There are dream homes, and then there’s Jamie Durie’s incredible six-storey eco masterpiece built in beautiful Avalon.
Anyone who’s lived through a home renovation knows how easily timelines can unravel. Caught up in approvals, complaints from neighbours and the inevitable delays, it’s a feeling Jamie Durie OAM knows well. His new off-the-grid Avalon home has been a decade in the making.
“Ten years of planning, two years of construction and we’re finally home,” Jamie tells us. “It’s not something I’d want to do again, but certainly no regrets.”
Though Jamie was born on the Northern Beaches, it was in a tiny remote mining town in Western Australia where he discovered his love of gardening.
“My father worked in the iron ore mines in Tom Price,” Jamie shares. “I was raised on red dirt and powdered milk, and my mum taught me how to grow roses in the outback, and off we went.”
His mother now lives on one level of the home, while upstairs, Jamie shares the space with his fiancée Ameka Jane and their two young children, Beau (3) and Nash (1)—a modern take on multi-generational living that brings the whole family under one thoughtfully designed roof.
“We have a guest house for my parents, who are becoming elderly,” says Jamie. “We want to create a multi-generational living situation where the kids can go down and sleep on bunk beds with them, and my elderly parents can use the inclinator to get around and not have to use the stairs.”
There may not be roses on the steep Avalon block, but there are more than 3,000 native plants thriving across the site. Jamie hasn’t just brought the greenery indoors – lush plantings cascade down the facade, creating a dramatic, living exterior that draws compliments from both the street and the water. While the early stages of the build drew more than a few complaints, the finished design has won over the neighbourhood.
“I think there was a lot of resistance from locals, which was unfortunate, but I don’t think anyone really understood what we were building,” says Jamie. “And I now that it’s built, the entire area has completely turned around.”
“Every day, people shake my hands and they go, ‘what a beautiful house you’ve built, we’re so proud to have your house here, Jamie’.”
“My neighbours who are walking by say, “Oh, this is like the Botanic Gardens, Jamie,” he says. “People text me from their boats and say you can barely see the house anymore with all the gardens spilling over it. It really makes an impact.”
The result isn’t just visually striking, it’s also had a powerful ecological impact. “We’ve increased the biodiversity on the site by at least 20-fold,” Jamie says
The build
What started as a rundown asbestos shack on a weed-infested block is now a sustainable sanctuary. With 57,000 litres of rainwater storage, eco concrete, and solar-plus-geothermal energy, this home has slashed its carbon footprint. Saving 178 tonnes of CO₂, which is the equivalent to taking 39 cars off the road.
Inside and out, it’s filled with planet-friendly choices: zero-VOC paints, recycled materials, ocean plastic carpets and blinds, a zero-gas kitchen, and even a rooftop garden and vertical green walls. With over 3,000 native plants, 180 indoor air-purifying species, and a veggie patch buzzing with bees, every inch of this home is designed to give back more than it takes.
The planning and construction of the new multi-million home has been captured on Jamie’s new tv show, Growing Home With Jamie Durie. While Jamie and his family are the focus of series one, it also captures couples around Australia building their unique version of sustainable homes.
If you’re thinking of making sustainable changes to your home, Jamie recommended looking into geothermal energy.
“If you’re looking into it, geothermal is something I’d really encourage people to explore. It can work in almost any backyard, anywhere in Australia. We did a story on a house in Cromer that installed just two probes, and they haven’t had an energy bill in three years.”
“Geothermal is a really clean and discreet way to manage your home’s heating and cooling, especially in winter. We’re literally pulling warmth from the ground to heat our home for free. We get free hot water, and we even heat our pool with it.”
Jamie also urges homeowners to eliminate harmful chemicals by choosing zero-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints and glues, and swapping out silica-based benchtops for safer alternatives like Neolith.
To learn more about living and building sustainably, you can watch all five episodes of Growing Home with Jamie on 7Plus. Check out more about the show and his home at his website, www.growinghomewithjamiedurie.com.au
