Passive house & low energy building product specialist Partel has announced that it is now offering real-time, physical U-value measurement with the company’s agency for the greenTEG U-value Kit.

The first airtightness test has taken place at phase three of the Silken Park development at Citywest, which is set to be Ireland’s largest residential passive house scheme. A diagnostic initial blower door test, done when the external envelope was completed on one of the development’s show houses, took place on December 12 and delivered a worldbeating result of 0.16 air changes per hour (ACH), well inside the passive house standard of 0.6 ACH and the best result this magazine has ever noted for a masonry building.

Questions have been raised about ventilation standards under the government’s new Warmth & Wellbeing scheme, which provides free energy efficiency upgrades to people over the age of 55 living in Dublin 12 and 24, who experience energy poverty and are also suffering from respiratory conditions.

Report author Prof Diana Ürge-Vorsatz praises “fantastic” Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown passive house policy

2016’s UK Passivhaus Conference, which took place in London in October, was the biggest yet, with 300 delegates and another 100 visitors to the expo that ran in parallel. Also in attendance were students from half a dozen architecture schools, some of whom had risen before dawn for the chance to attend.

Leading timber frame manufacturer Cygnum picked up five awards during one week in October, in recognition of some of the high profile passive-certified projects it has completed in recent years.

A stylish new home in South Manchester has achieved exceptional levels of airtightness through a combination of careful detailing and a high performance structure, provided by the Kingspan TEK building system.

Employers, building owners, designers and developers throughout the world are showing that it pays to invest in greener offices that keep their occupants healthy and happy, a new report from the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) reveals.

ISH, the world’s “leading trade fair for the bathroom experience, building services, energy, air-conditioning technology and renewable energies” takes place from 14 to 18 March 2017 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

At the time of going to press, the Department of Housing, Planning, Community & Local Government was set to imminently launch a public consultation on a major revision to Part L of the building regulations for buildings other than dwellings.