Going with the flow

Fiona and Steve’s rejuvenated Brisbane home features a new multi-use room as well as clever water management and landscaping to handle overland flow.

Right on the river, the Brisbane suburb of Yeronga has seen its fair share of floods. Steve and Fiona are long-time local residents: “We were living in the area in 2011 and were aware of the characteristics of that flood,” says Steve. “We’re very fortunate that our current house is on higher ground so we don’t have to deal with Brisbane River flooding, but it has an overland flow overlay associated with a gully across the back third of the property.”

What might have dissuaded other buyers, though, hydro engineer Steve saw as an opportunity and a challenge. “You can look at the overland flow path in two ways – as a constraint, or as a natural feature that’s an asset,” he says. “Such a path is a vegetation corridor and a fauna movement corridor. If you don’t put structures that can get damaged in it, then it’s a fantastic bit of landscape.”

Stormwater management and landscaping to accommodate the overland flow were important aspects of the couple’s renovation plan for their little worker’s cottage – along with making the spaces more useable, removing the air conditioning, and reducing energy use. “The house was pretty small, with minimal insulation,” Steve says. “In particular, the living space on the west was blisteringly hot in summer, which wasn’t helped
by paving all down the west side of the house.”

Working with architect Tim Bennetton, Fiona and Steve settled on a plan that involved the removal of a couple of internal walls, a small pop-out to the west to extend the living area and accommodate a new laundry, and an airy semi-attached pavilion extension to the rear that has been deliberately designed to fulfill many functions. “It can be a home office, a music room, a craft studio or a guest bedroom,” says Fiona. There is a fold-down wall bed with a screening curtain that can be pivoted to run across the space for privacy. “It’s about making spaces work harder, rather than adding more rooms,” explains Tim.

The new floor plan, plus extensive operable windows and shutters, catches breezes from every angle. “We added insulation and what we call ‘vent boxes’
to the western side of the existing house,” Tim says. “These plus new adjustable slatted awnings allow the whole house to breathe while blocking the hot western sun, and meant we could keep the existing windows.” Fiona says that the house is much more liveable in summer now, even without air conditioning. “It’s only on the hottest days that the humidity can become a challenge.”

Outside, the western paving was removed and replaced with permeable surfaces and planting, helping to cool the house and reduce stormwater runoff. A 22,000-litre tank buried beneath the front courtyard captures almost all the rainwater falling on the roof; thanks to the fall of the block towards the rear, the overflow from the tank is directed to a raingarden in the backyard where it’s filtered and dispersed. A handful of times a year it rains heavily enough for the raingarden to overflow too.

Steve and Fiona reinstated a creek bed across the back of the property, planting around it with bird-attracting local species. “Four years on, it’s really starting to take shape,” says Steve. “The creek is dry most of the time, but when we get
a lot of heavy rain it turns into a bit of a billabong.”

He points out that the rocks and plants slow down the water flow, reducing erosion and allowing sediment to settle. “It works brilliantly. It causes us zero stress when there’s rain coming. The water in the backyard doesn’t cause any damage – that bit of the garden enjoys it.”

Tim agrees, and encourages all his clients to think about managing overland flow in this way: “When designed properly, you get to experience a seasonal stream that is attractive, useful and celebrates the different seasons.”