Fireplace: 68SS Single Sided Ethanol Fireplace
Builder: Espire
Location: 79 Clendon Road, Toorak VIC 3142
Completed: 2026
Real Estate Listings: Apartment 3 & Penthouse
The Clendon Residences sit at the highest point of Clendon Road, one of Toorak's most tightly held addresses. Securing land and approvals on a street like this is no small feat, which makes a boutique building of just five residences all the rarer.
Each home was to have its own fireplace. None of them could have gas.
The Brief
There was no gas supply to the building. Electric was considered and set aside; for an interior with beautiful natural finishes, a fake flame was never going to work.
The developer's preference was ethanol, and it was the right call: a real flame, flueless, with no chimney or penetration across four high-end apartments and one penthouse.
Each fire was to be built as the living-room focal point, a place to gather, warm in winter and a sculptural feature the rest of the year.
That meant the ethanol fireplace model had to be chosen and its requirements squared away before the structure was built. Clearances, finishing materials and ventilation all worked out from the drawings, so there were no surprises on site.
“With no gas to the building it came down to ethanol or electric, and ethanol was the right call. It gives a real flame, a higher-end finish and a nicer heat.”
- Tristan von Sierakowski, Senior Project Manager, Espire
The Design
Every residence received a single Flex 68SS, specified with the black burner rather than stainless steel. Recessed into the surround, the black disappears, and the opening reads as a clean horizontal line; the eye goes to the flame, not a band of steel.
The fire is set low into a solid plinth surround finished in soft-pink Venetian plaster, with a softly radiused return at each end and a 20 mm Quartzite bench top; the same stone that carries through to the kitchen, tying the two zones together in a single sculptural gesture.
The four apartments share a 2500 mm plinth; in the penthouse, it stretches to 3580 mm to suit the larger living space, the same fireplace and the same detail, on a longer surround.
One fireplace detail, fixed and repeatable, that each interior could be styled around in its own way.
“Now the residences are staged they are looking great. The fireplaces are a real feature of the living spaces.”
- Tristan von Sierakowski, Senior Project Manager, Espire
Specifying at Scale
For the project managers at Espire, it was a first: they'd never worked with ethanol before. Tristan and Jamie came into the Chama Design Bentleigh East showroom in mid-2025, and we took them through it properly: the product itself, the compliance requirements, finishing materials, clearances, ventilation, safety, the lot.
They left understanding not just which fireplace to use, but how it had to be built.
The showroom did more than answer questions; it reshaped the design. Their initial concept changed entirely, with the final surround taking its cue from the installation they'd seen in the Chama Design Bentleigh East showroom.
Specification & Compliance
The Flex 68SS is a zero-clearance firebox. It is designed to be built directly into the timber framing, with an insulation layer required between the box and the studs, and that is how it was installed here, confirmed on site during construction.
It simplifies the surrounding detail considerably.
“From a build point of view the zero clearance install was straightforward. The fireboxes went directly into the timber framing with no issues, we just double-checked the detail with [Rhys] before locking it in.”
- Tristan von Sierakowski, Senior Project Manager, Espire
Before framing, the joinery drawings were reviewed against the requirements that govern a safe install: fire-rated cladding to the surround, heat-resistant adhesives, 600 mm to combustible materials, and 1500 mm to any sheer curtains.
The room's air exchange was checked against the appliance; the open-plan living volumes sat well beyond the minimum for safe operation, so no additional ventilation was needed.
At completion, each of the five bioethanol fireplaces was commissioned and signed off in person; clearances, cladding and ventilation confirmed against the specification before the first flame.
Five residences, five fires, one specification carried cleanly from drawing to sign-off.
Planning a multi-residence development without a gas connection?
Talk to our design team about specifying ethanol fireplaces that pass review the first time.
