Join Jenny Edwards and take a stroll around low carbon Blackburn House.

Like Little Loft House, this project is a rejection of the ‘disposable’ mindset and breathes new life into a home that many would have demolished in favour of rebuilding. What was an classic, inefficient, 1960s ex-govie is now a beautiful, comfortable, energy efficient, low-carbon family home.

Working mainly within the original footprint, the existing external walls, roof and floor were all largely retained. The floor plan was modified and extended by just 21m2 to create a new family 145m2 home with four bedrooms, two living areas and better connection to the front and back yards.

The original house had an energy efficiency rating (EER) of only 3 stars; the new home achieved a rating of 7.7 stars. Blackburn is now an all-electric home with the heating, hot water and cooking all converted from gas to electric.

This functional, comfortable, and now beautiful, home is 33% smaller, and uses 80% less energy, than the average new Canberra house. In fact, with its 10kW solar system on the roof, electric car and battery, this home is producing far more electricity than they use across a year.