25 Lanark Street
East Brunswick
Victoria 3057
tel: 03 9386 3700

Solar efficient renovation at Point Lonsdale

The client’s brief was for a family holiday house located in Point Lonsdale. The existing house was a very simple brick dwelling that was structurally very sound but not a very functional or aesthetically pleaseing building.

Our clients decided to renovate and extend the house substantially to provide a second story living room, open plan kitchen with powder room with an expansive deck to take advantage of the ocean views of Port Phillip Bay and the heads. The 5 ground floor bedrooms cater for a large family with teenage children.

Their priority was to take advantage of the northerly aspect on the long axis of the building to create a solar efficient home that was warm in winter and cool in summer.

The main energy efficiency strategies were to provide a highly insulated envelope with internal thermal mass and to allow maximum solar gain in winter. Extensive glazing has been provided to the living areas to maximise solar access. Materials were selected that have low embodied energy, good insulating ability and low maintenance. The existing brick wall have been retained and rendered . High levels of insulation are provided in the roof (R3.5 loose wool fill in the ceiling). Windows are double glazed with timber frames to minimise heat transfer losses through the frame. Openable windows are to allow cooling breezes to penetrate the dwelling and excellent cross ventilation. Use was also made of innovative cladding materials – cypress macrocarpa weatherboards which are sourced from old windbreak trees on farms.

The building performs in excess of 5 Stars on the First Rate system.

In addition the building was reengineered as an open plan 2 story structure on top of a sound existing dwelling. The existing structure was not suited to the coastal wind loadings experienced by this new renovation and had to be skillfully reengineered at minimum cost so that the maximum existing structure could be reused. This was desirable to minimize the embodied energy of the building. It is a great demonstration of how old housing stock can be skillfully given a new lease of life. Much of the structure had to be craned in as the site access was limited.

A grid interactive Photovoltaic power system has been installed on the north facing roof.
The hot water is supplied by an energy efficient gas system.

The workmanship and in particular the carpentry is of a very high standard. Recycled timbers have been incorporated into the cabinetry, flooring and external structure with great skill.
The glass balustrade to the decks is also detailed with great care.