From the Construct Ireland archives

Brian Homan, Joint Managing Director of leading consulting engineers Homan O’Brien Associates describes a nursing home currently being built that is adopting a sustainable building approach to deliver healthy, comfortable accommodation at low running costs.

Nottingham passive house enters Solar Decathlon

Green architect Minka McInerney profiles six unique green buildings including a cardboard school building, a globe-trotting recycled museum & the tallest timber building in the world

In spite of the obvious emergence of technologies and design approaches to reduce the impact of new build, environmental standards remained poor throughout the duration of the housing boom. Now, a unique combination of political will, smart incentives, and a new market of informed and empowered buyers may be about to change that, writes Lenny Antonelli

Kirk Shanks, Senior Researcher at the Sustainability Research Development Group, the Focas Institute, DIT describes the development of this new sustainable generation.

In a comparatively short time, district heating and cooling have emerged as an ideal sustainable solution for mixed use, residential, commercial and industrial developments. Far from being a new technology, district heating systems have been commonplace across Europe since the 1960s. Noel Walshe BE of district heating specialists Noel Walshe ltd explains what is required to deliver the most effective solution.

Designed and patented by Irish firm NuTech Renewables, solar enhanced ventilation aims to bring big energy and cost savings to the retrofit market by combining solar and ventilation technologies. NuTech’s Bill Quigley explains how it works.

Construct Ireland Journalist Frank Coles investigates the impact posed by the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive

Richard Douthwaite investigates pensions and better ways to invest in our future

The government is aiming to energy upgrade one million buildings by 2020, but huge investment will be needed to reach that goal as finance expert Jack O’Keeffe of Larchmont Consulting explains