Prebuilt Merricks

Designer Prebuilt
The
Millennium House
Location Merricks, VIC
Project type Prefabricated house
Cost $330,000

Photography John Gollings

Sustainable Keeping it simple
features
By Jenny Brown

Water Saving
•B iolytix waste water system (www.biolytix.com)
Comprises underground greywater
tank using a combination of charcoal
filters, netting, microbes and worms
to treat water. Piped to garden.

Passive Heating & Cooling

• CSR Bradford R4 Glasswool ceiling batts,
R2 wall batts, Aircell R1.5 underfloor insulation

• Shutters and
pergola for shade

Building
Materials
• Plantation silvertop
ash and Carter Holt
Harvey Shadowclad
external cladding
• Plantation pine framing

• Recycled blackbutt flooring

Glazing
• 4mm toughened double-glazed windows

Lighting
• CFL and LED

Active Heating
• Nectre 15 pedestal wood
heater (www.nectre.com)

OTHER
• Mega Anchor building foundation
system (www.mega-anchor.com.au)

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The Millennium is made principally of
precast concrete walls and is mostly
prefabricated, which keeps costs down
C anberra architect Ric Butt came up with his
house template at the turn of the century,
appropriately called the Millennium House. It is
made principally of pre-cast concrete walls and is
mostly prefabricated, which “keeps costs down.”
The architect is a country-raised boy who grew
up with the make-do or do-it-yourself ethos of the
bush. Even after almost four decades of practice,
Ric still talks with passionate conviction about his
rules of design.
His unapologetic mission is to make sustainable
houses as affordable as possible, to create “the
most efficient buildings that cost the least and that
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are enjoyable to live in. It’s about quality of life.”
Through his Queanbeyan, ACT company, Strine
Design, Ric has created a 140 square metre
“ecological machine for living” that he says can be
at lock up in a week at a cost of $250,000 for the
basic module.
“Sustainability features are about fundamentals,”
he says. “We keep it simple and affordable both in
terms of the build cost and the running costs.”
The form of the Millennium House is a strict
6.5 metres in width to afford maximum sun
penetration through to the interior north-facing
walls and floor slab. To him, “they aren’t just walls,
they’re heat collectors.”
According to his reading of environmental
physics, the best performing roof option is a curved
roof because it creates “a natural, internal thermal
cycle in which air is subtly being moved”.
Ric explains his long-evolving philosophy of
“thermal isolation” as “locking into the thermal
mass of the earth, which at about one metre down
maintains a constant temperature of about 18
degrees all year round. This makes it much easier
to maintain the house at a comfortable 20 degrees
through winter and summer.”
Having single-glazing to the north might seem
heretical to some, but to Ric it makes perfect
years ago.
Apart from the build process being “easy
sense; “We want to maximize the heat coming in on time and on budget”, they got the house
during winter.” Heat loss at night is mitigated by that they wanted, says Penny. “It’s the perfect
good quality Roman blinds; heat gain in summer is size for us. In mid August we can walk
mitigated by a pergola, blinds and solar chimneys around in t-shirts. Every room is accessible
for nighttime cooling. to the outside and we get beautiful cross-
Though the width of the Millennium House ventilation in summer.”
is fixed, it can be lengthened at the client’s It was a catalogue design, but
discretion. Canberra public servant Penny Pardoe- householders have found themselves loving
Matthews and her partner Robyn Black elongated their Millennium House so much “that we feel
their Millennium home by two small bedrooms and like it was built expressly for us. It is tailor made
an extra bathroom when they had Strine build it two and comfortable”.
Dickson residence
Designer Ric Butt, Strine Design
www.strinedesign.com.au
Location Dickson, ACT
Project type New build from
portfolio design
Cost $400,000
Photography David Somlyay
Sustainable
features
Hot water
• Rinnai 26 instant gas with Smart Start
Renewable Energy
• BP 1kW grid-connected photovoltaics with
Sunnyboy inverter, supplied and installed by
Green Frog Solar (www.greenfrogsolar.com)
Water saving
• 2 x 4500L Colorbond rainwater tanks
plumbed to garden, toilet and laundry with an
Aquasource pump that can switch between
tanks and mains (www.silvanh2o.com.au);
fully enclosed gutters
• Shutters and pergola for shade
Building Materials
• Highly insulated sandwich
constructed precast concrete panels
with insulated precast floor slabs,
supplied and installed by Strine
PASSIVE HEATING & COOLING
• Maximum thermal mass in walls and floors
with extensive north-facing glazing
• Sliding highlights for cross-ventilation
in hallway
• Solar chimneys
Glazing
• Double glazing to south, single
glazing to rest of house
the
Lighting
• CFLs throughout
Active COOLING
• Ceiling fans
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