64 | BUILDING House of The Year Awards: DCD Ltd Performance, beauty and quality Karen Phelps Queenstown based DCD’s focus on constructing high performance homes has been recognised with multiple wins in the 2021 House of the Year competition. “It’s validation that you can build a high performance house blended with great architectural beauty and quality,” says company owner Dennis Dowling. Dennis, who has run commercial projects all over the globe for around 30 years before moving to Queenstown, started DCD in 2014 when he wanted to build his own home. After the builder he selected fell through Dennis decided to take on the project himself and enjoyed it so much he started his own company. He held an open home part way through his build and signed up three contracts. “People told us we shouldn’t do an open home until the house was finished but it was the best way to show people what we do as the value of a high performance house is behind the walls,” he says. “People told us we shouldn’t do an open home until the house was finished but it was the best way to show people what we do as the value of a high performance house is behind the walls.” The Te Toka (The Rock) home built by DCD is a good example of what the company does and won a raft of regional awards in the New Home over $2 million category: Craftsmanship, Gold and Category Winner, Sustainable Excellence, Bathroom Excellence and Lifestyle. It also won the title of Supreme House of the Year and made the Top 100 nationally. Designed by Rafe Maclean Architects, the home represents DCD’s focus on building homes that stand the test of time. Made from Nudura insulated concrete blocks and with a solid schist foundation, the home also has a roof designed to withstand wind speeds of 285km/hour. The nearly two metre deep skylights indicate the astonishing roof thickness, which required an award-winning engineering feat to crane the innovative timber modules into place. Sustainable features include quarrying the schist used in the build from the site, a well and water storage tanks and a wet weather pond for rainwater to drain into to improve the original wetland area. Solar panels mean the home has net zero energy usage and can function off grid in summer. Dennis says the 820sqm home has a similar energy usage to a house a quarter of its size due to it high performance nature. The home has European spruce triple-glazed windows and airtight with an air filter system. DCD also won gold in the New Home $1.5 Million - $2 Million category and was named in the Top 100 for a home in Dalefield. Designed by Mason & Wales Architects, the 262sqm residence showcases a different high performance home, which sits naturally in its environment, complementing the land without distracting from it. The wood stove at the heart of the home and the colour palette are nods to the owners’ childhood memories. Dennis says the owners always form an integral part of the DCD process. “For example on the Te Toka project the backbone of its success was the huge amount of trust the owner place in us. There are thousands of decisions to be made and the owner trusted us to make them in his best interests.” Dennis says that the DCD team also played a vital part in the success of the award winning homes. It employs its own team of builders to have assurance of outcome and because the nature of the way the company builds to achieve high performance is so specific. DCD builds in the Queenstown Lakes region and Dennis says it only works with clients that share its vision for building the best high performance homes: “We push the performance of our buildings, and our clients match our desire to own beautiful, innovative, high performing homes without compromise.” J.V. PLASTERING INTERIOR EST 2001 Quality Contractor Proud to work with DCD Limited 027 826 7005 Jason.gibstopper@gmail.com
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=