The house is built on a bushfire prone site in a bush setting. The house was built to be as self-sufficient as possible in it’s energy and water use and in it’s treatment of waste water.
The construction uses relatively low environmental impact materials that are durable, low maintenance and suitable for bush fire resistance.    The base of the house is concrete block, chosen for it’s fire resistance and low embodied energy when compared with brick. The house cladding is a lend of corrugated steel, flat steel and fibrous cement sheet, all external materials are non-flammable and low maintenance.     There are wide ranging uses of passive and active building elements to make the house comfortable year-round. Double glazing is used throughout, combined with full insulation to the enclosed suspended slab floor, walls, ceilings and roof, work together with roof overhangs and large north glass to allow maximum solar entry for winter heating, and minimum entry of summer sun for comfort.     The hot water and the in-slab heating are provided from roof mounted evacuated tube solar panels, supplemented by a gas boiler. A grid interactive solar electricity is generated from a 4.2 kW roof mounted photovoltaic system. The lighting uses the latest technology in lamps and fittings, utilizing LED downlights, compact fluorescent wall lights, and high output fluorescent pelmet uplights. Rainwater is collected into 90,000 litres of storage which are UV filtered for the house and is also available for fire fighting. The waste water is cleaned via two systems, the black water in a Nova Clear for lawns and gardens, and the grey water in a Nova Grey for laundry, toilet flushing and general use.    All the building materials were sorted on site and dealt with accordingly. Steel beams used in the construction were recycled, steel off-cuts were recycled or re-used, Gyprock was re-used for clay breaker on gardens, timber off-cuts reused, cardboard and paper recycled, excavated rock and soil from the site reused in landscaping and garden edging, trees and vegetation removed were chipped and mulched and used on gardens.    This house shows how innovative yet rational design and existing technologies can combine to provide a modern, low impact, low maintenance, and low energy use family home. The environmental management starts with the site works, through construction, and beyond for the future operation of the home.