Our History
The concept for The Paddock was hatched around Neil and Heather Barrett’s dining table. The couple had moved to a block of land on Reckleben Street in 1983 with their 18-month-old daughter, and knew from the moment they arrived that the land was special.
After raising their family, working and volunteering on various renewable energy projects around town, and fostering friendships with the local community, they knew they wanted to leave a legacy of something good on the land they loved so dearly.
With their friend, architect Geoff Crosby, the idea for a sustainable housing development - built using as much reclaimed and recycled material as possible, as per the Living Building Challenge - was born: a community of 27 dwellings, shared gardens, veggie patches, chooks - a project that would tread as lightly on the land as possible.
Neil, Heather and Geoff wanted to demonstrate that sustainable building was achievable, affordable and the way forward for medium- to high-density housing developments.
After presenting concept designs and feasibility studies to council and the community, construction started in 2017. The first residents moved in in October 2019, with the Stage 1 dwellings finished at the end of that year.
While the plan was to build Stages 2 and 3 in quick succession, COVID threw a spanner in the works. Building costs soared, interest rates rose, and multiple lockdowns meant building screeched to a grinding halt. Completion took longer than expected, but in September 2024, the last screw was drilled into place in Stage 4, and our remaining residents moved in.