In the early days it was rare to see an Earth Sheltered House, but slowly and surely over the years we see them becoming more accepted by the general public, as their benefits become evident.

Early advocates gave energy efficiency as the reason they chose this form of housing, and indeed the principle of using the stored “coolth” of the ground mass was readily shown to be sound. In 1983 I was awarded the Energy House of the Year Award by the Housing Industry Association of Australia and the South Australian Energy Council.

Other home-builders saw the obvious safety aspects of a structure built from reinforced concrete and covered with soil. This included resistance to bush-fires, cyclones and earthquakes….collectively called “hazard avoidance”. Several Earth Sheltered Houses survived the horrendous Ash Wednesday bush fires.