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Jeremy McLeod and wife Tamara Veltre started Breathe Architecture in 2001 with the idea that every building they create could leave the planet a little better than they found it.
Now 24 years later, this environmental ethos is still a driving force behind everything they do. Whether that’s leading the charge with ethical initiates like the Nightingale Housing model, or creating award-winning sustainable residences all around Australia.
‘When we’re designing someone’s home, we ensure firstly that the home is a hundred percent electric and highly thermally efficient,’ Jeremy says.
‘We make sure that we shade the glazing, that we allow breezes to move through the space. And we try to wrap the house in landscape.’
He says this values-lead approach is simply in his DNA. Raised by parents who were ‘serial protestors’ and often spoke truth to power for their beliefs, Jeremy is someone who practices what he preaches.
One of his biggest concerns is how Australia is building homes that are ‘the biggest in the world’, amid the current housing crisis. Large footprint buildings not only account for a high amount of embodied carbon in the materials required for their construction, but also require more energy to operate — with negative impacts on the environment in the long run.
Instead, Breathe is doing things differently. This extends from using recycled materials in their projects, and designing all-electric homes powered primarily by renewables, to being B-Corp certified and actively reducing emissions in their own operations.
‘If we are talking to clients about building sustainably, it’s really important for us that we would have our own house in order,’ he notes.
It’s this approach that led the business to choose Momentum Energy as their electricity retailer. The power company is owned by Hydro Tasmania, who is Australia’s largest generator of renewable energy.
‘As architects we think carefully about where we source our materials, how much carbon is embodied in all of the homes we design, so of course we’re going to care about how we source our electricity,’ he adds.
Through Momentum, Breathe Architecture purchases GreenPower — a government-accredited program that matches the electricity they use with renewable energy added to the grid on their behalf.
With the built environment accounting for 31 per cent of Australia’s total emissions, Jeremy knows every little bit counts in the fight against climate change.
‘Momentum is owned by Hydro Tasmania who are trailblazers in renewable energy,’ he says. ‘We would like to think that we are trailblazers in sustainable architecture. It makes total sense that we work together.’
Momentum Energy is 100% owned by Hydro Tasmania — Australia’s largest generator of renewable energy. Find out more about signing up your business to an energy retailer that supports the transition to renewables.
