Council employees Mark Burbridge, Jim Fraser and Wayne Trawinski, along with representatives from the building supplier Fortress Homes, were available to answer questions.

A number of community members took advantage of the opportunity with a steady flow throughout the afternoon.

The construction has generated much interest and the open-house gave people an opportunity to discuss the building techniques and view the near finished product.

The kit home construction system is a new and innovative approach to building which is both economical and extremely simple and fast to erect.

Walls are made of a polystyrene insulation material, which looks and feels similar to packaging foam, which is steel framed and sandwiched between wall cladding sheets.

The materials provide exceptional insulation from heat and cold, as well as noise dampening between rooms.

Ceilings employ a similar construction system, and are able to be walked on via the fold-away staircase in the passage. A high pitched roof gives the house extra storage space in the form of a loft.

Retrofitting the house at a later date with additional power points or similar is much more convenient than a brick or timber framed home, and can be easily accessed from the ceiling space, and melting a channel down the polystyrene for the new cabling.

The shire has decided to render the external walls and use a colorbond steel roof which leaves the building indistinguishable from more conventional building techniques.

The unique residence should be completed in the next few months, and council will then call for submissions for prospective tenants.

As the house has been partly funded by a grant from the Country Housing Authority, council intends to make the property available to a small business employing local trades people.

Construction of a similar residence will start in Newdegate next week.