Sustainable renovation

Hutton/Connors Residence, Boreen Point QLD

The aim of the project was to use as much of the existing 50 year old beach house as possible to create a new sustainable holiday home for the client that would respond to its environment and occupant comfort while minimising its carbon footprint and disturbance to the small site and surrounds. The existing house although suffering from neglect, the dense vegetation that surrounded it and some dubious past renovation and extension work proved sufficiently solid for reuse.

The design was then based around the most efficient and cost effective method of reuse which was to raise the house in its current location, reduce the vegetation load around it, build in underneath and reconfigure the internal space as a new whole. This exposed the house to greater light and breeze access and exposed the upper floor to a stunning view to Lake Cootharaba.

With insulation added to the ceilings, walls and floors, windows openings reconfigured and thermal mass from the existing slab the passive heating and cooling capabilities of the house were increased markedly. All material from the original house that could be reused was incorporated back into the new design, and new materials,finishes and fixtures were chosen for there energy and water efficiency, low toxicity, low embodied energy and sustainably of production.