Mylor Bush Retreat

An interview with James Biven, Owner Mylor Bush Retreat, SA.

Where is the home, and what’s the backstory?

Our home is located in Mylor in the Adelaide Hills. The mud brick house was built in 1986 after the original stone house was destroyed in the Ash Wednesday bushfires, and a two room Hebel clad extension was added in 2010. We purchased the property in 2016 and have recently completed a passive extension using a significant number of recycled materials. Our extension won a Master Builders award in 2025 in the renovation category.

What first sparked the shift toward a more sustainable home?

We have always cared about treading lightly on the earth and wanted our house to demonstrate this. We are trying to show our children how even small positive changes can make a difference, and it sort of grew from there. We moved to the area so that we could have access to some land and were also drawn to the original mud brick house.

What are the key sustainability features of the home?

Our house is mudbrick with a passive reverse brick veneer extension. The majority of the structural framing in the house is reclaimed hardwood. We are on rainwater only, have no AC units, and use a combustion fire with a heatpump-powered underfloor hydronic system in winter. We have a 5kw solar syste,m but this is about to get an upgrade to a 15kw system along with a couple of batteries. Our carpets are made from seaweed, we have locally made terracotta tiles, we used reclaimed bricks and timber, and our painting is a breathable natural paint. We have chickens, bees, and many fruit trees along with wicking beds for veggie gardens.

How does the home feel now compared to before?

The extension is fantastic and performs extremely well in all seasons. We also changed our high-level windows in the original house to double-glazed during the works, which has made a huge difference in the heat retained in winter. The extension allowed all of our children to finally have their own bedrooms, which has changed the family dynamic in a positive way. We love our home and enjoyed sharing it in Sustainable House Day in 2025.

What did you learn along the way?

Working with people who are passionate about sustainability helps drive innovation and brings an energy that rubs off in everything we did. We learnt about breathable facades and their benefits from our builder (Sustainabuilding), who has a huge amount of knowledge in this area. Using lots of recycled and reclaimed material in the build is more time-consuming than many off the shelf products, but the environmental benefits are massive.