Builders Blackmans Bay — Passive House Homes

Zanetto Builders built Bluebush at Blackmans Bay — a certified Passive House named 2026 HIA Australian GreenSmart Home of the Year, independently tested at 10 kWh/m²·yr heating demand and 0.5 air changes per hour. It is the strongest proof of high-performance building anywhere in southern Tasmania, and it is on this street pattern, in this climate, facing this water. We build custom, luxury and certified passive homes across Blackmans Bay, Kingston and the channel.

Building your Forever Home at Blackmans Bay

Blackmans Bay sits on the D’Entrecasteaux Channel about twenty minutes south of Hobart, where the land falls away west toward the water and Bruny Island beyond it. It is one of the more rewarding places in southern Tasmania to build, and one of the more demanding — the same aspect that gives these blocks their light and their outlook also gives them weather.

The GreenSmart Home of the Year is here

We do not have to describe what we can do at Blackmans Bay. It is standing here.

Bluebush is a certified Passive House Classic on this coastline, and in July 2026 it was named HIA Australian GreenSmart Home of the Year and HIA Australian GreenSmart Custom Built Home — the highest national honour in the country’s sustainability programme. Independently certified, not built “to principles”:

Heating demand 10 kWh/m²·yr, against a limit of 15
Airtightness 0.5 air changes per hour, against a limit of 0.6
Primary energy 48 kWh/m²·yr, against a limit of 60

Designed with Maxa Design and certified by Jason Quinn of Sustainable Engineering Ltd. Every one of those numbers came off a blower door and a certifier’s audit, on a block in this suburb.

Bluebush, a certified Passive House at Blackmans Bay — Bluebush, Blackmans Bay — our certified Passive House, and 2026 HIA Australian GreenSmart Home of the Year.

What building at Blackmans Bay actually involves

Slope is the first cost. Very few blocks here are flat. Structure, excavation, retaining and site access are all driven by the fall of the land, and they are the single largest source of budget surprise on southern coastal builds. We price them into the 48-hour feasibility before design commits you to anything.

West-facing means light and exposure together. A western aspect over the channel is why people buy here. Untreated, it also means afternoon heat load in summer and heat loss through the same glass overnight in winter. That is a design problem solved with glazing specification and shading, not a heating problem solved with a bigger heat pump.

Salt reaches further than people expect. Channel exposure puts airborne salt on fixings, flashings and coatings. Marine-grade selection is the baseline here.

The channel climate is mild and damp. Mild winters are exactly why so many southern homes are allowed to be leaky — it never gets cold enough for the fault to become undeniable, so it shows up as condensation and mould instead.

Kitchen and living at Bluebush, Blackmans Bay — Bluebush, Blackmans Bay — tested at 0.5 air changes per hour.

Building high-performance homes on the channel

Not every client here wants full certification, and we will tell you when it is not worth the premium. But the building science underneath — continuous insulation, an unbroken airtight layer, heat-recovery ventilation — is what makes a Blackmans Bay home quiet, dry and cheap to run whether or not it ends up with a certificate. See what certification actually requires, or how we approach passive house building generally.

Blackmans Bay, Kingston and the Kingborough coast

We build across Kingborough — Blackmans Bay, Kingston, Kingston Beach, Tinderbox, Howden and Margate — and throughout Hobart and the south. For what it costs, see the cost to build in Hobart, then get a real number for your own block with a 48-hour feasibility — within 10% of true build cost, across roughly ninety categories, priced by the team who would build it.

Building in Blackmans Bay — your questions answered

Have you built in Blackmans Bay?+

Yes — Bluebush, our certified Passive House, is at Blackmans Bay. It was named 2026 HIA Australian GreenSmart Home of the Year and GreenSmart Custom Built Home, and independently certified at 10 kWh/m²·yr heating demand with 0.5 air changes per hour. You can read the full certificate detail on the case study.

Is a passive house worth it at Blackmans Bay?+

This is arguably the best place in the state to make the case. Blackmans Bay blocks are typically sloping, west-facing and open to the channel, which means good light and real exposure at the same time. A well-sealed, continuously insulated envelope turns that exposure from a heating problem into a view. Bluebush needs roughly 80–90% less heating energy than a typical build.

What does building on a Blackmans Bay block involve?+

Most of it comes down to slope and salt. Sloping sites drive structure, access and retaining costs, which we price into your 48-hour feasibility rather than discovering later. Proximity to the channel means marine-grade fixings and flashings are the baseline, not an upgrade.

Do you build in Kingston as well?+

We build throughout the Kingborough area including Kingston, Kingston Beach, Blackmans Bay, Margate and Howden. Our completed work in this pocket is at Blackmans Bay and Howden, with the Margate Medical commercial build a little further south.

Home Builders in Blackmans Bay — Custom & Passive House