Issue 29 - passivehouseplus.ie

Tanzanian children's eco village aims to inspire low carbon example

In 2016, three British sustainable building experts were asked to design a new school, housing and other facilities for an eco village in Tanzania that caters to the country’s orphans. They aimed to take the principles of passive house design and apply them in a low-cost, lowtech manner to demonstrate that sustainable, comfortable and affordable buildings could be accessible to the people of rural Tanzania.

This is the story of the project so far.

Cheshire semi gets passive retrofit for £60k

Vet Chris Copeman was so meticulous about the deep retrofit of his home near the village of Frodsham that he decided to train as a passive house consultant and project manage the build himself. The result? A certified passive house created on a surprisingly low budget.

Field of dreams

Designed in a traditional farmhouse cluster on a greenfield site amid the hedgerows of rural Cork, this new passive home by the River Sullane pays deep attention not only to energy efficiency but also to natural light, elegant design and preserving the ecology of its sensitive setting.

Mapping the efficiency of Europe’s buildings

A new free-to-use online tool aims to map the energy performance of Europe’s buildings, with the goal of helping to stimulate large-scale deep retrofit, writes project manager Michael Hanratty.

Social skills - The A1 rapid build council homes that are sustainability all-rounders

In the midst of a national housing crisis, this new development in Dún Laoghaire sets a hopeful and inspiring example: high quality, high density, rapid build social housing that needs almost no energy to heat and is within walking distance of shops, services and the seafront. No wonder it was one of the first projects to be certified to a rigorous new sustainability standard.

Woodland wonder

Hiding in woodland in an area of outstanding natural beauty, the Fishleys passive house manages to be both strikingly contemporary yet deeply sensitive to its rural setting. It also boasts a masterfully crafted timber frame structure with one of the best airtightness results this magazine has ever published.

The Jodrell Bank grand challenge

During a speech last year Theresa May challenged the construction industry to halve the energy use of new buildings, and to halve the cost of retrofit. But we already know how to meet these challenges, writes Peter Rickaby, and much more difficult tasks lie ahead.

International - Issue 29

This issue features a certified passive house in South Island, New Zealand, and the Bagley Outdoor Classroom at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.

Green Building Store publishes radical retrofit briefing

Green Building Store has published a free technical briefing on its award-winning radical retrofit of a traditional Pennine farmhouse & barn in West Yorkshire, which developed innovative solutions for hard-to treat buildings with solid walls.

Phase one complete at UK’s largest passive scheme

The first phase of Agar Grove, the UK’s largest passive house development, has now been completed for the London Borough of Camden. Hawkins\Brown acted as lead architect on the project, while Architype acted as passive house delivery architect for the first phase of the scheme, which provides 38 homes that are all socially rented to existing estate tenants.

Isover launch 2019 Isover Awards

Isover has announced the launch of the 2019 Isover Awards. Following on from their previous incarnation, the Isover Energy Efficiency Awards, the new Isover Awards will be open to both contractors and architects/specification professionals, and seek to celebrate excellence in energy efficient building and design.

Westmeath NZEB scheme opens its doors

The first phase of development is now complete at Clog Na Léinn, a new scheme of A1-rated ‘zero energy’ homes in Collinstown, Co Westmeath. Developed and built by NJ Doyne and designed by architect Louis Peppard, the first 13 houses are now finished, with the first residents moving in just as Passive House Plus went to print.

Snøhetta architect to speak at Green Room 2019

The Green Room, the Irish Green Building Council’s annual non-residential sustainable building gathering, takes place this year on 10 April in the Davenport Hotel, Dublin.

Reaching for the first rung

Why is it so difficult to get on the property ladder now compared to 20 years ago? After all, interest rates are lower and house prices are still below where they were in 2007. Architect Mel Reynolds runs through the figures.

Key ventilation event to run alongside Energy Show

A must-attend free event on ventilation in low energy buildings will run alongside this year’s Energy Show – with a chance to gain rare insights from a world class panel of expert speakers on a subject that is increasingly taking centre stage as new build and retrofit ambitions increase.

SEAI Energy Show back at RDS on 27 & 28 March

Ireland's leading annual energy event, the SEAI Energy Show, returns to the RDS on Wednesday and Thursday 27 & 28 March. The show will feature 150 exhibitors of energy saving and renewable energy technologies and services, as well as over 20 expert seminars and workshops.

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