Revolutionary fireproof eco home

After Dan Zeidan lost his property to a bush fire, he and his partner decided to build a revolutionary fireproof eco home – the result doesn’t disappoint.

Names Dan Zeidan and Vicky Kordatou
Location Kinglake, Victoria, Australia
Property Innovative zero-waste house
Bedrooms 3
Bathrooms 2
Project started July 2014
Project finished May 2015
Build cost AUD$605,000 (approx £360,280)

Seven years ago, Victoria was subjected to the worst bush fires in Australia’s recorded history. During what has become known as Black Saturday, chef and restaurateur Dan Zeidan witnessed this devastation first-hand, when his Kinglake property was burnt to the ground.

In 2014 Dan returned to the area with his partner, Vicky Kordatou, and put together a plan to build a groundbreaking sustainable and fireproof home.

Building a house that can be recycled is a task in itself,
 but add to that the necessity for fire-resistant materials and you have a challenge on your hands. One that Dan began undertaking many years ago while on the search for the right person to help him make this sustainable structure a reality;
 a quest that intensified once he found that his dream plot had come on the market.

‘I drove past this spot for years thinking “I would love to see this view from a beautiful house”,’
says Dan. ‘Not long after the fires, it came up for sale
and I decided to move.’

Dan and Vicky called on the expertise of sustainability expert and eco designer Joost Bakker, who adapted his own home’s design to suit the couple. ‘When you spend time in recycling yards, you realise how many problems we create by not thinking about the end result, so I designed a house from completion and worked backwards to the start,’ says Bakker.