SCHOOL ZONES:
Greenhithe Primary, Albany Junior High, Albany Senior High.
CONTACT:
Jeff Wagg, Bayleys, 0274 993 216.
Energy efficiency was just as important as building a comfortable family home for Phillip and Candice Corboy when they bought into a Greenhithe subdivision.
The site of their new home was an old orchard that Thornton Estates was developing for housing and it allowed the couple to move from their home in "new Greenhithe" to "old Greenhithe", closer to the school for their two children.
When the home was built in 2007, it was before the new building code came in but the couple insisted on double glazing, as well as solar hot water and LED lighting. An industrial grade heat pump powers the hydronic heating in the home's concrete floors, which also benefit from passive solar gain.
As Phillip says: "Trying to incorporate things that were as energy efficient as possible was something of a crusade I was having at the time."
For Candice, the roomy sections with mature trees retained as part of the landscaping were a big attraction.
"Coming from a section where everything had been flattened it was great to see established trees all around, and they are home to wood pigeon and tui."
While Phillip was demanding energy efficiency, one of Candice's must-haves was a "double kitchen".
"Instead of having just a butler's pantry, I thought why not go the whole hog," says Candice. "At our other house I was forever trying to clean up when we had people over for Christmas or for dinner but with this I can just shut all the mess away and worry about it later." In this home, the kitchen, with stone-topped breakfast bar, is another entertaining space in an open plan living area. The second, fully equipped kitchen is a walk-through space accessed via cavity sliders at either end of the main kitchen.
Radiating off the kitchen/family room are the other living spaces with lounges flanking and sheltering an outdoor entertaining area covered by a louvred roof.
Image 1 of 6: The environment was part of the plan. Photos / Ted Baghurst
The eastern lounge has been set up as a media room with built-in sound system and is noise lined. The western lounge is more of a formal space and has a gas fire. All these spaces open out to the north-facing pool area via bifold doors.
A servery sits between the kitchen and an adjoining dining space, which opens to a western patio with outdoor furniture. It was important to the couple that the living spaces open outdoors to patios.
Although the couple went for high-tech in a lot of respects, they stuck with traditional methods when it came to the construction of the house, which has a gabled roofline with eaves over a mix of weatherboard cladding and plastered brick.
In the southwestern corner of the home, a guest wing has two bedrooms that share a bathroom.
From the double-height foyer you can move through to the laundry and on to the double garage or head upstairs using the generous staircase.
On the top level there are four bedrooms, one each for their son and daughter and one set up as an office.
The master bedroom overlooks the pool and has a walk-in wardrobe on the way to the en suite.
Candice's love of gardening shows through in the grounds, with clipped hedges and trees bordering the lawn.
And that's part of the reason they are moving to a 2ha property at Stillwater that will also give the children more space.
Candice says: "I loved the country lifestyle as a child and I'm looking forward to going back to that."
Phillip doesn't miss out; the property's six-car garaging means he can indulge his interest in cars -- and he'll have somewhere to keep the ride-on mower that he concedes he will inevitably need at the new property.
