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Jamie Durie has had a gutful of red tape. Having spent the past year building a multi-tier, waterfront eco-home at Avalon, on Sydney’s northern beaches, he’s copped his share of planning restrictions and delays.
“Australia is the home of red tape!” he vents on his new series, Jamie Durie’s Future House. “We need to throw out the rule book and design houses for Australian conditions.”
Jamie Durie at his farm in Bangalow, on which he is building a 3D-printed concrete home.
This time, he’s not going it alone. Along with two other innovative home builds, all working to a three-month deadline, Durie’s next “Future House”, Australia’s second-ever 3D-printed concrete home, on his farm in Bangalow, in northern NSW, will be judged on its environmental merit by the Green Building Council of Australia and the Federal Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Cities, Clare O’Neil.
“This is a new mission,” says Durie. “We are in the biggest housing crisis we’ve ever had. Clare O’Neil has a real interest in the area, and she’s doing a lot behind the scenes to help speed up the efficiency of getting more approvals out there. Hopefully, we can refine the development approval period so that there are no bottlenecks moving forward … Future House is about experimenting with new methods of construction to try and shine light on potential solutions to help solve this crisis.”
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While Durie, his partner, singer-songwriter Ameka Jane, and their two small children, Beau and Nash, are watching their pioneering farmhouse being built (a home in the Sydney suburb of Woolooware lays claim to being the first 3D-printed home in the nation), another family will be replacing their own draughty Canberra house with a home made of prefabricated concrete. And in the Blue Mountains, a couple in the process of separating will build twin modular houses on the same block.
“Building three houses for three families in three months sounds ambitious, but it also makes great TV,” says Durie, whose Avalon house is now on the market for $33 million. “I want this to be an intelligent, dynamic series that empowers people with real knowledge and responsible building methods that embrace sustainable building technologies and off-grid systems.”
Cutting-edge building concepts and clean energy ideas are showcased, with company representatives extolling their products and services. However, the show’s major sponsor, the Commonwealth Bank, is an uncomfortable fit. Named this month in consumer advocate Choice’s Shonky awards for its unethical fees and refund practices, Commonwealth Bank is lauded in the series for its pre-fab construction loans, “saving” a Bondi couple’s tree-changer dreams.
“I’m not a financial expert,” says Durie. “I’m a horticulturalist. So I don’t propose to have any insight into lending. But what I can say is that this new prefab loan is a game changer for Australian families. So that’s the focus we’re taking on partnering with CommBank.”
The first order of business for Durie is the demolition of the existing farmhouse on his Bangalow property. As the wreckers move in, the camera cuts to Durie and Ameka Jane watching on, as he says, “The last time we built a house together, we almost lost our sanity!”
Jamie Durie with Ameka Jane and their two children, Beau and Nash.
She lets out an anguished cry: “I must be actually mad!”
To which Durie responds: “Anyone else would have left me by now!”
“Ameka is as patient as a saint” says Durie. “She’s extremely resilient. She’s a strong woman. She really is my rock. She’s been amazing through the whole process. I don’t think, when we first met, she knew what kind of a storm awaited, in terms of two children and building a house and then a primetime TV series [Seven’s Growing Home with Jamie Durie] off the back of it.
“And while it’s not always fun waking up with cameras in your face, we wanted this series to be authentic. This is completely unscripted and natural. Ameka does poke fun at me quite a lot throughout the entire series. And that’s real. I think everyone gets a giggle at that.”
Jamie Durie’s Future House premieres at 8.30pm on Tuesday, November 25, on *Nine.
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