ENV Design

Working with Stephen from ENV Design has been awesome. We engaged Stephen to design our passive house knockdown/rebuild. Stephen took us all the way from initial concept design through to full house plans including detailed technical drawings. He guided the project flawlessly though the DA and drew up the comprehensive tender specifications for the builders. We aren’t the easiest clients in the world to work with either – wanting to build to the strict German Passivhaus standard (the ultimate benchmark for energy efficiency and thermal comfort) and incorporate a bunch of sustainable ideas like using strawbale wall panels for the ground floor. Stephen is a great listener and took on all our ideas (and our many changes – sorry Stephen!), providing smart options for integrating them into the design. He also frankly (but tactfully) laid out the benefits and downsides so we could make educated decisions. And if Stephen didn’t immediately know the answer to our questions, he would follow it up and find it out. Stephen also has an excellent eye for the aesthetics of the house and came up with great solutions to give the house great form, not just function. Stephen’s friendly manner and great communications has made the whole process an absolute pleasure. We can’t recommend him highly enough.

ENV Designs was engaged for our project after a going through a variety of architectural firms. Stephen made us feel comfortable from our first meeting and fit our brief to a tee with a focus of designing a sustainable home with environmentally sensible materials, finishes and consideration of the setting in the landscape.We really appreciated Stephen carefully taking us through the different design phases and was very flexible in terms of delivery options and timing. Throughout the stages, Stephen was very patient with us and with each stage being a checkpoint gave us the time and flexibility to refine and evolve the design.The home was also designed in conjunction with a Passive House Consultant in which Stephen worked well with offering pragmatic solutions without compromising the design intent. Each detail was covered and documented making it easy to read and understand.In summary, Stephen designed a beautiful home, and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome. Already have and will continue to recommend Stephen from ENV designs in future.