The Sociable Weaver
Our Story
Across the semi-arid plains of Southern Africa, some of the most spectacular structures ever built by a bird are perched on top of trees and power lines. These carefully constructed nests reach heights of up to four metres, with as many as four or five hundred birds inhabiting them at one time. Woven together with twigs, stems, sticks and dried grasses, they feature interconnected spaces that allow the inhabitants to both socialise and enjoy solitude within the bird community. Nesting several generations at a time, these nests withstand the extreme African weather to exist for hundreds of years.
These resilient, high-density communities are built to belong by the incredibly intelligent bird – the Sociable Weaver.
Inspired by this small bird, we too work with the natural world, building homes and structures that are regenerative and inspiring. Homes that foster a sense of belonging for everyone who inhabits the space. We are not only interested in creating homes; we are interested in creating a new way of being — one that inspires a richer, more meaningful experience for the inhabitant, and has a positive impact on the world we live.
Working with nature
Environmental responsibility informs every decision we make from our building materials to our building processes. This isn’t just about positively impacting the planet and increasing energy efficiency in our homes, it’s about connecting residents to nature, awakening their senses, and promoting a healthier, more balanced state of mind and wellbeing.
Creating connection
We’re interested in creating homes and streetscapes that open people up to one another, that cultivate meaningful relationships while still allowing residents to find the solitude they need in their daily lives. Like the nests built by the Sociable Weaver, our homes foster a sense of belonging — connecting residents to their environment, their community and ultimately, to themselves.
Embracing beauty
We believe beauty and the aesthetic world play a powerful role in igniting the human spirit and inspiring us to action. When created well, spaces should captivate and move us, maybe even change our heartbeat. That’s what we aspire to do – to create beautiful homes, upholding craftsmanship that stands the test of time.
Certified Passive House Designers and Builders
‘Passive House’, or passivhaus as it is known in German, is a design standard that delivers healthy, comfortable and efficient buildings.
A Passive House takes a ‘fabric first’ approach. The focus of the design is ensuring the thermal envelope (the layer that separates inside from outside) is optimised to provide comfortable, healthy, indoor conditions. As Australian homes are becoming increasingly well insulated and airtight, using Passive House as an integrated, physics-based approach to ensures buildings perform as predicted and avoid air quality and mould problems.
The Sociable Weaver holds both Design and Construction certifications to be able to design and construct certified Passive Houses.
Our Approach
The Sociable Weaver is a design and building company that creates healthy, sustainable, community minded, functional homes. Our thoughtfully designed houses encourage connection to nature, to community, to family, to friends and to ourselves. In 2019 we became a certified B Corporation which means that we meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps form a community of leaders and drive a global movement of people using business as a force for good.
Sustainability
The Sociable Weaver homes are each designed to a minimum 7 Star energy rating. Our intention is for all of our homes to be carbon neutral or carbon positive and where possible we love to take things completely off-grid. We design our homes to outlast a lifetime, focusing on making them practical, economical and available at a price point that makes architecturally designed, functional, healthy and environmentally conscious homes accessible to more buyers. We are a B Corp Certified business, certified Passive House builders and certified Master Green Builders. We strive for zero waste construction sites and to run our business and sites free from single use plastics.
We understand the construction industry uses many resources, so it is our mission to restore natural eco-systems and regenerate the timber we use for our builds. To do so, we have committed to planting 300 Trees for each of our projects. By doing this we restart the natural cycle and ensure we are giving back to our planet. We call it our 300 Tree Initiative.
Partnered with
Healthy for the inhabitant
and for the planet
Beyond the design of your home we place a strong emphasis on what life will be like inside. We do this by considering factors like building biology, Feng Shui design principles, permaculture integration, recycling processes, accessibility and more to ensure you can live your healthiest life in your new home.
Our business family
The Sociable Weaver is one part of our vision for transforming the built environment for the better. Our award-winning construction company, Martin Builders, is the core builder of many of our projects. If you would like to work with us as builders alone, please get in touch at info@martinbuilders.com.au.
To transform the built environment on a larger scale, we enact our vision for positive development through Small Giants Developments.
Featured in
The Design Files, 28 June 2019
Green Magazine, November 2017, Issue 58
The Design Files, 26 June 2017
The Age, 10 June 2017
Peppermint Magazine, March 2017, Issue 33
Dumbo Feather, February 2017, Issue 50