Our Environmental Philosophy

We are Green. We love Carbon reducing, carbon neutral or low carbon impact solutions and actively pursue the skills to implement and work with the best, most cost effective solutions or materials available when it comes to our building work.

In home building and renovations, the opportunity to make the most impact environmentally and financially comes before you start to draw your plans.

Most of the really sensible environmentally friendly actions/things you can do are virtually free, however reducing your carbon footprint and living an environmentally friendly lifestyle is not achieved in a single step. It will always be the result of many small decisions and choices. Especially in building homes.

It begins with an awareness that every house – no matter where, no matter what it is built of, how old or how new – can be improved with some careful thinking. Any Australian home can be better environmentally and the add-on benefits for you and your wallet are enormous.

Building with the environment in mind begins by becoming aware of the space around you. By that we mean considering where the sun rises and sets, where the shadows are and where the wind comes from. None of this is new or high tech but a lot of it has simply been lost in the budgetary pressure we encounter when we look at building in the 21st Century. However, much can be achieved at very, very little cost.

For example, we were asked by a couple to recommend an air conditioner for their small suburban house on a battle-axe block. The couple had installed a solar hot water heater and were keen to go for an environmentally friendly option. We responded with a simple design to create passive cooling using a prevailing wind, the location of shade trees and a small solar powered water feature. No Carbon consumed. No mechanical components to be repaired and replaced. The project cost the couple very little to install and has $0 ongoing running costs. As a result of this, the couple now have a refreshingly cool space to live in during the Summer, spent less on installation than they would have to purchase an air conditioner and don’t have to worry about rising electrical costs.

In another example we carefully designed and built a new cottage in the Southern Highlands to take advantage of the sun. We tweaked the orientation, used a combination of shaded double-glazing and Clerestory windows, thermal sink flooring, insulated slab and good insulation. A delighted owner informed us that the home stayed around 20 degrees all winter – without heating.

Ken Longshaw, our lead team member and Licensed Builder, believes he should walk the Green path – not just talk about it. Over the past thirty years he has taken particular interest in finding sensible, eco-friendly building alternatives that save your wallet and are easy on our environment. This included obtaining a Master Builder’s Certification as a Green Builder, researching and building Straw Bale homes and working with modern material technology and Passivhaus design principals to achieve suitable home environments for his clients. He and his family live in a low carbon, Straw Bale home he built in the Southern Highlands and the family actively pursues a low environment impact life, as far as is practical and sensible.

To find out how we can make a difference to your carbon footprint please make an appointment to chat with us. We are always happy to discuss economical options for making homes greener. Also please take a look at some of the Client Journeys available on our website.

Longshaw Construction

Where Personalised Innovation Meets Sustainability.