Fabric first - passivehouseplus.ie

As governments rush to jump-start their economies, there is a danger that important lessons for how to retrofit homes will be lost in the rush to build. But there is a better way, writes Dr Peter Rickaby.

Building envelope specialist Passive Building Structures is aiming to substantially cut the carbon footprint of its projects in 2021 both by increasing the thermal performance of its builds and cutting their embodied energy.

The Deerings, a large new certified passive house in the Hertfordshire village of Harpenden, is the stunning result of meticulous attention to design, energy efficiency and ecological materials by its architects, builders and a homeowner so taken by the experience that it led to an investment in an innovative passive house start-up.

While a tight budget meant some of the more ambitious eco features planned for this simple and graceful new farmhouse had to be dropped, it still manages to meet Ireland’s standard for nearly zero energy buildings (nZEBs) thanks to a combination of superb detailing and fabric-first design.

The imperative to engage in evidence-based deep retrofit grows by the day. With the UK government dragging its heels, Peter Rickaby finds signs of hope in local initiatives, and in burgeoning Irish efforts.

A new housing development in Naas, Co. Kildare is showing the way forward for Irish residential development, with its combination of fabric-first construction and the latest heat pump technology from Daikin.

SMET Building Products, which supplies a wide range of products for low energy and fabric-first construction, picked up the award for best small business at the Greater Newry Business Awards,  organised by Newry Chamber of Commerce & Trade, on 28 September at the town’s Canal Hotel.

Builder Conor Walsh undertook an ambitious partial rebuild, partial retrofit to this 1960s bungalow, delivering deep energy savings and turning it into a modern family home 

This pioneering upgrade project, completed in 2009, turned a Victorian redbrick in Birmingham into one of the UK’s greenest homes. Along with a much wider ecological agenda, the house employed fabric first principles of insulation and airtightness, and met passive house design targets at a time when the standard was still in its infancy in the UK.