Jessica Liew on the benefits of building with Hebel

The New Old residence is a project of the architect Jessica Liew, located in Inner city Melbourne, Victoria. It offers a simple, cozy and relaxed atmosphere with bright but private living spaces.

Liew built her house with a vision to create an honest, energy efficient and practical home inspired with character provided by the natural materials used. It accommodates a double-storey dwelling with a formal living, library, cellar, study, laundry, three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a three car garage.

Among other amenities, it includes Hebel external walls on the lower level, double glazed windows and skylights, double hung ceilings, double insulated stud walls, underground water tank, hydronic slab heating and regenerative hardwood timbers all over the house. All rooms are provided with views of the garden, fishpond framed by antique Chinese screen doors and courtyard.

Hebel has helped achieve a relaxed, private home that is energy efficient, practical and working to the principle of ‘Wabi-Sabi’, the beauty of imperfection, to reflect the Liew’s belief in rawness, honesty and simplicity.

Architect Jessica Liew is recognised for her award winning designs, but she is also renowned for her ability to deliver designs that incorporate a high standard of ecological sustainability. “Hebel is performance cladding, so your money is better spent on this than a cladding that does not add value to the house performance. It is a great product to use for narrow access, as the product itself is reasonably lightweight so easy to handle but also robust,” says Jessica Liew, Plus Architecture.

An innovative masonry building product, Hebel is better to live in, boasting high acoustic absorbing properties and is a popular building material amongst homeowners who want a rendered masonry finish and a solid feel.

Hebel PowerPanels XL are made from steel reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC), a material commonly used in Germany and Japan, and perfectly suited to Australian conditions.

Hebel holds Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) accreditation, which means compared to other masonry products it has significantly less greenhouse gas emissions and less embodied energy.

One of the benefits of Hebel’s unique aerated concrete design is its fantastic insulation performance that is up to three times that of brick. Combined with smart design, this thermal efficiency can mean reducing a reliance on heating and cooling appliances and potentially improving costly energy bills.

Liew has created a new dwelling for a modern lifestyle but with the charm of an old home, a house with personality and familiarity which smartly blends elements of sustainability, warmth and luxury.

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