An advanced glass treatment has been used in a sustainable housing project in Sydney to reduce maintenance and cleaning effort on all the glass surfaces.

Forest Lodge ECO House, officially opened on the 23rd of January 2014 by Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore, is a testament to green design and sustainability. Designed and built by Chris Knierim, owner of Designer Construction Group and his wife Belinda Mason, Forest Lodge ECO House was recently featured in Season 4 of the popular TV program Grand Designs Australia. 

Built on a small corridor of land in Glebe, measuring just 4.9 metres wide amongst a row of heritage listed terrace houses, the house incorporates the latest in green technology, paired with the utilisation of second hand supplies, and new materials with a low carbon footprint.

The house is essentially a two-storey, three bedroom terrace, and in contrast to the surrounding stone and timber cottages, features modern materials such as concrete, aluminium and glass to create a sleek, minimal urban dwelling. 

When designing Forest Lodge ECO House, Chris Knierim aimed to show Australian homeowners how they could embrace the best in sustainable design to create a beautiful home that accommodated modern living. 

Glass is an important feature of this contemporary home and is a catalyst for creating a spacious, light filled interior on such a narrow and challenging block. High impact horizontal glass folding doors open to the courtyard and a floating staircase with glass railings leads to the bedrooms, bathroom and a rooftop garden upstairs. 

Opaque glass inserts in all the doors and glass skylights were also added to increase the natural flow of light throughout the home. Double glazed windows help to naturally heat and cool the home. Other glass features include a minimalistic glass shower screen in the bathroom, sleek glass splash backs in the integrated kitchen, and a suspended glass waterfall table making a dramatic centrepiece in the rear garden. 

All the glass surfaces were coated with EnduroShield's state-of-the-art nanotechnology surface treatment to enhance this house's eco-friendly performance. Chris chose EnduroShield to greatly reduce cleaning time and protect the glass against staining and etching. 

Craig Howard, Managing Director of EnduroShield said that the inclusion of so many important glass features made EnduroShield the sustainable product of choice to protect all glass throughout the home.

EnduroShield protects glass surfaces against staining and etching, reducing cleaning time. The glass surface treatment is perfect for insulated glass units, curtain walls, glass railings, shower glass and solar panels. The coating is applied by many of the world's leading glass companies including the largest glass fabricator in the United States, and has recently been applied to the One World Freedom tower in New York.