An artist’s render of the home which movie star Zac Efron is building at his northern NSW property. Picture: Supplied.
Hollywood star Zac Efron has visited a Mornington Peninsula workshop that’s playing an important part in building his $3.76m future home in NSW.
The US-born actor has starred in films including the High School Musical series, Hairspray, 17 Again, Dirty Grandpa, Baywatch, Ricky Stanicky, The Greatest Showman, and The Iron Claw, plus Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile in which he played the role of serial killer Ted Bundy.
In 2020, Efron bought a 128ha rainforest land parcel in Tweed Valley, an area located between the Gold Coast and Byron Bay.
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The famous celebrity is building an off-grid, six-bedroom house from eco-friendly materials on the site with completion slated for September 2026.
It’s estimated the build will cost about $3.76m, while the actor paid $2m for the block.
Efron appointed the Victorian-based, no-waste living champion and environmental activist Joost Bakker, along with architect Frank Burride, to help design his future home.
The actor first met Mr Bakker when he visited the ecowarrior’s former zero-waste eco-house, urban farm and dining experience, named the Future Food System, in Melbourne’s Federation Square while filming the documentary series Down to Earth.
Mr Bakker accompanied Efron on his recent visit to the custom joinery and cabinetry company Burmak Cabinets, in Hastings, a suburb in Melbourne’s outer south east.
No-waste living champion Joost Bakker and Zac Efron are working on the design of the actor’s future house in NSW. Picture: Instagram.
Zac Efron at Burmak Cabinets in Hastings, on the Mornington Peninsula. Picture: Instagram@burmakcabinets.
Efron was checking out the hemp joinery which the company is crafting for his Tweed Valley residence, to be featured in the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry and cupboards.
The Daytime Emmy Award-winning actor helped to plant the hemp which has since been harvested and compressed into a harder material for use throughout his house, dubbed the FutureCave.
Burmak Cabinets’ managing director Brad Kyle said the business, which employs 15 workers, has just started making the joinery for Efron.
“He absolutely loves it, he loves the product, he loves what we’re making out of it and he was super excited, which is really cool,” Mr Kyle said.
Joost Bakker and Zac Efron with Bronwen Main and Frank Burridge, whose Melbourne-based design practice focuses on climate-responsive architecture. Picture: Instagram@joostbakker.
In 2012, Joost Bakker opened the world’s first zero waste restaurant, Silo by Joost, in Melbourne although the business has since shutdown.
Efron toured part of the factory and started finalising colour selections for his future home, although nothing has been completely locked in as yet.
“He had a good understanding of what we did at the factory and seeing that, all the board, cutting and all that sort of stuff,” Mr Kyle added.
He said Efron was “absolutely lovely” and had been happy to pose for a photo with all the workshop’s staff members.
Mr Kyle said he hoped to see hemp joinery, which is chemical free, become more widely-used in the Australian building industry.
“I think the main difference with hemp and traditional materials is that they contain formaldehyde in the glues, which obviously isn’t ideal – whereas this is completely natural,” the managing director explained.
“So when we’re working with that product our factory smells completely different, it smells like you’re on a fresh farm, that’s quite incredible.”
Zac Efron checks out materials for his sustainable house. Picture: Instagram@joostbakker.
The residence is set to become one of the most eco-friendly dwellings on the planet, thanks to its environmentally-friendly build and materials. Photo: Instagram@joostbakker.
Processing the hemp from planting through to harvesting and compressing it into a board-like material takes about 130 days in total.
It also involves no agricultural waste as virtually all of the hemp plant is utilised.
“It’s really quick, which is also great for the farmers because they’re getting better yield out of what they’re growing,” Mr Kyle said,
“I think it’s fantastic for the (building) industry, this industry is such a wasteful industry and it needs to do better – so the sooner this can become like a mainstream product, the better in my opinion.”
Zac Efron portrays professional wrestler Kevin Von Erich in the 2023 biographical film The Iron Claw. Picture: Supplied.
Efron attending the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute To Nicole Kidman at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Picture: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for AFI.
Mr Kyle added that the hemp product was no more expensive than traditional building materials when it came to building a typical Australian house.
The plant is within the same plant species as marijuana, but is far more fibrous and suited to building purposes and contains only a tiny, non-intoxicating, fraction of the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that the cannabis species is famed for.
Efron’s visit to the factory took place in June but the factory posted the news on Instagram today.
Apart from hemp joinery, Efron’s two-storey, 830sq m house will include materials such as hemp blocks, recycled oyster shells and particle boards, which will be used as internal bricks.
The abode will consist of multiple pods connected by walkways and a “living green roof” topped by 100 tonnes of soil.
Last month, Efron was also spotted in Point Lonsdale, when he visited the Lon Retreat & Spa, as reported by the Geelong Advertiser.
In addition, he popped into the Stokehouse in St Kilda for lunch.
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