peter townsend's vancouver real estate blog

How much water is your home wasting?

I found this fantastically compelling information on the Jetson Green blog click here to read

The perfect Christmas gift for your coffee table...

One of my favourite current architects, and practically a local boy. A great gift for your coffee table...

The disappearing house: the Bonnie Bay project

My clients who are building in Bonnie Bay have finally started to have something show above ground! So I will have to change the title to the Re-appearing house!

After nearly a year of planning, design and securing the appropriate building permits. They have now gone from a rough, "blasted" whole in the ground, as seen in my previous post on the subject to pouring the concrete for the ground floor.

Another way of looking at real estate...

I've created a new pro facebook page focusing on news about contemporary homes, architecture, design, style and interiors. Just because that's what I enjoy. You might too..... www.facebook.com/PeterTownsend.Vancouver

Wallpaper's version of "Cabin Fever"....works for me.

I could totally enjoy any sort of prolonged cabin fever in this house, featured this month in Wallpaper magazine. It has a sublime simplicity. What do you think?......

Gambier Island Contemporary featured in Dwell Magazine

I loved this idea and article:

Escape to the Rock by Adele  Weder

Off the coast of British Columbia—on a site accessible only by boat—a family of Vancouver urbanites commissioned a sustainable cabin for weekend getaways that feels a world away.  Read more: http://www.dwell.com/articles/Escape-to-the-Rock.html#ixzz14ywOMOza

Homes that are both green and pragmatic

A prefabricated home built in architect Tony Robins’ factory and now on site on the B.C. coast. The home reflects a Japanese-style minimalism and industrial aesthetic – and it can be towed by barge to the buyer’s property.
Here's an interesting article by Hadani Ditmars from Friday's Globe and Mail for that extra lot of land you might have and not sure how to use it! (read full article)

360 Winnett Ave.

For anyone out there interested in building their own Eco friendly home. You should definitely take a look at 360 Winnett Ave. This is an amazing  building project in Toronto started by a guy called Jeremy Bell and his wife. An "average couple" (their own words) who simply decided that instead of moving, they would tear down their old house and build something new in it's place. But they didn't stop there. The new house has to be eco friendly and answer such questions as;
How “green” can the average family actually be? What sacrifices will need to be made along the way? Is building “green” even worth it?
What is equally fascinating is that they are chronicling every single detail stylishly in a daily updated blog and regular articles in the Globe and Mail. Well worth following one a week to keep tabs on progress.

Leading Homes show the way....

If you have read any of my previous blogs on the subject, you will know by now I am a firm believer and supporter of sustainable and eco friendly building and a huge fan of contemporary architecture. Basically any home  built today that only complies with current building code does very little for the planet and even less for furthering the technology of modern construction.
Well, if you are of a similar mind and would like to speak to a builder/developer with an entirely refreshing attitude to building homes then you should have more than a glance at Leading Homes website. They plan and build homes the way all homes should be in the future...future proof.

They currently have a project near completion in Altamont on 29th street and another in the "pipeline" in the Sandy Cove area of West Vancouver.

A man with sustainable vision

Now here is a man with a vision and understanding of what the market needs. Why more builders and developers are not thinking like this is beyond me. I totally agree with Simon when he says "Just building to code is no longer enough". Houses being built today need to be built with the future in mind. That could mean that in ten years time you could be paying no energy bills to heat your house, just because the right technology was built in today. Whilst people around you are paying 60% more for their energy!
You can read the full article here