It’s almost impossible because concreteis everywhere – in our roads andbridges, our schools, hospitals,workplaces and homes.

In fact, next to water concrete is themost consumed material on the planet.

We love concrete because it’seconomical, adaptable and, in its ownunique way, beautiful.

But it’s also a responsible choice interms of its environmental footprint.

Think about the advantages of buildingwith concrete…

Try to imagine a worldwithout concrete?

It’s strong, long-lasting and lowmaintenance.There’s something comforting about a home madefrom concrete.

It’s strong and solid. You feel safe and secure.

You also know it’s going to be there for a longtime, with little or no ongoing maintenance.

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Energy efficiency…The E House in the Canberra suburb of Watsonwas designed by Ric Butt of Strine Design toshowcase energy efficiency and thecontribution made by concrete.

Concrete walls and burnished concrete floorshave been used to maximise the thermal massinternally. The burnished floors are integrallycoloured using a pigment and have insulationinstalled around the perimeter.

Shallow pattern lines have been cut in thesurface of the floor and external paving toprovide scale to larger areas.

The external walls consist of concrete‘sandwich’ panels (with a polystyrene core),while internal walls are 100-mm-thick solidconcrete panels. Both the floor and off-formgrey concrete walls are protected with a clearsealer.

Precast panels provide unbeatable thermalmass and insulation, each being an essentialcomponent of passive solar design.

In winter, the concrete slab and walls retain theheat absorbed through north facing windows,emitting it slowly overnight and therebyheating the house. In summer, when the suntravels overhead, the concrete keeps theinternal spaces cool.

You can have a home that’s as individual as you. If you’re designing and building your dream home, concrete canhelp you create something that is not only stunningly beautiful,but absolutely unique.

Concrete can be formed into a variety of shapes. Curved and free-flowing walls - both load-bearing and feature - and good-looking,practical polished floors are easily achievable and extremely costeffective.

Concrete can also be coloured or stained and ‘seeded’ with a widerange of natural stones (even coloured glass). It can be polished,sandblasted or hand trowelled to highlight these different additivesand provide a truly bespoke finish.

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It’s a good choice for asustainable future. The longer a product lasts andthe less maintenance itrequires, the more economicalit is and the lower its impact onthe environment. Concrete issuch a product.

Concrete can make asignificant contribution todematerialisation in the home.Many architects andhomeowners love the off-form,‘natural’ grey finish of concretein walling and polished flooringapplications. It means you cando away with paint, carpets orfloating timber floors.

And concrete is virtually 100per cent recyclable. At the endof its useful life, a concretestructure can be broken up andreused – as the ‘aggregate’ fornew concrete or in applicationslike roads.

It can help lower yourenergy bills.From a home heating andcooling perspective, concrete isthe ideal walling and flooringmaterial when combined withother passive solar designprinciples.

That’s because of its inherentmass. In summer, a concretefloor or wall helps stabilise thetemperature inside your home.In winter, it stores heatcaptured from the sun andreleases it slowly at night.

This means you can reduceyour energy costs andcontribute to lower CO2

emissions.

Maintenance-free… Designed by richard szklarz architects, the award winningGibney Street residence at Cottesloe has been constructedwith materials and finishes that will withstand the harshmarine environment.

Hence off-form concrete features prominently, chosen forits maintenance-free longevity and ability to matureelegantly within its harsh surroundings.

The home features a concrete roof slab, covered on topwith white tiles to reflect the solar heat load and insulatedbelow.

Exterior concrete surfaces are sealed with clear sealer tomaintain the natural look.

An eastern concrete boundary wall encloses and connectsthe outdoor with the interior, while large glass doorsfurther enhance and promote a blurring of the connectionbetween inside, outside, house and pavilion.

Photos: David Morecombe

It resists termite attack.It’s simple – termites don’t eat concrete.

A home with significant concrete structural elements – like a slabfloor, walls, outdoor patios and paths – helps protect your valuableasset from the ravages of termite attack.It makes for a quieter home.Again, because of its mass concrete helps reduce the transmissionof sound – be it from neighbours, traffic or nature.

Innovative composite systems, combining the performance ofconcrete with other materials, can be a very economical andeffective noise dampening solution.

Concrete wall and floors are alsoparticularly good at eliminatingor significantly reducingvibration from outside sources.

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Concrete and LCALife Cycle Assessment(LCA) is a way ofmeasuring a product’senvironmental impact overits whole life, from ‘cradleto grave’.

Some LCA tools only lookat part of a product’s lifecycle – for example, fromthe acquisition of rawmaterials in the groundthrough to itsmanufacture.

But to be really useful, LCAanalysis needs to includethe operation,maintenance and finaldisposal of the product.

In the case of concrete, the‘environmental cost’ ofmaking the material is faroutweighed by the long-term benefits it provides intypical buildingapplications.

These include its durability,recyclability and lowmaintenance qualities, aswell as its thermal massqualities that can helpdrive down energyconsumption (and Co2

emissions) for heating andcooling.

It’s well suited forbuilding in areas proneto flooding, bushfireand cyclones.When designed and builtappropriately, concrete homesand buildings can easily meetthe fire and bushfire resistancecriteria in Australian buildingcodes and standards.

In a bushfire, concrete bothinsulates and resistsdeformation – even at hightemperatures. And unlike manybuilding products, it does notemit toxic fumes when subjectto extreme temperatures.

The strength and durability ofconcrete also makes it ideal forhomes and buildings in areassubject to flooding andcyclones.

It doesn’t releasetoxins in your home,and is good news forallergy sufferers.We all worry about chemicalsand toxins in the environment.Many everyday items in thehome can release these nastiesinto the air without us evenknowing.

Not concrete. It’s inherentlystable and void of any knowncarcinogens.

A polished concrete floor is alsoa safe and effective alternativeto carpet and other flooringmaterials that can harbourdust, mites and allergenparticles. (Combined with this,it’s hard-wearing and quick andeasy to clean.)

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When it comes to building ahome, most people only thinkabout concrete for footings,floor slabs, paving, outdoorpatios and the like.

There’s a reason concrete is sopopular for these applications.It’s reliable, economical andfast to work with.

But more and more architectsand homeowners are exploringways of using concrete beyondthese simple applications.

These days, you can build anall-concrete home - floor, walls,roof, or any combination – formuch less than you’d think.

You can also add beautiful,bespoke features like polishedconcrete benchtops and floors.

Insitu, off-form wallsInsitu is a term used to describeconcrete that is formed andpoured on site (as opposed toprecast, which is typicallypoured and cured in a factoryas a prefabricated element).

‘Off-form’ describes the finishthat is imparted by the timberformwork used to constructthe insitu wall.

Insitu, off-form constructionaffords enormous designflexibility. You can use it toachieve curved or stepped walls– both external and internal –and walls with unique qualitiessuch as cut-outs or cast-informs.

Concrete walls can be clad withconventional products likeplasterboard, or they can be leftin their raw, natural state – oreven stained or painted.

Concrete inthe home

Less is best…The Small House, in Sydney’s Surry Hills, demonstrates thatsize isn’t everything.

In this case, architect Domenic Alvaro of Woods BagotArchitects has designed a home with a remarkable sense ofproportion and space on a six by seven metre inner city block.

His solution was to go up four storeys, and to do that he optedto build his home entirely from high-quality precast concretewall and floor panels.

This form of construction was ideal for such a small andcongested construction site, as the panels were prefabricatedoffsite and quickly erected over a four-day period, reducingthe need for extended (and costly) road closures.

The entire structure was completed in three weeks, includingfootings, underpinning neighbouring properties, wall, floors,installation of windows and the roof.

Concrete has not only ensured good noise insulation in theinner city environment, but meets sustainability goals throughthe use of existing moulds and the incorporation of recycledmaterials into the mix.

On top of that, the large thermal mass of concrete also helpsreduce ongoing operational energy costs to heat and cool thehouse over its lifetime.

Photos: Trevor Main

Precast concrete homesThe use of prefabricatedconcrete walling systems forsingle storey dwellings isbecoming increasingly popularand widespread.

This form or construction isoften called tilt-up. Theconcrete panels are typicallypoured and cured in a factory,delivered to site and ‘tilted’ intoplace using a crane. There is noexcess building waste on site.

The big advantage of suchsystems is speed. A panelisedconcrete house can be finishedto lock-up in a fraction of thetime it takes to construct atimber-framed, brick veneerdwelling. It also providesstraight, true surfaces forfollowing trades.

Polished concrete floorsMany homes are built onconcrete slabs.

But rather than covering theslab with carpet or timber, itcan easily be adapted as anattractive, low maintenanceand cost effective finishedflooring solution.

There are a number of differentmethods and standards offinish. A highly polished finishis usually achieved by honing(machine grinding). Honingalso exposes the aggregates(stones) in the concrete,creating a highly individualisedfinish. (No two polishedconcrete floors are the same).

Concrete floors and walls canalso be coloured by addingpigment to the wet concretemix, or by applying stains, dyes,paint and surface sealers.

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Polished benchtopsMore and more designerhomes feature kitchen andbathroom benchtops ofpolished concrete.

These are usually constructedinsitu and, like concrete floors,can be integrally colouredand/or finished to a range ofdifferent surface qualities.

Not only is a concretebenchtop extremely hardwearing, but it can be very costeffective when compared tonatural or manufactured stone.

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A polishedperformer…Designed by Ric Butt, theWestgarth House in theCanberra suburb ofO’Connor is anoutstanding example ofpassive solar designharnessing the thermalefficiency of concrete.

The external walls areinsulated concrete‘sandwich’ panels(polystyrene sandwichedbetween two skins ofconcrete); the internalwalls solid concretepanels .

The house has a beige-coloured burnishedconcrete floor throughout,achieved by hand-castingand trowelling a pigmentinto the surface.

Outside, the concretepaving features saw cutsto give the appearance oflarge format pavers, andhas been coloured tomatch the internal floors.This provides a consistencyof finish that extends theliving space outdoorswhen the glass doors arerolled back and the area isopened up.

The Westgarth Houseprovides five star energybenefits, high levels ofinsulation, outstandingacoustics and total fireproof protection.

Around the homeConcrete paving, patios anddriveways aren’t what theyused to be.

The use of different colours inthe concrete mix and/orapplied finishes (such asstenciling and stamping) letsyou achieve highlyindividualised finishes thatblend with your home andenvironment.

One thing, of course, hasn’tchanged. Concrete is still oneof the fastest and mosteconomical ways to achievehard wearing, large-areaoutdoor surfaces.

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To find out more about themany ways you can useconcrete in your home, talk toyour builder or architect, orvisit www.ccaa.com.au

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