Major renovation of an existing brick cavity low set dwelling that has amazing northern views to the coast including Mount Coolum.

We needed to leave a portion of the existing house as the boundary back set regulation has changed after this house was originally built therefore if we demolished and built the new house would have been further back on this block of land.

I am interested in using sustainable products as much as possible and I introduced the prospect of some of this house to be Rammed Earth Construction.

The clients were open to this and so we designed approx 120m2 of rammed earth walls to the house. This house presented many challenges and obstacles during the build. I will highlight a few.

The existing house has a core fill block wall  water tank under the concrete slab. There were several structural steel beams to install and transfer the support load to concrete foundations. I had to work with the engineers and discuss options to use beams and columns and make sure that we could conceal them in floor space and walls and miss the tank.

We did come across another challenge with the stairs as the flight was at maximum rise and treads due to the finish of ceiling height ground floor required and the size of the structural steel in the floor space making the upper floor finish higher.

I could not install a mid landing as it would make the flight of stairs run into the next room. After discussion options with the certifier and the clients I made a polished concrete slab as a bottom landing and feature.

It ended up looking excellent with the contrast of Rammed earth wall, timber floor, and large timber barn door  with a powder coated mono stringer using timber treads with the top treads floating over the rammed earth wall.

As with most renovations there were many more challenges. I do enjoy being creative and overcoming these issues with close communication with clients and presenting an outcome that is cost effective and a great look.

The highlight of this renovation was to be able to transform an existing house into a magnificent 2 storey home that the clients are proud to live and enjoy for years to come.