Cover your cement path/s with more decking, even bring the decking out from the wall (so not to cover your vents) say 6 - 10 inches, then you could put down some little pots or planters of heat tolerant plants, which could form a little narrow border, between your new decked paths and your house and soften the brick, (then if you lose any plants it would be easy to replace them) Also, take the decking down far enough down the side, as to meet your existing decking, then remove some of your strung wire balastrading and enter your existing decked patio from your new decking/pathway, this will create a much better flow. Also, if you choose, you could put up a pathway wide pergola, over your new decked pathways, along the side of the house, even off the side of your house, and you could then grow and train creepers over it, this would cool the whole side of your house and make it more inviting to visit! I can see it already. Good luck.

Have a look at the permeable paving products. The stones look good too, can be a bit difficult to keep them in place though as they can spread around.

I would agree that despite the moderate climate err on the side of liability over aesthetics. Some of the M3 glazing films (applied to the inside) will significantly improve the performance of the glass. I would steer away from clear and go for comfort. Good luck with the rest of your build.

kitchen to south any day of the week....I'd also go further to suggest that possibly the building could have been designed to have the kitchen hard to the south boundary that would have opened up more north light opportunity and better use of the (unusable) side space behind the kitchen. You'd still need a light court for the bedrooms etc...& possibly by doing this the future pool could have been flipped and oriented more to the north/west corner and the net effect would be having more options/flexibility for the outside space, & also possibly alfresco area located on the north which is always better than to the west, so alternatively an extension that is more streamlined in design, following the line of the existing building rather than kicking out, I can see immediately that this type of design strategy would bring some arguably clear benefits on a number of levels .....not sure how far down the track you are (looks like still in concept/sketch design stage) may I add that it's always cheaper to consider re-design on paper rather than regretting less than ideal outcomes after they're built...... anyway food for thought........always consider the options and maintain an open mind...it's always ALL in the design Best of luck Cheer PD :)