MWa Latest News

Architectural Renovation: When Opportunity meets Planning

Are you feeling inundated with short-term economic news that’s casting a shadow of uncertainty over your long term plans for an architectural renovation? 

This quote is a great reminder that enduring success (aka “good fortune”) is often the result of perseverance and long term vision.

If you are contemplating an architectural renovation or build of your future home, now is a great time to make a start.

Lets us help you embrace the future with determination, and plan for that future with a vision crafted by MWa. 

A great project often takes two years to incubate, document and construct.  Where do you see yourself in 2024 & 2025?  The second half of 2023 is your opportunity to start turning those thoughts into a reality.

We believe that construction will remain incredibly busy up til the end of the year, however our opinion is that the next few years will be a more competitive market.  How well placed are you, to seize this opportunity? 

Instead of being disheartened by short-term challenges, let’s use this time to refine our ideas, explore innovative design concepts and engage in constructive discussions about architectural renovations.

At MWa, we remain committed to assisting you in turning your dreams into tangible structures that stand the test of time.  We firmly believe that architecture is not merely about constructing buildings; it is about creating spaces that inspire, comfort and uplift those who inhabit them.

So, let us  stay focused on the future we envision, knowing that good fortune will indeed smile upon us when we combine opportunity with planning.  Together, we can navigate these uncertain waters and emerge stronger, with beautifully renovated home and thoughtfully created new constructions that reflect the resilience of our shared vision.

Contact us for a constructive discussion.  Good design starts with a good conversation.

Michelle & Danielle

contact us via our website, via email or call 0410 881 110.

Collaboration & Vision: Three Years in the Making

Collaboration & Vision: Three Years in the Making. Working with MWa.

We are delighted to show off a drone video of a current MWa project.  Three years in the making and it’s almost finished.

The project is a family of new agricultural buildings, set into the established landscape of a semi-rural site on Sydney’s northern beaches.

The new buildings are overlooked by an existing dwelling and surrounded by grazing horses, some sheep and an ostentation of peacocks.

The works include internal renovations to the existing family home including a newly located kitchen, with new windows overlooking the site and the new buildings.   The house is also gaining a new outdoor pavilion for outdoor living and a pool renovation.  Still to be completed – the exterior painting of the existing house and the landscaping.

The drone video was commissioned by the roofing company – Bailey Metal Roofing and sent to us from the builder, James Tulloch of JTB Building.

We know it’s special when a sub contractor is proud enough to make a video of their good work!

The agricultural buildings are clad with a structurally insulated panel by Arcpanel used for the walls and the roofing, to ensure the buildings perform well thermally and remain predominantly cool in the summer months.

Collaboration and Vision are the reason behind this project’s success, and are at the heart of how we work at MWa.

Collaboration with the client, who from the outset was committed to finding the right solution for the buildings in the landscape, making sure the new buildings were going to enhance the site, and not detract.  The client who was consistent in their decision making, based on design quality and building craft.

Collaboration with the design consultants such as Peninsula Consulting Engineers  as the structural engineer, to develop the steel portal frame system with metal boxspan  as secondary framing, to support the arcpanel.

Collaboration with the suppliers Arcpanel, to resolve the details on how to use of the panels as walling, for which there were no standard manufacture’s installation details.

Collaboration with the builder, James Tulloch of JTB Building, whose dedication to the pursuit of quality and details has been meticulous and thorough.  With his guidance and collaboration with the sub contractors, such as Bailey Metal Roofing, and the other trades – earthmoving, concrete, steel fabricators, windows & doors, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, painting, joinery – the agricultural buildings have come together as beautiful and elegant structures.

And VISION.  Behind the collaboration, providing leadership and direction, the vision has been clear.

MWa’s design approach = Collaboration and Vision.

2020 The Year of Home

2020 The Year of Home

Please watch our MWa short video showcasing a collection of built projects and projects on the drawing board from this past year.

A huge thank you to everyone involved in our projects this year: our clients, consultants, builders, trades, suppliers & design colleagues.

The year everyone stayed home more.  The year everyone appreciated home more than before.  The year everyone slowed down, to think and plan a way forward.

2020 has been a great year for MWa.

Who knew that we would find ourselves at the end of this strange year,  having been busier than ever?

We have spent the year grateful for our work, for the chance to provide services to our clients and to work with the dedicated consultants, builders and suppliers who make up the MWa network.

We have enjoyed getting on with what we each do best and contributing to the outcomes on-site, in renovating older houses to meet contemporary living standards.

This year’s work took us all across the north side of Sydney, from Manly to Fairlight, Queenscliff, Balgowlah Heights, North Balgowlah, Mosman, Cremorne, Cammeray, Wahroonga, Middle Cove, Terrey Hills and south to  the Wollongong Council area.

We’ve had five projects get to on-site construction this year, with a great line up coming up for next year also.

If you are contemplating making a significant change to your home in 2021, we can help.  Call us on 0421 088 110 to find out more and to book an on-site consultation.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

&

HERE’S TO A CONSTRUTIVE 2021

MAKE YOUR PLACE

MAKE YOUR PLACE with MWa.

Here’s a photograph of me in my favourite place.  (The photo is taken by my friend and neighbour, Marion Wheeler @marionwheelerphoto)

It’s my bedroom and temporary-post-covid-office, and it brings me pleasure every day to use it and be in it, almost all the time of the day and night right now!

What makes it so good and so satisfying?

The room is a soothing place, which feels and looks just right.  It’s generous and well proportioned.  It’s calm.  It’s uncluttered.  And if feels comfortable and pleasant.

Funtionally, the room does many things.  It has a long stone ledge built in across the width of the room, a large picture window, a fireplace, a built in bookshelf, a favourite chair, a soft rug, a place to hang artwork.  And a comfy king bed and a very well used desk.

Spatially, the bedroom opens out onto a private outdoor room, so the room expands, and offers me views when I want them; to the sky, to the porch, the front garden, the front gate and the street.

In terms of amenity and comfort, it has a sliding door to close off noise from the robe and bathroom, and the rest of the noisy family house.  The room can be made dark for sleeping, with internal and external blinds.  It’s private, as the windows are strategically placed to make sure no one sees in while driving down the street, even if all the shutters are open and the blinds are up.  It has louvre windows placed on two sides of the room and a sliding door to the porch on the third side, to capture the predominant south westerly breezes.  And the windows and door have flyscreens, to keep the files and mozzies out.  It has a fireplace for coziness and warmth, and a huge ceiling fan for coolth.

Physically, the room has satisfying and textural materials – oak floor, hardwood expressed beams, white ceiling lining boards, a textured cement render finish to the fireplace.  The internal timbers and stone match the external materials of the home.

Visually, it looks looks right to me, which is incredibly important to my optimum wellbeing, as a predominantly visual person.  The room has some drama, with the dark expressed beams, a vertical masonry chimney breast, a horizontal stone clad ledge, all of which is highlighted at night with lighting.

The room is operable and responsive to changes of use,  the time of day, the weather and the seasons.

I love it and I count myself so lucky to have been able to create this space for myself.  To make this place.

So, all this in one room?

A bedroom is not just a rectangle on a plan.

A good room requires consideration and care in its design.

A good room can be a great place.

What’s your favourite place at your home?

Where do you feel the most at home?

What is that feeling like?

If you don’t yet have a place that feels right, what needs to be done to get there and what’s it worth?

Make your place, with MWa.

Call 0421 088 110 to discuss your project and book an on-site consultation.

IT’S NOT ABOUT STYLE

When it comes to residential architecture, I say it’s not about style.

I prefer to use the word character.

The difference is that the character of a building or of a home, can be, just like as in people, individual, authentic and unique.

Style is about something that has been before and has been established by someone else.  The styles we know usually have some great graphic or image which is a typical to that period of time.

The character of your new or renovated home will be the result of many specific factors, and it should be of its time.

Character lets new work be a contemporary solution to suit today’s values, with references to the past.

So don’t get hung up on defining your style before you talk with an architect.  Otherwise you’ll likely be bogged down with words like Hamptons, Classic, Coastal, Contemporary, Minimalist, Mid Century Modern, Federation, Traditional, Art Deco, Arts and Crafts – all of which may just not be relevant and may be a distraction.

All MWa’s projects have a different character, as all have a different sense of place and sense of home.

We make our homes feel like they were always meant to be that way.  

If you like the sound of this, find out more on our website.

Or do it the old fashioned way and pick up the phone and talk to us on 0421 082 110.

No need to talk about style, just talk to us about what you need from your home and what you would like it to feel like.

WHERE ARE WE AT, RIGHT NOW, WITH BUILDING?

Image taken on-site at a current residential alterations & addition in Sydney’s north – 27.03.20 (photo taken by the foreman and emailed to the MWa office)

Where are we at, right now with building, in Sydney?

I’ve had a couple of calls within the last 24 hours, to tap into a wealth of resources – my good colleagues within the architecture, planning & building industry, to get the lay of the land for this week (start of April 2020).

Where are we at, right now, with building?

And how might the Covid-19 crisis affect our MWa newtork of clients, consultants, builders and trades?

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY GENERALLY

Right now, the construction industry is an essential service and such a significant employer within NSW, that the focus is on keeping workers healthy and safe in their workplaces, so building can continue.

Government, industry and the unions are working together with the common goal of keeping work flowing with health of all as a first priority.  Site specific physical controls like teams / shifts to maintain separation, temperature testing upon arrival at work, and driving to work to reduce public transport and distancing – are just some examples of measures being taken. Overnight, the government has extended potential work hours for some sites to seven days.  The decision regarding closures of construction sites or sectors is with the NSW Dept of Health.

LOCAL BUILDERS AND TRADES

A reminder that all the labour on a building site is local, and as such, 100% handmade & 100% Australian.

Our residential builders are continuing to continue work on residential new builds and alterations and additions, where the home is vacant and is not occupied by the owners.

Our residential builders are still busy with client meetings as calls/skye/zoom, organising their projects, providing advice, costings and tenders – managing for now and planning for the future.

MATERIALS & SUPPLIES

Our residential builders have not yet come across any supply issues.

There is some evidence of the supply chain is being affected on large developments and commercial building sites, but at the moment, this is limited to specific types of items (ie facades).

My inbox is being flooded with updates from residential suppliers that are well stocked, and assuring us of production capacity for products which are made locally.  It’s actually a great reminder to know how much building material and manufacturing is Australian  – from Bluescope Steel, to ArcPanel Structurally Insulated Panels, weatherboard cladding like Weathertex, Intrim Timber Mouldings, to name a few.

Suppliers who have shopfronts are still there, behind the scenes, assisting and taking orders.  Suppliers who provide design & specification & shop drawings are still doing so.

DESIGN CONSULTANTS

Our design consultants, that includes us as the architects plus our surveyors, stormwater engineer, structural engineer, landscape architect, town planner, independent certifier, BASIX consultants and the list goes on, are all still working, albeit from home offices, keeping a safe distance but staying well connected.

At MWa, we are working now in our “satellite” offices (rather than our “headquarters”), and are continuing to document for the construction, receiving tenders,  marking up joinery shop drawings, assessing progress claims for projects under construction, liaising with consultants, following up with Council on current DAs being assessed, and designing some fine new interiors.  And we just received a Final Occupation Certificate from a Certifier – always a cause for celebration in architecture land.

LOCAL COUNCIL AND DAs

Our local councils are still open for business and accepting Development Applications – and some have brought forward the 1 July 2020 deadline for acceptance of on-line DA submissions, a huge change and step forward for these organisations.  Physical copies of planning documents for public notification are no longer required.

NSW Dept of PLANNING

The NSW Dept of Planning has introduced a raft of new legislation to respond to Covid-19 which includes, among other things,  the extension of work hours on construction sites to accommodate social distancing, the operating hours of home businesses and the definitions of home occupations are relaxed slightly to permit a small number of employees to be part of a home occupation.

CONCLUSION

For us all right now, health and safety is the priority, obviously.

Second to that, economic survival and being able to get on with our jobs is the goal.

Let’s focus on what we can control and work through this together.

Good things take time.  During this crisis, use time productively to design / approve / document your home and takes steps towards  beyond #stayathome.

Talk to us on 0421 088 110.

HOME SWEET HOME: Beyond #stayathome

Home Sweet Home: Beyond #stayathome

In the past few months here in Australia, the importance of home has come to the fore of our existence, probably as many of us have never experienced.

Through the bushfires, our homes under threat and in some cases lost, to our connections with our physical place in the world (be it our land and our communities), to the collective retreat into our homes for health and safety, our homes are our castles.

If we didn’t already value our homes enough, maybe our focus moving forward will be more inward, home based and sustainable.

With the health and economic challenges for everyone beyond this crisis, what will this mean for residential architecture?

I predict our homes will have to work harder for us.

Our focus will sharpen as our resources are stretched.

We will be looking for ways to fortify our castle, to protect and to provide for ourselves and our families.

We will want homes which can adapt and respond to changes over time.

We will continue to need more flexibility to work from home.

We will need more capacity for multi generational living, to care for the younger and the older generations of our families.

We will need our homes to provide for us a solution to our affordability crisis, be that more space for multi generational living, flexible use space, a secondary dwelling or a sub division of land.

We will need more sustainable homes in terms of power, energy, water efficiency and productive land.

We will need our homes, as our largest financial assets, to be at their maximum capacity in terms of potential income, value & saleability, in the event it needs to be traded.

We need more comfort at home, in terms of shelter, shade, warmth, sunlight, daylight, inside & outside living and our gardens.

We will need connectivity (digital connectivity as well as transport).

And we will need our neighbours.

This is what good urban design, good neighbourhood planning and good residential architecture is all about.

If you are seeing the future of your home, and would like to move it forward, we can help.

Plan for the future now, beyond #stayathome.

Talk to us on 04221 088 110.

DUAL OCCUPANCY – STRATA?

DUAL OCCUPANCY – STRATA?  

MWa are low rise, medium density, housing specialists and this includes the type of housing known as Dual Occupancy.

Dual Occupancy in NSW is a type of residential land use, is defined in the model State Environmental Planning Policy and is included in local Council’s Local Environment Plan (LEPs) as follows:

A Dual Occupancy is:

• a type of residential accommodation
• dual occupancy means 2 dwellings on one lot of land that are attached to each other but does not include a secondary dwelling
• a dual occupancy can be either dual occupancy (attached) or a dual occupancy (detached) – see the above diagram which shows the difference

So, a dual occupancy is typically two dwellings built on the same lot of land (Torrens title), owned by one owner and this means the two dwellings cannot be separately owned or separately sold.

However:

• a dual occupancy can be sub divided by the creation of a Strata Scheme (this includes the creation of individual strata lots which can be owned by seperate individuals and the creation of common property owned by the Owners Corporation), and
• in some councils in NSW, the minimum sub division lot size does not apply in relation to land which is strata sub divided or community title

This can offer a huge advantage for those who wish to create two dwellings and be able to sell one and maintain ownership of the other.

The two dwellings can be attached or detached, side by side or one on top of each other, and the dwellings can be one or two stories (subject to the relevant planning development controls).  The seperate dwellings in the strata will also require seperate utility services.

We have frequent requests from prospective purchasers and clients who are interested in a Dual Occupancy, but are not exactly sure what’s permissible, possible or prudent for their site.  Refer to MWa’s articles: What is a Dual Occupancy?   and   The 3 Ps: Permissible, Possible & Prudent.

Dual Occupancy’s are not the same as adding a Secondary Dwelling (or a granny flat), so its also worth considering what’s permissible, possible and prudent under these seperate controls  – refer to MWa’s article: Secondary Dwellings Explained

MWa can assist with a Feasibility Study to assess the site against the relevant development standards which apply for a Dual Occupancy and these may include minimum width, maximum height, maximum floor space ratio, setbacks, provision of open space and landscape open space, private open space, parking etc.  This type of assessment starts with a detailed site survey of the site.

To find out more, talk to us on 0421 088 110 or book an Initial Consultation $400+GST.