Our mission is the design and construction of beautiful buildings which will foster the emergence of a balanced relationship with our natural environment. Designing to minimize environmental impact requires a different approach to the conventional. From inception, we need to apply criteria to the development of the design which will achieve:

• sensitivity to site and landscape for minimal impact on flora and fauna;
  careful consideration of building placement on the site and the means of waste and emissions disposal;
• passively responsive design preparation suited to year-round weather conditions; judicious analysis and selection of construction methods and materials;
• production of buildings with low levels of embodied energy by using local materials wherever practicable and specifying materials and products which do not require high levels of manufacturing energy;
• production of buildings with low toxicity towards occupants and the environment, during all stages of the building's life-cycle and, ultimately, its disposal;
• production of energy efficient buildings through conventional means but also by the passive adoption of natural resources such as sunlight and day lighting for lighting, heating and cooling and, if they can be readily exploited, wind power and geothermal forces;
• catering to the crucial spiritual and mental aspects of well-being as well as to the physical.

• Designing along long life, low energy, loose fit principles;
• Minimisation of the amount of embodied energy used in construction by specifying materials and products which are low energy content in both manufacture and transport;
• Use of low toxicity materials;
• Use of temperate hardwoods and the avoidance of tropical hardwoods;
• Adoption of design and construction principles appropriate for a "cradle to grave" philosophy, including designing for deconstruction, material reuse and recycling;
• Promotion of renewable energy sources for heating, cooling and lighting;
  • Adoption where practicable of natural effluent treatment principles such as use of reed bed technology;
• Using coatings and treatments that are less harmful to the natural environment.