3 minute read
Evoke Living Homes
Two-storey modular
construction and turning point
Photos Justin Burnett
Something of a hidden gem, Bremer Bay excels as a seaside holiday destination and a place to live.
Located at the mouth of the Bremer River, Bremer Bay is 425km and six and half hours' drive south east of Perth. It is one of only three places in Australia where southern right whales come to calve in large numbers. And, close by, is the stunning 329,000 hectare Fitzgerald River National Park, one of the largest and most botanically significant national parks in Australia. A recent project in Bremer Bay by Evoke Living Homes, which takes advantage of the desirable location and the site’s attractive views, is also noteworthy due to the fact it is a modular construction.
THE TEAM
Phone: 1300 138 653 www.evokelivinghomes.com.au
As a company specialising in modular construction, the two-storey Bremer residence was an exciting project for Evoke Living Homes.
“As one of the first residential modular companies to embark on a two-storey build in Western Australia, it really provides a turning point in modular construction,” Evoke’s managing director Russell Draffin said.
Stylish, practical holiday home “Our Bremer Bay client came to us wanting a stylish, practical design that would serve as a holiday home. To take advantage of the beautiful views that our client’s property boasted, the Evoke team took on the challenge to innovate a two-storey steel frame modular home.”
Working with their client, Evoke fully customised the four bedroom, two bathroom design. The upper floor features two bedrooms that include sliding doors onto the balcony, and a shared sitting room and bathroom. The highlight windows also add light and ventilation to the upper storey.
The ground floor features two bedrooms complete with Polytec walk-in robes and Victorian Ash desk benchtops.
“The spacious bathroom and powder room feature floor to ceiling subway tiling, and black/white chess floor tiles to add some spunk to the design,” Mr Draffin said.
“Flowing through the kitchen and bathrooms are Victorian Ash benchtops, and stunning profiled ‘blue’ cupboards to create a fun but quality vibe throughout the house.”
Design took advantage of views Evoke Living Homes designed and constructed the full project, including the earthworks and site connections.
“The brief included a practical design that took advantage of the views and depicted a fun holiday lifestyle,” Mr Draffin said.
“But most important of all was the requirement for quality, from the structure of the home right down to the internal finishes.”
As this was Evoke Living Home’s first double storey home, the project required a substantial amount of research and development in order to come up with the best method of building.
Being a double storey structure, building the top module on a steel frame chassis was required, with the challenge being how to create the most structurally sound module while keeping it to a reasonable weight for craning.
In order to resolve the challenges involved in building such a structure, the Evoke team, including managers and directors, worked together and spoke to a range of experts to come up with the best building methodology.
Huge learning curve “This project has been a huge learning curve for Evoke Living Homes,” Mr Draffin said.
“It was a project of ‘firsts’. As our first double storey home this project has really provided a massive turning point for not only us, but for the WA modular home industry.”
As a family-owned business, Evoke Living Homes has been a trusted name in steel construction since 1982, with the company providing services to customers across Western Australia for over 30 years.
WBS Modular was formed in 2008 as part of WBS Group, specialising in steel-framed modular homes. In 2018 WBS Group changed ownership to Ahrens Pty Ltd, and WBS Modular evolved into Evoke Living Homes, continuing with the same ownership and employees.
Evoke Living Homes employs nine full-time staff, with Managing Director Russell Draffin making key decisions, and Director Bill Draffin playing a hands-on role as procurement officer, while at the same time assisting other staff with his deep knowledge of the building industry.
