SEAI CEO on alternative Part L compliance: gap for passive house in Ireland & UK?

As recently revealed on this website, the CEO of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, Dr Brian Motherway, has explained that buildings don't need to achieve particular results in the Deap software (Ireland's equivalent to SAP) to demonstate compliance with Part L.

Writing in response to a list of questions I put to him on this matter, Dr Motherway's revelations may surprise many in the industry in Ireland - and may have repurcussions in the UK too. One point to be clear on: I have been pursuing this issue specifically because of the patently absurd situation where buildings which meet the passive house standard - demonstrably the world's leading low energy building standard - are, on occasions, failing to tick boxes in Deap to demonstrate comformance with Part L.

But in the case of the Irish and various UK building regulations, it's made clear that alternative methods of compliance may be used. We gather that this caveat only applies on the basis that any proposed alternative must stand up to scrutiny. Passive house clearly passes that test from an energy performance point of view, so to be clear: this does not mean open season for developers who wish to ignore building regulations.

To shed more light on SEAI's perspective, click here to view Dr Motherway's email to me, and the questions I put to him which prompted his reply. Note also that I have put some follow-up questions to him, and I expect to publish his response in due course.