEBIT Australia's "Startup Pitch" competition receiving the award from Shark Tank's, Naomi Simson.
  • In May 2015, Wattblock graduated from the muru-D accelerator with demo night being held at Telstra's Customer Experience Centre.
  • In May 2015, Wattblock presented at the 1776 Challenge Cup in Washington D.C., also visiting New York and San Francisco.
  • In July 2015, Wattblock received an environmental performance innovation grant from Australia's largest municipal council, the City of Sydney
  • In August 2015, Wattblock established a Brisbane Office in conjunction with River City Labs and on-boarded Scott Witheridge as Queensland Regional Manager.
  • In September 2015, Wattblock was invited to the Korean Startup conference in Seoul.
  • In January 2016, Wattblock collaborated with Advance Queensland and Griffith University as part of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership Grant program.
  • In January 2016, Wattblock became a supporter of Owners Corporation Network (OCN)
  • In February 2016, Wattblock became a member of Strata Community Australia (NSW)
  • ​In March 2016, Wattblock was accepted into Founder Lab run by New South Innovations at UNSW
  • In June 2016, Wattblock was accepted into the Michael Crouch Innovation Centre at the UNSW as part of the "Founders in Residence" program.
  • In July 2016, Wattblock received supported from the Department of Industry, Skills and Regional Development through the NSW Innovate program (Jobs for NSW)
  • In July 2016, Wattblock was awarded "Innovation of the Year" by BCB Insurance Brokers at the CHU Strata Community Awards for Strata Community Australia (NSW)
  • In March 2017, Wattblock Regional Manager for Queensland, Scott Witheridge, won Ann Shevill Essay Award from Strata Community Australia (Qld)
  • In July 2017, Wattblock was listed as one of 50 Sydney Startups to Watch by the Martec
  • In October 2017, Strata Manager for Wattblock customer Regis Towers was awarded Smart Green Apartments "Strata Manager of the Year"
  • In August 2018, Wattblock received the Strata Community Engagement & Environmental Award from Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, on behalf of Generation W
  • In November 2018, Wattblock was selected as the consulting partner for North Sydney Council's Futureproofing Apartments project
  • In October 2019, Wattblock was selected as a supplier to NSW Department of Industry, Planning and Environment for NABERS for Apartment Buildings Supervision and Training services
  • In November 2019, Wattblock was selected as the consulting partner for Woollahra Municipal Councils "Apartment & Strata Savings Project"
  • In November 2019, Wattblock was selected as the consulting partner for Mosman Council's "Apartment & Strata Savings Project"
  • In December 2020, Wattblock was selected as the consulting partner for North Sydney Council's Futureproofing Apartments Round II
  • In August 2020, Wattblock was selected as the consulting partner for Inner West Go Solar, Apartments & Businesses
  • In September 2020, Wattblock was selected as the consulting partner for Lane Cove Council's Greener Apartments program
  • In September 2020, Wattblock was selected as the consulting partner for Ryde City Council's Apartments Program
  • In October 2020, Wattblock was selected as the consulting partner for North Sydney Council's Futureproofing Apartments Round III
  • In October 2020, Inner West Council's Go Solar program (of which Wattblock is a partner) won the Community Engagement Achievement award at the Cities Power Partnership 2020 Climate Awards
  • In November 2020, Wattblock was selected as the consulting partner for Woollahra Apartment & Strata Savings Round II​​
  • In December 2020, Joe Scicluna was appointed as a Director of Wattblock
  • In December 2020, Wattblock was selected as the consulting partner for NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment's "Technical Guidance for EV Charging in buildings" project
  • March 2021, Wattblock adds Owner, Mike Cannon-Brookes as a customer 
  • In April 2021, Wattblock was selected as the consulting partner for Canada Bay council's - Solar for Community - Business and Multi-Unit Developments Program
  • In May 2021, Wattblock was selected as the consulting partner for Inner West Go Solar for Strata Round II
  • In May 2021, Wattblock was engaged by Kur-ring-gai Council's Smart Units project for Solar Education
  • In June 2021, Urban.com.au published Wattblock's Top 40 Eco Apartments to Buy a Unit in Sydney
  • In June 2021, Wattblock engaged Coles in a feasibility study for a community renewable energy project
  • In July 2021, Realestate.com.au published Wattblock's The 10 Best Sustainable Apartment Buildings in Australia
  • ​In October 2021, Tesla Tom's Ludicrous Feed invited Wattblock to speak on EV Charging Tesla Model III and Apartment Living
  • Wattblock wins a small pizza oven donated by Brighte in conjunction with Sunwiz, 24th November 2021 ​
  • In December 2021 Sydney Morning Herald mentioned Wattblock in Apartment Buildings race to retrofit electric vehicle chargers
  • In February 2022, Strata Skills 101 featured Wattblock on a video on renewable energy and EV charging in strata here
  • In May 2022, The Guardian mentioned Wattblock in Apartment Dwellers face hurdles in the race to install EV chargers
  • In June 2022, ABC Sydney radio interviewed Wattblock on Solar as a result of the energy crisis
  • In June 2022, Wattblock was selected as the consulting partner for North Sydney Council's Futureproofing Apartments Round 4
  • In June 2022 Wattblock appeared in the first ANZ Climatetech Industry report produced by ClimateSalad which is here
  • In August 2022 Wattblock provided CPD training for architects in the Architects Network Southern Region of Sydney
  • In January 2023 Wattblock's customer, The Galleria, was featured in a City of Sydney sustainability newsletter as being the first strata scheme in the LGA to retrofit batteries here
  • In May 2023 Wattblock assisted Strata Community Association to develop an EV charging infrastructure training course for strata managers continuing professional development (CPD) training
  • In May 2023 Wattblock collaborated with the Not for Profit "Inner West Community Energy" on strata education
  • In June 2023 Wattblock launched Electrify Strata North Sydney 2060 for the first local government area in Australia to map the location of all strata schemes and which ones have installed solar, battery, EV charging, heat pumps for domestic hot water, electricity monitoring devices, embedded networks and completed NABERS for Apartment Buildings ratings.
  • In July 2023 Electrify Strata Launched for 10 Local Government Areas in Sydney, North Sydney, Inner West, Lane Cove, Mosman, Woollahra, Canada Bay, Randwick, Kur-ring-gai, Willoughby, Ryde mapping over 16,000 residential strata schemes
  • In August 2023, Wattblock became a member of the Association of Rooftop and Airspace Development (ARAD) peak industry association
  • In August 2023 Wattblock was supported by Climate Salad, Allume Energy, Rewiring Australia and Google Cloud in an Innovation and Ideas Grant application to the City of Sydney to create Electrify Strata City of Sydney
  • In November 2023, Wattblock's Pitch at the Climate Salad event at Sydney Town Hall can be viewed here.
  • In January 2024 Electrify Strata was extended to cover 49,177 strata schemes across 29 local council areas in Sydney equivalent to 57% of the residential strata schemes in the state of New South Wales. A short video on "What is Electrify Strata" can be found here. Join the Electrify Strata community on Whatsapp here.
  • In February 2024, Wattblock appeared on the #1 strata podcast, Your Strata Property Online hosted by Amanda Farmer on The Clever Mapping Helping to Electrify Strata
  • In June 2024, Wattblock received the rights to use the song "(I'm Your) Heat Pump" by Michael T Roberts (feat. Will Hammond, Jr.) (c) 2024 by Michael T Roberts. Watch the video here.
  • In July 2024, Wattblock was selected to deliver North Sydney Council's Futureproofing Apartments Program Round 5. In terms of engagement with strata buildings this is now the largest strata sustainability program in Australia having completed over 270 sustainability reports.
  • In July 2024, Wattblock was engaged by City of Newcastle to assist with strata materials for an event featuring Saul Griffith of Rewiring Australia
  • In August 2024, Wattblock's Electrify Strata project was runnerup in the Strata Community Association (NSW) Environmental, Social and Community Impact Award Category
  • Wattblock will be running educational webinars on Solar and EV charging in strata for Blacktown Council in late 2024.