To understand the complexity and skills involved in this impressive restoration project, you have to understand what the builders and owners had to overcome. From the road, the bush-cocooned property above the sea can only be accessed by cable car, so materials had to be moved onto site by the car, a client-built barge or trailer along Cockle Bay at low tide. Everything, including two 250kg Japanese baths and full-height bathroom tiles in the 350k grated cable car, required precise coordination. Concrete? That was pumped through a 100m line down the steep hillside. Blockages required the team to scale the cliff to clear them. As if that wasn’t enough, the 180sqm house is in a Sensitive Ecological Zone and the clients continued to live there during the restoration.

Originally, the house was tired and damp, but the decision was made to restore and upgrade it to cut emissions and waste. The cladding was refined with new battens and updated facings and painted in an earthy colour for a more contemporary feel and to comply with local restrictions. Highperforming joinery with low-e double glazing and fully insulated cavity roof and wall systems have transformed the south-east oriented house into a warm and durable four-bedroom, two-bathroom seaside home. Despite its herculean challenges, collaboration and trust were the hallmarks of this 18-month renovation designed by architect Reginald Baker.