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“We are proud to help lead the
way to a more sustainable en-
vironment and future,” Shawn
says.
Leading the way in sustainabil-
ity does not mean sacrificing
luxury, however. With Avant
Garde – Canada’s first certified
luxury net zero home – Claxton
+ Marsh has shown clients that
they can have both.
Avant Garde is 4,500 square
feet, and located in Guelph’s
prestigious Heritage Lake Es-
tates Community. It features
9,200 square feet of living
space on an exclusive one-acre
lot. It includes ceilings ranging
from 12 to 20 feet, heated pa-
tios, walkways, and driveway,
and smoked glass custom stair
railings. The main floor features
four bedrooms, five bathrooms,
and a diva-inspired kitchen and
pantry. There’s also a tempera-
ture-controlled wine room with
a black pearl racking system, a
four-season room with a floor-
to-ceiling hand-carved lime-
stone fireplace and wall-to-wall
windows, and a “stunning great
room.”
Eve describes that home as hav-
ing an “ambience of pure luxury
throughout,” and a “permeating
air of glamour.”
That kind of “luxury feeling” is
rarely present in environmen-
tally-friendly homes, but Clax-
ton + Marsh is changing the
game. The company designed
and engineered the home to
reduce energy needs, they in-
cluded on-site renewable en-
ergy systems – including a Tes-
la Powerwall – and they made
sure the home produces as
least as much energy as it con-
sumes on a yearly basis. At the
same time, they also designed
the home maximum curb and
aesthetic appeal. There are
solar panels, but the roof was
designed to keep them out of
sight. Eve says the home looks
“truly magnificent” from the
road.
“The last thingwewantedwas to
have people drive by the home
and say ‘Look at that lovely en-
vironmentally-friendly home,’”
Eve says. “The goal was to build
a big home with basically every
luxury feature, everything a cli-
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