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The deepest greenest retrofit ever?
With obsessive attention to preserving and restoring the original fabric of these two Victorian townhouses, and a commitment to shunning petrochemicals and using only natural materials, could this be the most wildly ambitious and sustainable passive retrofit ever undertaken in the UK?
Holy Trinity
Situated in a stunning location in the west of Ireland, between Galway Bay and the limestone hills of the Burren, this project provided a complex challenge in three parts: deep retrofit an old cottage into a yoga studio, reinvigorate its original extension, and build a new barrel-roofed passive-grade extension — then make it all work together as one unified home and workspace.
Marketplace news
10 million tonnes of carbon saved by low carbon cement — Ecocem
Ecocem, the leading producer of ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBS), a low carbon alternative to traditional cement, says use of its product has saved 10 million tonnes of carbon emissions since the company began operating in 2002.
05-04-2019 Marketplace
Be ready for air testing of non-domestic buildings
Leading Irish energy & airtightness consultancy Greenbuild has advised the building industry to be prepared for the new requirement, as of January of this year, to test new non-domestic buildings for airtightness on completion.
05-04-2019 Marketplace
Green Building Store publishes radical retrofit briefing
Green Building Store has published a free technical briefing on its award-winning radical retrofit of a traditional Pennine farmhouse & barn in West Yorkshire, which developed innovative solutions for hard-to treat buildings with solid walls.
05-04-2019 Marketplace
Passive Purple offer guaranteed passive house airtightness
Airtightness membrane specialists Passive Purple are putting their money where their mouth is – by guaranteeing passive house levels of airtightness.
25-03-2019 Marketplace
Westmeath NZEB scheme opens its doors
The first phase of development is now complete at Clog Na Léinn, a new scheme of A1-rated ‘zero energy’ homes in Collinstown, Co Westmeath. Developed and built by NJ Doyne and designed by architect Louis Peppard, the first 13 houses are now finished, with the first residents moving in just as Passive House Plus went to print.
15-03-2019 Marketplace
Ecological scoop hat-trick of awards at Archi Expo
Ecological Building Systems scooped three awards at the recent Architecture & Building Expo held in the RDS, Dublin. This event brings together the country’s leading architects, architectural technologists, industry professionals and specifiers.
11-02-2019 Marketplace
Keystone’s Hi-therm+ Lintel receives BBA cert
Keystone Lintels has received certification from the British Board of Agrément (BBA) for its Hi-therm+ Lintel. According to the company, this makes it the only BBA approved one-piece lintel solution which achieves the appendix R value for steel lintels in Part L 2013 (depending on wall construction).
11-02-2019 Marketplace
Only choose the best airtightness products — Usher Insulations
Leading insulation and airtightness contractor Usher Insulations has emphasised the importance of using reliable, quality airtightness products on site — to ensure that buildings remain air-sealed over their full lifetime, and not just for the day of their blower door test.
11-02-2019 Marketplace
News and blogs
Phase one complete at UK’s largest passive scheme
The first phase of Agar Grove, the UK’s largest passive house development, has now been completed for the London Borough of Camden. Hawkins\Brown acted as lead architect on the project, while Architype acted as passive house delivery architect for the first phase of the scheme, which provides 38 homes that are all socially rented to existing estate tenants.
New housing should be to passive house standard — Climate Change Committee
The UK’s official climate change advisor has called on the government to tighten energy efficiency standards for new housing to bring them down, or close to, passive house standard.
Imperial War Museums archive breaks airtightness record
A state-of-the-art archive building in Cambridgeshire, which has been built to house Imperial War Museums’ (IWM) rich paper collection, has registered the best airtightness test result ever recorded in the UK – and perhaps, the world.
Isover launch 2019 Isover Awards
Isover has announced the launch of the 2019 Isover Awards. Following on from their previous incarnation, the Isover Energy Efficiency Awards, the new Isover Awards will be open to both contractors and architects/specification professionals, and seek to celebrate excellence in energy efficient building and design.
Internet of Things dominates ISH 2019
Today is the last day of ISH, the bi-annual exhibition for the combined topic of water and energy, which is on at the exhibition grounds in Frankfurt. Titled as ISH, it is the world’s leading trade fair for a range of associated topics, materials and services.
Snøhetta architect to speak at Green Room 2019
The Green Room, the Irish Green Building Council’s annual non-residential sustainable building gathering, takes place this year on 10 April in the Davenport Hotel, Dublin.
Reaching for the first rung
Why is it so difficult to get on the property ladder now compared to 20 years ago? After all, interest rates are lower and house prices are still below where they were in 2007. Architect Mel Reynolds runs through the figures.
New research raises spray foam health questions
New studies are seeking to answer questions about how spray foam insulation, and materials containing formaldehyde, affect indoor air quality — and some of the early results are worrying.
Daylight, embodied carbon & more: advances in the AECB PHribbon software
Tim Martel of Optimal Retrofit describes recent advances in PHribbon, an Excel tool designed to improve the functionality of the passive house design software PHPP.
Wales votes to cut emissions 80%
The Welsh assembly has voted through new legally-binding carbon emissions targets for the country. The targets bind the country to reduce emissions by 80%, relative to 1990 levels, by 2050.
Disastrous Preston retrofits make national headlines
The revelations in Passive House Plus issue 24 about failed external insulation retrofits in the Fishwick area of Preston have been followed up by UK national media, putting pressure on Ofgem, the electricity and gas regulator, to make more effort to help those affected.
Low carbon homes forum to tour the UK in 2019
A series of nationwide forums designed to help housing and construction professionals improve home energy efficiency across the UK has secured support from regional low carbon champions.
Buildings need better overheating models to guarantee future comfort
Building designers need to undertake much deeper analyses of overheating risks, and do so under future climate change scenarios, in order to ensure their buildings can adapt and remain comfortable for occupants in a warming world.
ISH fair returns to Frankfurt in March 2019
ISH, the world’s leading trade fair focused on building services, energy, and water, returns to Messe Frankfurt from 11 to 15 March 2019.
Rediscovery Centre wins sustainable energy award
The Rediscovery Centre in Ballymun picked up the Buildings Award at the 2018 SEAI Sustainable Energy Awards, which were held at the Mansion House, Dublin, on 25 October. The awards recognise excellence in energy management in business, communities and public sector organisations.
New Europe-wide boost for energy efficient mortgages
Energy efficient properties less likely to default, research finds
Heat pumps & mechanical ventilation start to dominate new homes market
Heat pumps were likely the dominant heating system in new Irish homes in 2017, and mechanical ventilation was on course to overtake natural ventilation in new homes in 2018, an analysis by Passive House Plus has revealed.
Irish building industry foresees imminent green shift
Fifty-four percent of Irish organisations participating in the World Green Building Trends 2018 SmartMarket Report expect their projects to be green by 2021 — well above the global average of 47%. “The number of green buildings has increased significantly in Ireland over the last five years,” said Pat Barry, CEO of the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC).
New authority to oversee safety in high rise apartment blocks
It is being suggested that the creation of a Joint Competent Authority – as called for by Dame Judith Hackitt in her review of the building regulatory system, after the Grenfell tragedy – is due to be announced by the UK Ministry of Housing very soon. And a new industry initiative is calling for Dame Judith’s recommendations to be implemented in full.
Herefordshire eco-cottage wins Passivhaus Award
Old Holloway Cottage, the 100 square metre timber-and-straw cottage in rural Herefordshire that was designed by its homeowner, architect Juraj Micurcik, picked up the small project award at this year’s UK Passivhaus Awards, which were presented at the end of October.
Key ventilation event to run alongside Energy Show
A must-attend free event on ventilation in low energy buildings will run alongside this year’s Energy Show – with a chance to gain rare insights from a world class panel of expert speakers on a subject that is increasingly taking centre stage as new build and retrofit ambitions increase.
A housing boom without the houses?
There was much talk of jobless recovery as economies picked up after the last global recession. Mel Reynolds detects signs of an analogous proposition in the Irish property market: a housing boom that may be close to peaking without much in the way of housebuilding to report.
UK buildings regulations set for major overhaul
Review to look at Part L & Part F, which deal with energy efficiency & ventilation
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