Our own award-winning carbon-neutral home and office, winner of 2018 Sustainability Awards for single (new ) residences. As well as fundamental passive solar, energy efficiency and environmental design principles, the project also incorporates a large amount of recycled and upcycled content, innovative materials and systems (including passive heating and cooling), on-site water retention and usage, on-site energy generation, and so much more. It was also an exercise in downsizing, utilising infill development, integrating house and garden, and showcasing the options to future clients.

Remarks from the Sustainability Awards 2018 –

Drumkerin House impressed the judges due to a number of factors including its comprehensive passive solar approach, the advocacy undertaken by the client/architect to achieve specific outcomes with local government and above all, the monitoring and evaluation are undertaken to validate the actual performance of the home post-completion. This home is evidently a labour of love whereby any less thought, care and passion would not have resulted in the great outcomes achieved.”

Another judge said: Ticking all the boxes in a sustainable building is - thankfully - increasingly common. Buildings that are restorative, contributing to restoring a functioning environment, are rarer. Really uncommon are restorative buildings that are both funky, biophilic, and very human, and Drumkerin is all those things.”

Photography: M Halperin, D Waugh