58 59

FlindersIslandresidence Designer Stephen Sainsbury, EcoShelta Location Flinders Island, TAS Projecttype Prefabricatedmodular house Cost $455,000

Photography Tim Dubb

HOTWATER

• Customised solar system with wood-burning stove for boosting in winter

WATERSAVING

• Greywater diversion to holding tank and garden using irrigation pumpout system; 2 x 22,000L rainwater tanks with filtration and pump supply to 2000L gravity feed header tank

BUILDINGMATERIALS

• Plantation pine framing, recycled timber window frames

THERMALPERFORMANCE

• Passive solar; breezeway ventilation

Sustainable features GLAZING

• Pilkington 6.38mm clear laminate

LIGHTING

• Crompton Lightstar CFL downlights

ACTIVEHEATING

• Saxon wood heater with fan-driven ducting system to heat other rooms. Uses windfall timber from property

PAINTS/FINISHES

• No paints. Organoil to timber, olive oil to kitchen benches

Prestige prefabModscape raises the style stakes

by toby Horrocks

59

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Modscape have been selling prefabricated

houses for three years and sit proudly at the

prestige end of the market. “We are not just about

meeting the minimum,” says director Jan Gyrn.

“We start with a fully welded steel frame. It

is seriously over-designed when it ends up at its

destination.” The Modscape steel frame makes the

houses robust and portable. Frames get an instant

cyclone rating and can stack as high as six or seven

storeys. The frames can also cantilever (overhang)

two or three metres without needing a supporting

column. Their standard footing is a steel screw pile,

which minimises site disruption and doesn’t need

any concrete or termite treatment.

Whatisascrewpile?A screw pile is a deep foundation that, as its name suggests, is screwed into the ground, rather as a timber screw is screwed into a plank. The benefit of using pile foundations over shallow “slab” foundations is that they are generally quicker to install and require less soil to be removed. Screw piles, moreover, do not need to go as deep as driven piles and also cause fewer vibrations during installation.

We start with a fully welded steel frame. It is seriously over-designed when it ends up at its destination

The walls, floor and ceiling of Modscape houses

comprise two metal skins with a high-density

polystyrene core for insulation. The polystyrene

compensates for one of the main drawbacks of

lightweight construction – low insulation values –

but does pose the problem of waste and

recyclability. Jan Gyrn says Modscape have gotten

around this by sending waste polystyrene to

China, to come back as plastic chairs.

North and west walls are designed with an air

gap for additional insulation, and the gap doubles

as a recess for north-facing sliding glass doors.

The resulting R values are impressive: the roof is

R5.7, walls are R3.7, and the floor is R2.5.

Modscape’s Merricks house

was delivered with 13 trucks and

25 workers, and installed in 13 hours

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Made to orderPrebuilt modular houses

by toby Horrocks

63

Merricksresidence Designer Modscape Location Merricks, VIC Projecttype Prefabricated house Cost $550,000

Photography Peter Glenane

WATERSAVING• Bluescope Corrugated Zincalume

8800L rainwater tank

PASSIVEHEATING&COOLING• Austral insulated panel R3.7

and Aircell R2.0

ACTIVEHEATING&COOLING

• Futura ceiling fans

BUILDINGMATERIALS

• Recycled blackbutt timber from Urban Salvage

• Embeltons strand-woven bamboo flooring

LIGHTING• Philips Lumiled LEDs

PAINTS&FINISHES• Berger Breath Easy low-VOC paints

The Merricks house was delivered with 13

trucks and 25 workers; 13 hours later it was

fully installed, with services connected the next

day. The homeowners were delighted.

“We’d done big renovations before, and the

savings in time, effort and hassle with

prefabrication are amazing.”

Strand-woven bamboo flooring, used throughout the home, is dense and hard wearing