ISSUE NO. 26 / FETEPRESS.COM.AU 25
My business partner, Josh Semmler, joined
me around 2003 and became a director five
years ago and in this time we have grown
the business together, particularly recently,
with a focus on our shared passion with
his really unique, cleverly detailed house
projects.
Today Urban Habitats specialises in a wide
variety of design and build projects for new
residential homes, renovations, mid-to-
large scale alterations and additions and
multi-unit developments. Our approach
is a genuinely collaborative one as we
pride ourselves on our authentic working
relationships with our clients, our highly
capable and skilled contractors and our
design teams.PLEASE TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT
YOURSELF...
With a background in Architectural
drafting and building technology, my
passion is working with great design
and quality building, whilst also pursuing
innovation and environmental impact
on each and every one of our projects.
The experience and knowledge gained
from being in the building industry for
over 30 years, has helped me to grow
Urban Habitats into one of Adelaide's
most respected building companies today.
My role within the company is focused on
client relations, providing creative design
input, feasibilities, project management
and general support to each member of
our project team.PLEASE TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT
URBAN HABITATS...
Urban Habitats started from small
beginnings in 1999 and has grown into
a multi-award winning, design-focused
boutique builder in South Australia today.
My initial Building Design studies have
underpinned my great love of design and
my further Building Technology studies
then enabled me to better understand the
building process. The marriage of these
two interests have really helped Urban
Habitats to deliver an extremely cost-
effective outcome without compromising
on inspiring design and quality.at work with /JOCK MERRIGAN of URBAN HABITATS
DESIGN NOTES /
JOCK MERRIGAN /
DIRECTOR /
URBAN HABITATS
The relocation of the Urban
Habitats office has been another
milestone for our growing
business and we believe the
new office truly represents who
we are and what we do today.
As we were quite particular in
what we were looking for, it took
more than 18 months to identify
the opportunity on King William
Road, Goodwood – the first
floor of a turn-of-the century
Victorian building with beautiful
detail, generous proportions,
yet requiring a lot of love
(it had been unoccupied for
a number of years).
Given the ample internal space,
the process of redesigning the
new office carefully considered
occupying not only Urban
Habitats but also two additional
businesses – a business which
previously shared our office
in Hyde Park and an additional
Adelaide-based business. Our
collaborative approach was to
create a practical, informal and
inviting environment for all who
worked in and visited the shared
premises. It has been a very
exciting opportunity to customise
an office-space that specifically
meets the needs of Urban
Habitats and the co-habiting
businesses, whilst also providing
an inspirational environment for
our clients to visit.
Our design focus was specifically
sensitive to accessing natural light
and airflow, in order to minimise
the use of artificial lighting and
heating/cooling. We also ensured
the use of sustainable and
recycled or retained materials
where possible. In doing so we
have successfully transformed
the tired and unloved internal
area into an open, understated,
community-focused office space.
Whilst the external façade of the
building simply needed a fresh
coat of paint, existing internal
walls were modified to allow
better airflow and movement
through the building, and ensured
each business had it’s own
separate reception area.