Far too many years ago as an architectural student I had an interest in energy efficient design. It was a relatively brief period as I was quickly seduced, for better or worse, by the main stream of producing designs that were perceived as seductive and exciting rather than energy efficient. Energy Efficient Design at the time was anything but seductive or exciting – surprisingly, no one had thought to make it so. Many years would pass before that interest returned.
Having graduated I began my career working in a large Architectural practice in Perth (now Hassell) before crossing the pond to join the cultural kaleidoscope of London living. London is a wonderful city – full of energy, creativity, culture and the best of people (mostly) from all over the world. What better place to start life as a young architect.
For 20 years London became my home. It’s where I met my wife, had children and built our family home. It is also the place I associate with key historical moments. I remember working with engineers Buro Happold in their Bath office (another beautiful part of the world) on the structural solutions for the design of the Farnborough air traffic control tower when the first chilling news hit that a plane had ploughed into one of the twin towers. I remember when building our home in London hearing Princess Diana died on the radio. And I remember waking up to the radio alarm clock, cuddled up with my then two year old daughter, to the sad news that the UK had voted to leave the EU.
I now find myself back in Perth building another family home surrounded by perhaps more culturally significant poignant events than ever before. With geopolitical instability, the unchecked rapid development of AI and the pressing need to combat climate change – it is if nothing a momentous turning point in our time.
So perhaps timely I now find myself interested once again in energy efficient design and how can we create homes that are beautiful, built efficiently, smarter and to a budget without compromise. It is with this in mind that Huhhouse is born.
For it to succeed I felt I needed someone on board who had a more in depth understanding of the local housing market and it’s nuances.
An old school friend, Rob, who I hadn’t seen for 30 years popped into my mind. I knew he had run large housing companies and was sharp. Out of the blue I contacted him to say I had an idea and could we meet up. It wasn’t until the third time we met that I actually got to tell him about the idea – obviously we had a lot to catch up on first. Rob declared he was happy to offer advice but was in no way interested in starting up another company! I drove home slightly deflated but ever the optimist thought maybe, he just needed to sleep on it? The next day Rob rang to say “I’m in!”
It’s wonderful to have a business partner with a complementary skill set and with the added bonus of being smarter than myself.