The challenges

We all know Australians are suffering through one of the biggest housing crises in our history. Cost of living, housing affordability, and the rental crisis have combined for a perfect storm facing the housing market.

Developer and property consultant Nick Constantinou has found a solution to that problem, with a 21st century take on the traditional rooming house concept as an efficient way of housing a number of people under the one roof. 

Far from the boarding houses of yesteryears, which tended to be rundown, older houses with tenants living on top of each other sharing a bathroom, his concept was to build a modern group home with ensuites in each lettable room along with common kitchen and living areas.

To make his concept affordable he needed a product that was quick and easy to work with – one that also offered thermal efficiency to reduce long-term energy usage and running costs.

Bondor’s InsulLiving® building system, combining InsulWall® walling and SolarSpan® roofing products, provided the combination of speed of installation and energy efficiency that he was looking for. 

The solution

With the concept under development since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Baxter Rooming House is the first of its kind to be built in Victoria. The house features eight studio rooms, each with their own ensuite, with tenants sharing the living area, kitchen and laundry, as well as common outdoor entertaining areas. 

Nick decided on Bondor’s prefabricated all-in-one insulated panels to meet the requirements for a fast, efficient and affordable build.

“One of the benefits of using SolarSpan was that no frame was needed, and we were able to span eight metres with the roof panels,” Nick said.

“And the whole roof went on within a couple of days.”

SolarSpan insulated roofing is faster to install than conventional roofing, eliminating the need for individual processes including mesh, insulation and roof sheet application.

The long spans significantly reduce structural framing requirements, all contributing to a faster build time and handover without compromising on performance.  

“We had prefinished InsulWall panels that we could etch or have finished to any COLORBOND colour,” Nick said. 

“We decided to put sun panels on to soften it a bit, but you could have actually left it as is and textured it with paint.”

InsulWall is an all-in-one loadbearing insulated wall panel that uses a unique primed coated BlueScope steel technology, readymade for painting, rendering or cladding encasing a high performing insulated core.

InsulWall offers unique features such as a preformed rebated joint for setting plaster and delivering a continuous coated surface for painting internally. 

Nick designed the rooming house with all the studio rooms with a north facing aspect to maximise light coming in, with bright internal colours to minimise the need to put the lights on all the time.

The ease of construction using the prefabricated InsulWall and SolarSpan panels meant that the home was completed in just six months. 

The InsulLiving building system is engineered to Australian Standards and CodeMark accredited, offering a complete thermal envelope exceeding the current thermal efficiency requirements of the National Construction Code (NCC) for a wide range of climate zones.

Project details

Project: Baxter Rooming House

Location: Victoria

Developer: Nick Constantinou

Product: Bondor’s InsulLiving® Building System 

  • InsulWall® walling
  • SolarSpan® roofing