Couple's home offers year-round comfort

Kerrie Moore and Gerard Frawley endured 10 freezing winters and an equal number of sweltering summers in an old Narrabundah govie before they decided on a sustainable building future.

“It was one of those ’50s monocrete homes that either chilled you to the bone or baked you,” Gerard says.

The couple debated a number of options before they decided to remain on their Captain Cook Crescent block and build a home that would be comfortable year-round.

Their search for the right team to achieve the goal brought them to Jigsaw Housing, now Light House Architecture and Science.

“We learned that a sustainable home is not necessarily an expensive one,” Gerard says.

“Much of the secret is in the orientation on the block and the final design, along with the selection of building materials.”

Gerard and Kerrie and their two children now live in a light-filled, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home that wraps around a central courtyard, allowing winter sunshine to penetrate both the living and sleeping wings.

“The internal temperature is much more stable and there’s been a noticeable drop in electricity bills,” Gerard says.