Modern Galway home delivers ultra low energy bills

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.

Building a better passive school

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.

Sussex social scheme pits passive against the code

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.

Mallow build hits passive on a budget

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.

Irish whiskey distillery puts fabric first

Passive house is all about using tiny amounts of energy to deliver maximum comfort for those living and working in buildings that meet the standard. So why did Wain Morehead Architects turn to their passive house knowhow when designing a whiskey distillery that won’t have any occupants?

Passive architect walks walk with Carlow home

None of the team behind Passive House Plus has the good fortune to live in a passive house – at least not yet – meaning our promotion of passive house comes with more than a hint of “Do as I say, not as I do”. That’s emphatically not the case with certified passive house designer Helena Fitzgerald, who chose to practice what she preaches with her own home, to stunning effect.

Co Down passive house built for under £200,000

 As passive house moves into the mainstream, construction costs are bound to keep coming down, with increasing competition among suppliers, and designers and contractors becoming familiar with the most cost-effective routes to meeting the standard. One recent self build shows that low cost passive house needn’t be a distant aspiration – it’s achievable now.

Social scheme finds value in passive

With social housing tenants let down by substandard energy efficiency requirements under UK building regulations, some switched-on housing associations are taking matters into their own hands and building to the passive house standard. Broadland’s first certified passive scheme in Norfolk is a significant step on one association’s journey towards social housing fit for the 21st century.

Northwest facing home shows passive flexibility

Not every site lends itself towards passive house, or so the story goes. Intent on making the most of spectacular views to the northwest, Rob Davies and Amy Staniforth’s ecological self-build shows that passive house can overcome orientations that turn their back on the sun.

Media HQ shows ultra low energy vision

While Ireland’s minimum energy performance regulations for dwellings have come on leaps and bounds in recent years, standards for non-domestic buildings have remained untouched. Which makes forward-thinking media production company TVM’s new ultra low energy HQ all the more impressive.  

Vernacular passive

A building doesn’t have to be designed as a cube to meet the passive house standard, but it helps. This as yet uncertified passive house in Carlow shows that, climate permitting, less compact designs can be made passive – by pushing the envelope.

Pioneering passive office surpasses expectations

When it comes to actual energy usage, modern buildings rarely perform as expected, with many notionally low energy buildings falling disappointingly short. As discussion continues about how to solve the performance gap, one pioneering Welsh passive building has a different kind of performance gap – it’s using 40% less energy than anticipated.

West Midlands school achieves 90 percent energy saving

Building a passive house school is a big achievement, but the team behind Oakmeadow Primary School in Wolverhampton have done something even more formidable — they built one when they weren't even asked to, and they did it for a conventional budget.

3 generations, 2 semi-ds, 1 passive house

Built on a tricky site in the seaside town of Salthill, Co Galway, Ireland’s first semi-detached passive house development is designed to meet the needs of three generations from the same family.

Sustainability centre with a passive message

One of the UK’s first nondomestic buildings to gain passive house certification, the Simmonds Mills designed Green Base centre is an embodiment of the environmental ethos it seeks to promote. 

Wicklow house comes close to passive

With a target as exacting as the passive house standard, circumstances can conspire against meeting every criteria. Architect Sam Mays describes a Co Wicklow home that hit every passive target except one when the builder went bust. 

Ireland’s most energy efficient building?

A new house in Wexford is the first in the country to achieve an A1 Building Energy Rating and certified passive house status – arguably making it the most energy efficient building yet built in Ireland. So why did a regulatory flaw risk rendering it non-compliant?