Photography Credit – Dion Robeson

In 2025, Matt was a guest on the Renovation Collaborative podcast with architect Stephanie Skyring, and they chatted about affordable and sustainable design, and the benefits of using renewable materials in housing construction.

One of the products they spoke about was Durra Panel, which is an internal wall and ceiling boards product that is made from agricultural waste straw.

We used Durra Panel in our award-winning Hinderwell House, which is located on a small suburban site in the beachside suburb of Scarborough.

Why did we use Durra Panel?

Our clients – Amy and Wynand – had done plenty of valuable research about materials, and they pointed us towards Durra Panel instead of conventional plasterboard, because it is a renewable, high-performance alternative that aligned with their sustainability goals.

Durra Panel is formed from compressed straw stubble which would otherwise be burned after the crop is harvested, so it repurposes agricultural waste into a robust, thermally efficient building material.

It has the additional benefits of contributing to carbon sequestration, providing excellent acoustic and thermal insulation, and improving indoor air in the home.

You can learn more about Durra Panel and how it worked on this project – and access a key points summary plus some additional resources – on the Renovation Collaborative website here

And you can find out more about our Hinderwell House project here

Are you ready to create your sustainable family home?

If you’re keen to build a new family home – one that’s optimised for sustainability and affordability – we invite you to check out our New House Plans.

You can see the range of single and two storey homes – available as 3-bedroom and 4-bedroom options – here. Or if you’d like to commission a custom house project – like Amy and Wynand’s award-winning Hinderwell House – go to the Contact page and enter your details, and we’ll be in touch.