Safeguarding historic documents and other artefacts requires stable building conditions. Until now this was usually achieved with the expensive and energy-hogging use of heating and cooling equipment, but a new approach by Herefordshire Council used the passive house approach to conserve energy, money — and the county’s precious historical archives.
Building this stylish south Dublin passive house, which recently picked up a Made in Germany energy efficiency award, demanded a steep learning curve, not least when it came to airtightness — but despite the struggles, it ultimately gave its owners their dream low energy home.
Words: Des Crabbe, architectural technologist, OA Studios
Motivated by the experience of building and living in a passive house, one of Ireland’s leading political figures has become a public advocate for the standard. Passive House Plus visited the house to find out why.
Late last summer, work finished on architect Paul McNally’s latest super low energy project: a three-storey building in Tipperary that has just become Ireland’s first certified passive house pharmacy.
When Sjölander da Cruz Architects sought to turn an old abestos-clad shed into the firm’s new studio, it offered the perfect opportunity to put an enthusiasm for passive house design into practice.
A new development in Tipperary aimed to combine excellent levels of airtightness and insulation with generous glazing and natural ventilation to deliver ultra-modern, comfortable, low energy offices. How did it work out?
The eco-village at Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary is no stranger to low energy buildings, and with this passive house, architect Paul McNally of The Passivhaus Architecture Company set out to prove that energy efficiency and good architecture go hand-in-hand.
For Ruth Busbridge and her builder Mike Whitfield, aiming for the passive house standard was just one part of an environmentally conscious approach that put natural, healthy materials to the fore.
Three award-winning affordable homes in scenic North Norfolk have achieved passive certification while embracing a unique local style of architecture.
How can a house embrace passive solar principles when all the sun’s heat and light is to the south — but all the best views are to the north? This striking home on the Connemara coast employed some clever solutions.
A simple building form, few junctions and minimal surface area are some of the cornerstones of passive house design — but as this spectacular certified passive house in Co Meath proves, rules are made to be broken.
One third of the units at a new social housing development in the East Midlands have met the passive house standard— but the entire project was inspired by fabric first, low energy design.
Anyone who thinks the passive house standard isn’t relevant to non-domestic buildings is missing a trick. One certified passive office in Leicester reveals the significant benefits companies can yield in terms of saving energy, increasing productivity and improving the bottom line.
The latest in a string of passive house projects by social housing providers, Octavia’s Housing’s new mixed-use development at Sulgrave Gardens embraced fabric first design on an awkward London site to help protect occupants against rising fuel costs.
For self-builder James Byrne, building to the passive house standard was just one element of an approach that aimed to drastically reduce the environmental impact of his house — built from a hemp and lime system, it also features solar collectors, rainwater harvesting and natural wastewater treatment.
Despite its stop-start beginnings, this cottage in the west of Ireland delivers a traditional-but-stylish design with close-to-passive performance.
When work began on this low energy, super airtight project in Co Galway it faced a tight budget and a market for passive house products that had yet to mature. But in the end its owner Hugh Whiriskey emerged with a comfortable home with stunningly low annual heating and hot water costs of just over a euro per square meter.
This uncertified passive house on Ireland’s south-west coast makes a striking-yet-sensitive architectural statement.
Architectural technician Phillip Newbold overcame strict planning rules and a tight budget to build his sensitively designed, super low energy home in an area of outstanding natural beauty.
The team behind a series of passive house schools in Wolverhampton have used the lessons learned from in-depth monitoring of the first two buildings to make the third even better — and cheaper to build.
This certified passive house on the west coast of Scotland might look like a traditional hayshed, but it’s certainly more energy efficient than one.
In the absence of strong energy requirements under building regulations, much of the UK’s new build innovation has been driven by the Code for Sustainable Homes. Amid growing concern that the code’s attention to energy efficiency falls some way short of passive house, monitoring results from one social housing scheme offer a rare opportunity for direct comparison.
In spite of having no construction experience Steve O’Rourke decided to make his self-build home a passive house, a feat achieved by a well-considered and collaborative approach.
Exploding the myth that passive house means unfamiliar construction methods and considerable expense, one Cork-based builder has gone passive using wide cavity wall construction – for a competitive cost of €100 per sq ft.