Building a new storey provides space for one family to come together
WORDS EMILY BROOKS PHOTOGRAPHY MARNIE HAWSON/LIVING INSIDE
In 2003, Jason and Yvette Harbinson bought a single-storey new-build in the Warrandyte suburb of Melbourne, Australia. ‘It has unique features such as the rammed-earth walls,’ says Yvette. ‘They’re formed by compressing gravel, sand and silt in formwork panels.’
Twenty years ago, they moved into the property with Jason’s daughter Jordan, 30, and went on to have three more children – Odin, 18, Phin, 16, and Freya, 13 – refurbishing the house as necessary over the decades. But the couple really wanted a spacious family room, and began planning for a first-floor extension. Jason, 55, and Yvette, 46, run a sustainable manufacturing business and are keen to follow the same eco-friendly ethos at home. Yvette wanted structural insulated panels (SIPs) construction for the extension. ‘I like that SIPs are made from reconstituted materials and we thought, despite the high price, their speed of construction would be cost effective,’ she says.
They didn’t have to look far to find a contractor with experience in building with SIPs. ‘Hamish White’s parents are our neighbours,’ explains Yvette. ‘He came over for our Christmas party, we got talking and everything went from there.’ A local draughtsman drew up their ideas into workable plans, but planning permission was refused due to concerns over the extension’s appearance in relation to other properties in the area and the fact that it was too close to the plot’s boundary. ‘We did everything to make it blend in nicely, and our neighbours were completely on board,’ says Yvette. ‘So we sought advice from an independent planning consultant, who got approval with no changes to our plans.’
The build started in November 2020, soon after the lifting of Covid lockdown restrictions, though limitations on the number of trades on site and supply chain disruptions continued. Nonetheless, progress ran to schedule, even with the family living in their home throughout the build.
Structurally independent of the timber-frame house, the extension is steel frame with columns embedded in concrete pads. The SIPs infill the frame, while the floors are cross-laminated timber (CLT) and the window frames are black UPVC. ‘We went away for a couple of days and when we came back, the extension was all up,’ says Yvette
