Simple-yet stylish design for a location that demands durability

Built on the exposed southern coast of Victoria’s much-loved Phillip Island, ‘Red Peggy’ (as she is affectionately known) sits proudly atop the landscape, enduring the extremities of one of Australia’s harshest environments. She is a wonderful example of taking a simple form and making it something special. Homeowner Ruth, a long-time resident of the island, knows this landscape all too well. Her vision for the house was inspired by the iconic Australian shearing sheds and farm outbuildings she’d grown up with. Rhys Uhlich from Shed House Australia, the designer of this unique structure, sees it as something uniquely Australian: “We didn’t have to look too far for inspiration… the shed form has been dotted across our landscapes for generations.”

Made by Australia

Red Peggy is a great lesson in how to build on an exposed site that experiences fierce weather - scorching sun, harsh storms and ferocious winds. COLORBOND® steel in a corrugated profile was the logical choice thanks to its strength and durability teamed with its timeless and striking visual presence. COLORBOND® steel comes with five layers of protection built in and has been designed to endure our harsh Australian environment and provide long-lasting durability, even in extreme places like this. Confidence in its performance in these conditions is well-placed - every piece of high quality COLORBOND® steel is coated in enhanced corrosion-resistant Activate® technology*, then further enhanced with pre-treatment, primer and a baked-on topcoat. It’s a product that’s continually tested at outdoor testing sites around Australia, as well as in accelerated laboratory testing, so it was more than up to the challenges of Phillip Island.

“Calling the location windy is an understatement,” says Ruth. “I don’t think there's a prevailing wind that doesn't hit it. It's nice having the juxtaposition between the elements and then feeling like you're in a cocoon when you're in the house. Even at the framing stage, once we were locked up with the COLORBOND® steel externally, you'd have 70-80 km/h wind days, and you'd go inside and you'll feel super protected”.

Perfectly Suited

COLORBOND® steel also suited the site aesthetically, according to Rhys. “Obviously, there's nothing more synonymous with the Australian shed form than COLORBOND® steel. It belongs on it. And it's one of the only architectural styles where the roof and the wall cladding look better if they're the one materiality and the one color. There's also the beautiful element that it's a finished product as soon as you're clad... there’s no painting.”

For Ruth, there’s the added benefit of easy maintenance. Natural rainfall does most of the hard labour, and for those areas like wall cladding under eaves or the underside of eave gutters that are not often washed by rainfall, they simply need a regular wash with clean, fresh water.

Old is New

Inspired by our ancient rocks and red dust, COLORBOND® steel in Manor Red®, brings an earthy warmth to the cool greens and straw yellows of the grass; Red Peggy is a striking contrast that feels perfectly at home among the sweeping hills of Phillip Island.

Rhys loves the colour choice. “I'm a massive fan of the heritage colours - Cottage Green®, and Manor Red®, and I love the challenge of bringing them back into vogue” says Rhys. And Manor Red® was also an appropriate way of honouring the colours and indigenous heritage of Phillip Island’s nearby ochre caves.

Build with Purpose

Shed House Australia is a longtime supporter of sustainable building practices - the fact that COLORBOND® steel contains recycled content^ and the steel itself is 100% recyclable is a big plus. “Our company really prides itself on creating this beautiful blank canvas with the shed/barn form”.

Surprisingly Spacious

In this case, great design delivers an economical and surprisingly spacious solution on a relatively small footprint. “It's a compact design but the height screams space” explains Rhys. “It's deceptive in a way because it really is a 58m² building but the 6.5m void tricks the mind into feeling it's bigger than it is.”

Keeping Warm

Insulation always matters, but it’s a particularly vital part of the planning in this sort of environment. “The buildings have a larger 200mm wall cavity, which is a great space for optimising insulation” explains Rhys. “Nothing has to be compressed. There's plenty of space for the insulation to do its job. It achieved an energy rating of 7.8... it performs incredibly well” and the slab under the building is a great source of thermal mass.

Choosing a Builder

Picking the right builder for your project is a big step, and your architect or designer is a good place to get recommendations. In this case, Rhys had previously crossed paths with Matt Menichelli from Elevate® Building Group. They shared an interest in steel-frame housing and producing quality, high-end builds while keeping costs down, using locally manufactured quality and trusted materials like COLORBOND® steel to reach lock-up more quickly.

Orientation Makes a Big Difference

Choosing the right orientation for a build is critical. With Red Peggy, it was about optimising ocean views over Bass Strait to the south and west, while also opening up beautiful farm views to the north and east, bringing in abundant natural light. This resulted in a full glass facade to the north, with picture-frame windows on the west and south providing sea views without the exorbitant cost of excessive glazing.

Both Humble and Grand

Rhys loves the way this striking Shed House has turned out and is chuffed with the owner’s reaction to the finished product. “It's not a big house, but it's grand.... I love that they've gone with such a humble approach. It shows you can be humble and grand at the same time, because it really stands out. It's surrounded by architecturally designed homes, but I think it holds its own, demanding attention.”

This simple yet stunning home is designed by Rhys Uhlich from Shed House Australia, built by Matt Menichelli from Elevate® Building Group, imagined and loved by Ruth, and made with COLORBOND® steel. Designed to endure. Made by Australia.

Footnotes:

*Activate® technology is not available for COLORBOND® steel products with a zinc-coated steel substrate.

^The average recycled content in the steel is 25.7% which includes pre- and post-consumer recycled materials. Materials reclaimed within the steelmaking process represent an additional 2.1% average recovered content, according to recycled content categories defined in ISO 14021:2016. The figures provided are based on FY25 data.