By choosing to use Scyon™ Matrix™ cladding, architect Ed Ewers was able to perform a sustainable and cost-effective renovation on a Victorian terrace in Richmond, Victoria.
Architect Ed Ewers says that carefully choosing where to spend the money was one of the key ingredients to the successful renovation of a 1880s cottage. Sticking to a budget can be almost impossible once a renovation begins. It’s tempting to use decadent materials and complex construction techniques but Ed Ewers from Ed Ewers Architecture keeps a level head and embraces a straightforward strategy.
"It’s very easy for costs to blow out," says Ewers. "By keeping a fairly simple palette of materials you eliminate the need for specialist trades and therefore you eliminate unnecessary overheads. We are very careful where we spend unnecessary money and we pick the spots on the home to show off."
His reasoning is sound. Why use top end materials where it won’t even be seen? The challenge in this single-storey family home was to restore the heritage front, remove the 1970s lean-to and incorporate contemporary architecture with sustainable initiatives.
"It was a very rewarding project," says Ewers. "The client's brief was to respect the old cottage but provide a modern, open plan addition, maintain the garden with its direct kitchen access, capture city views from the first floor, incorporate two living areas within the open-plan living room and to be environmentally responsible."
While copper cladding was the original choice for the first floor, Ewers’ more cost-driven decision enabled money to be directed elsewhere.
Cost effective choices
"We looked at a number of different cladding materials. Initially, the desire was to use an exotic material and at the time copper was the one we had our heart set on. Commodities were booming, copper was three or four times the price of Scyon™ Matrix™ cladding, so in the end it was an easy decision to use the Matrix™ cladding and spend the money on something else."
Ewers recalls the difference in price at the time was considerable. "The cost of the copper was somewhere between $10,000 and $12,000 and the Matrix™ cladding came in under $3,000, so we couldn’t argue with that. The walls that are seen we feature with the high-end Matrix™ cladding on the first floor and cypress cladding on the ground floor and the blind sides we typically cover with a metal finish called COLORBOND® panel rib as we don’t see them at all."
The use of timber frames and lightweight cladding is, in Ewers’ opinion, an efficient means of cladding large areas. "We typically use timber framing and not much masonry and by doing that we keep good quality carpenters busy. The timber cypress is brought to site in measured lengths and I’ve learned that if we use more domestic products our good chippies can do it all."
Sustainable initiatives
It was essential that environmental considerations were incorporated into the home. "We were fortunate to have clients that were keen on being responsible with their new development and were open to look at any sustainable product, consider it on its merits and put more funds into improving the efficiency of the home," Ewers says.
Some of the sustainable initiatives include the recycled messmate floor, where the timber was sourced from an old warehouse, re-machined, tongue and grooved and installed as new but reclaimed timber.
A complete greywater treatment system captures water from the washing machine and bath, which then undergoes a stringent filtering system to irrigate the lawn and garden. The 2,500 litre rainwater tank is hooked to the cistern in the toilet, while the home has a solar hot water service with a gas booster.
"More than anything we are conscious of water and heat loss as the site faces west, which is not ideal for thermal gain," Ewers continues. "A Low E glazing system was selected to reduce heat gain in summer and double glazing protects the home from heat loss in winter. We also doubled the minimum standard for all wall and roof insulation, which is probably the best single counter punch you can do to improve the efficiency of the building."
The green initiatives did add some cost to the construction of the building, but should help reduce running costs over the long-term.
"When you add them all up there was probably between $25,000 and $35,000 spe¬cifically spent on the green choices the owners made. Is this an effective use of funds? We think it is, as overall this project ticked all the right boxes and was good ‘bang for the buck’. It’s certainly not a cheap job but value for money and the long term maintenance costs are affordable."
