Thank you for your comments. The Astra Walker taps are amazing and perfect but with a double sink, shower and bath the budget can't stretch that far. They are a standalone range and don't have tapware associated so can't go down that path either.

If you "change" anything that involves a building approval then the floor area on the plans relevant will count towards the overall amount. If it amounts to beyond 50% of the existing conditions then the whole building becomes applicable to energy calculations and so you enter into up spec'ing existing areas. And yes it can often be a good thing to be doing anyway, but of course it costs money. If the total area being changes is below 50% then only the areas of new work are applicable. I'm honestly not a specialist in this area, but I have to deal with the issues naturally in the course of the design and resolution of project solutions I provide, and hence I use an energy consultant regularly and we have a way/system of working through together how best to achieve the requirements for permit. As far as I understand it's a case by case/project specific exercise and also there's various ways of negotiating/achieving the necessary performance requirements - e.g. you can play around with different levels of insulation together with a particular glazing/window spec, and depending upon circumstances you can save money one way or another. Sometimes I'll squeeze windows overall down to get it under a certain amount to not trigger requirement for expensive glass...also timber windows rate better, but if you are in a bushfire area you'll be caught out or require very expensive timber windows...it's a real juggling act in particular contexts...which is why you really need to be working collaboratively with an energy consultant/specialist to work out the best solution in this regard, as well as the other aspects of design, structure and bushfire etc. It's a true team effort ;) If you're really up for some technical reading you there is some further energy info here NCC Volume One Energy Efficiency Provisions 2016 - Australian ... but it may get confusing........Coming back to the core of it, my advice: 1. define your budget 2. list and prioritise your requirements 3. seek some preliminary advice/assistance from a seasoned designer doing this type of work to test whether or not the general concept of what your endeavouring to achieve is viable, and this depends upon the relevant context/existing conditions etc (and bushfire rating is yet another layer on top of all this), and then refine the concept from there. If you are just doing a bathroom or kitchen isolated then you can arguably do it yourself, but if you're re-jigging the whole house like it appears you are heading towards, and on a very tight budget then I'd highly recommend (to save yourself headaches and frustration going around in never-ending circles) to invest some of your available budget into front-end design, to get to a solution that works to your nominated priorities so you achieve a viable and professionally advised outcome. Trust me it will be money well spent. Have a great Christmas, and best of luck with continuing to work through it all :)

Sorry I wasn't clear , but I think you have misunderstood what I was getting at . If you kept the shower in the position you showed it , with the 1000 long glass and the 490 opening , and a lip across the opening -- the 'accepted' thing would be to place the showerhead at the far end . BUT if you had it on the right wall , angled down obviously , but pointing towards the glass side , you would get less water splashing out , thereby possibly avoiding the need to have a door ? Ironically too , having that shower narrower ( 800 wide ) will help contain the water .

no payment necessary just continue to be good to yourself and your family and itm teher may be other ideas to reduce the size but sometimes it's preferable to save costs with a cheaper options eg a servery window can be made with a basic sliding window and omit things that can be added later like the pool, decking/paving, alfresco, BIW and shop around for cheaper options for bathroom, kitchen and laundry fixtures and appliances etc rather than squeezing your family into a space that won't be comfortable especially as the kids get older eg i saved $9000 on my last kitchen by using Laminex instead of stone counters