Auckland accountant Roydon Gilmour and his wife, Rosemary, were determined to create a single level home with high sound and temperature insulation qualities that was environmentally friendly but without spending substantially more than a conventional home.

The aim was to achieve a durable and sustainable home that impacted minimally on the environment, using established building systems, fresh water collection, modern waste water treatment and solar heating.

The section had a moderate downwards slope to the North which resulted in the need for a 48 metre curved retaining wall rising to a maximum height of 2.4 metres. The system of retaining wall developed by Reids for the site was a unique pre-tensioned, mortarless, solid fill, hollow stone block wall which was made possible by Reidbar systems and technology. 

The net result was a very fast construction system resulting in an attractive masonry retaining wall.

For the house, given the concerns associated with leaky homes and the desire for non-flammable materials, concrete was the obvious choice.

The insulation problem was solved with the Nirvana System offered by Reid Construction Systems.  This System has been availble in New Zealand for the last 8 years, but has not yet been used extensively for domestic housing.

Because of the structure of the panels it makes the most of the thermal and acoustic advantages of concrete while designing around issues faced with unwanted dew points or thermal bridges in the wall sections.  It also makes use of the thermal mass properties of concrete that flattens out the temperature range within the living environment.