Designing a passive house is one thing. Designing a scheme of passive houses to make the most of the views on an extraordinary coastal site is another. And designing that scheme to tie into the local supply chains and architectural vernacular – while ensuring the homes are set up for changing, potentially disengaged occupants – is the stuff of magic.
The Smarter Finance for EU consortium, which is aiming to unlock €100bn worth of green homes across Europe, announced the launch of a European centre of excellence to promote green home certification and investment across Europe at the Irish Green Building Council’s annual residential conference in Dublin.
While tokenistic or poorly conceived attempts at supporting the decarbonisation and greening of buildings still abound in the finance sector, there are signs of structural changes on the horizon - changes designed to unlock widespread change. But do those changes go far enough?
As governments come under increasing pressure to make real and significant reductions in energy use and carbon emissions while tackling energy poverty, interest in passive house has never been higher. But short of expecting regulators to commit to certified passive house, is there a way of adopting the key principles that make passive house work?
By Nick Grant and Peter Wilkinson
Sometimes a building comes along that does almost too much. Passive house stalwarts Kirsty Maguire Architects’ latest opus is an award-winning architectural, engineering, and sustainability feat – which asks questions not just about how we build, but how we live.
Fancy owning an energy positive, timber-based passive house in one of the most desirable locations in England, without the hassle of having to build it yourself? A new three-house development nearing completion in Hertfordshire may be just the ticket.
In September Cairn Homes lit the fuse on a passive house explosion, publishing a position paper on passive house and announcing the construction of nearly 1,800 apartments to the standard. But what’s behind the company’s bold move?
The proof in the pudding with a notionally low energy building is in the eating. Since moving into their new passive house a little under two years ago, the Murray family’s heating costs have been scarcely believable – in a home that also blitzes the embodied carbon targets in the RIAI 2030 Climate Challenge.
Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. And sometimes strange but breathtaking fiction subverts reality.
In issue 47 we took a break from our normal approach to Big Picture, with good reason: passive house playing a starring role in an extraordinary US TV show.
Irish construction professionals seeking to upskill in sustainability can avail of 80% grants – through short courses on a wide range of subjects linked to energy efficiency, the circular economy and digital skills for sustainable building.
As the world edges ever closer to the precipice of runaway climate change, some sustainability terms have moved from relative obscurity towards the mainstream of marketing and public discourse – and none more so than zero carbon. But is zero carbon construction a real prospect, or is it just wishful thinking?
Words by John Butler and Andy Simmonds
KORE Retrofit, a leading provider of sustainable retrofit solutions in Ireland, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Barry Mc Carron as its new managing director. Mc Carron brings extensive experience in sustainable development, building energy performance, and project management to this pivotal role.
If thermal comfort is important for people of all ages, it’s even more so for elderly people, for whom the right living conditions can be a matter of life or death. Passive House Plus visited one award-winning extra care facility in Exeter to learn how the decision to go passive was working out for the residents.
Few architects are tasked with knocking their old family home, but for John Morehead, once this difficult decision was made, it was a chance to create a future-proofed new passive house that embraces its stunning natural surroundings and exhibits remarkable attention to detail.
What does it feel like to suffer the cold, mould and discomfort of a 1960s bungalow, and experience its rebirth as a passive house? The owner of one award-winning project spills the beans.
Additional reporting by Jeff Colley
All new homes in Europe must meet binding embodied carbon reduction targets and produce zero on site emissions by 2030, due to changes led by Irish Green Party MEP Ciarán Cuffe.
The first passive house certified hotel in Seville’s historic centre defies the challenges posed by its hot climate, small size, and preservation requirements, showcasing innovative strategies to mitigate heat and maximize energy efficiency.
by Juan Manuel Castaño and María Vico, Castaño & Asociados Passivhaus
Recent analysis has suggested a slowdown in the property sector for 2024, but what impact might a drop in inflation have? Mel Reynolds runs the numbers.
Last year Irish banking behemoth AIB launched discounted development finance for homes certified to the Irish Green Building Council’s rating system, the Home Performance Index. But what was behind the move, how is it being received and does this indicate the finance industry is getting serious about green homes?
Additional words by Jeff Colley
While the passive house standard has had a lasting impact on the design and construction of new homes in Ireland, progress has been slower in commercial property. With the business world under increasing pressure to take meaningful climate action while providing better working conditions for staff, one new office building in the southeast may be a sign of things to come – and a beacon for a UN-affiliated project.
Businesses involved in the supply chain for low energy building or retrofit in Ireland take note: there are a number of must see events at the Energy Show in Dublin.
The ever-tightening ambitions to integrate sustainability throughout Ireland’s new and existing buildings won’t be realised unless we can find smart, flexible ways to upskill the industry. Lis O’Brien of Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) explains how Digital Academy for Sustainable Built Environment (DASBE) has it cracked.
If you were choosing how to build in a bushfire-prone region of Australia, you could be forgiven for skirting over the possibility of packing your walls with straw. Talina Edwards of Envirotecture describes an extraordinary off-grid passive house which uses straw and a range of low embodied carbon building materials to blitz regulatory requirements on fire, while delivering year-round comfort levels that the neighbours can scarcely believe.
Green home certifications and mortgage products must align with new EU rules on green finance, the pan-European Smarter Finance for EU consortium has warned.
In this #BuildingLife Ambassador Spotlight Series, Passive House Plus is profiling leaders who have endorsed the Irish Green Building Council’s (IGBC) call to address the environmental impacts of buildings across their lifecycle.