Ironbark Architecture Sutherland Shire — Garden Design in Cronulla, NSW

Ironbark Architecture came highly recommended to us by a neighbour who was renovating and this recommendation was seconded by our builder. As we live offshore on the Northern Beaches, our project had its own particular challenges to renovating and rebuilding. Chris has been worth his weight in gold, being flexible about stepping in midway through the planning stage and bringing his expertise and practical ideas and solutions to guide us through the areas we needed support on. We have particularly appreciated his experience and local contacts on the Northern Beaches. He responds quickly to questions and takes the time to explain his thoughts and recommendations. We initially engaged him for one aspect of our project and have now extended the brief as his involvement has been invaluable - very glad to have found Ironbark Architecture.

Feb 2025

We engaged with Chris from Ironbark Architecture to design our home. When meeting with Chris initially he listened to us and really wanted to understand our lives and how we will live in the space, to ensure the design would suit our lifestyles. We met with other architects from the Sutherland Shire area and they simply didn't listen and wanted to push the same agenda as every other house they design. Chris is very detailed and is willing to think of alternative ways to make things work. We really wanted a house that minimised the impact on the environment via a considered design. Chris was extremely supportive of working with us on this. Throughout the design stage he pushed us to consider ideas that we hadn't thought of (which is totally the point of engaging with an architect!!!), some we loved and some we didn't - it was great he put the ideas forward. Without this our design wouldn't be anywhere near as good as it is. To the challenges that came up in trying to solve for some of our "must haves" he thought of ways that they could work. Following the completion of designing the house we continued to engage Chris through the detailed design phase (where the fixtures, fittings and finishes are completed amongst many other things). Again, he was meticulous with his attention to detail. We really enjoyed working with Chris, he has been incredibly helpful, doesn't force a house on you that looks like every other house, has a strong ethos on sustainability and is extremely detailed. He designed a home for us that we can't wait to move into (the build has just started)! I would highly recommend him.

Sept 2023

We used Ironbark Architecture on our rebuild/renovation in Cronulla, after receiving positive recommendations from another Ironbark project that was completed nearby. It was a pleasure working with Chris to bring our ideas and his expertise together and we are delighted with the outcome. Chris spent the time to understand what we were trying to achieve and the combination of his design skills and his attention to detail ensured we got there. Chris’ project management and clear communication was appreciated not only by us but by the builders and other trades involved in the project. We would not hesitate to recommend Ironbark.

Sept 2023

I have completed two separate projects - one residential and one commercial - with Chris from Ironbark and could not be happier with the process and results of both. So talented, organised and driven, yet also humble and approachable, Chris is an absolute pleasure to work with and genuinely loves what he does.

Sept 2021

Chris of Ironbark Architecture led us through the design process of our first floor extension and garden studio. We enjoyed how Chris prepared our plans for DA submission so much we extended his scope to include construction drawings, submission for CC and tendering for a builder. Before consulting Chris we’d asked some friends in the design/building profession to suggest ways we could solve our growing family’s building needs. No matter which way we looked at it, our existing home seemed to have an unsolvable building problem. Once Chris came on board he immediately identified a solution we had never considered and offered a location for the troubling stairs that we didn’t want to compromise our existing floor space. We were particularly impressed to see how Chris would remember our ‘on the fly’ conversations, incorporating them into the next documentation phase only days later. Chris consistently showed incredible attention to detail and we were impressed how he kept anticipating our next query. We never needed to chase Chris and the energy he poured into the project’s design made us feel that our project was special. We now have a detailed plan to build a much better home than we could have envisaged and thanks to Chris we’ve also signed up with a builder we feel confident in.

Mar 2016