Taking time to consider his next move after selling his Gold Coast financial planning business, Grant Ducat threw himself into extending his stunning home in northern NSW.
This former farmhouse sits on top of a hill looking out to sea. Set in a glorious 30 acres of land, Grant’s project certainly had the surroundings and the views to make a statement.
The extension’s signature feature is a two-storey wall of 1×1-metre bespoke glass panels set in black anodised AWS Elevate 150mm series framing to replicate the look of steel. It’s the first thing Grant’s visitors see as they climb the driveway and it never fails to amaze them. Other features include bespoke colonial bars internally and externally to enhance the look of the steel-effect facade on the Aneeta sashless windows.
“The extension is contemporary and dramatic,” says Grant. “Many of the main suppliers have sent professional photographers out because they want to use it to showcase their work, but it’s the glass that sets the whole thing off. It looks awesome.”
It wasn’t just the views Grant wanted to capture with the windows we advised on, supplied and installed.
“I don’t have air conditioning, quite deliberately,” says Grant, “so we wanted all this airflow. Central Glass gave us different styles of windows depending on where they were going because I wanted to catch certain breezes. The glass wasn’t just there for the visual; it was functional as well.”
To meet the visual requirements without compromising safety and environmental efficiency, we fixed the lower panels to meet balustrade requirements while the centre panels slide for airflow. The high-performance glass is a Low E (energy efficient) glass that maximises the view without needing air conditioning for comfort.
Grant grew his business by training salespeople, but he finds the easiest people to deal with are those who “just know their stuff, and Heather better than anyone understood what we needed.”
“We mocked up a sample window,” says Heather Clarke, Director of Central Glass and Aluminium, “and we took it to the house to show Grant and Emma, his daughter, who designed the interiors. We wanted to show them we were all on the same page when it came to their vision.”
“I’d talked to a couple of other glaziers, but Heather from Central Glass gave us the most comprehensive guidance on how to achieve what we wanted to achieve,” says Grant. “Her advice was significant because so much of the external walls are glass. Better than anyone else I spoke to, Heather knew her stuff and was able to give us exactly what we wanted, including giving us the incredible finishes in black anodised aluminium when the designs originally called for steel.”
What’s next for Grant is still up in the air. He’s considering the speaking circuit, but with views like these, he might find himself looking for something more likely to involve working from home.
If you have any question about Central Glass and aluminium, or would like to talk with someone about your needs, we have a team of experts who love to help.
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