Issue 20 - passivehouseplus.ie

Historic London house gets near passive transformation

The default answer when you want to do pretty much anything to a listed building is ‘no’. The default assumption if you want to achieve the Enerphit standard for retrofit is ‘tackle everything’. So how on earth do you retrofit a listed building to within a whisker of the Enerphit standard — with the blessing of the conservation officer?

Active learning at Aberdeen passive nursery

A brand new passive-certified nursery at the University of Aberdeen provides the children of staff and students with a bright, warm and healthy space for learning and playing.

A green builder's dream green home

This is what you get when one of Ireland’s most experienced low energy builders creates a home for his own family, with help from one of the country’s foremost ecological architects — a modern and elegant passive house that pays detailed attention to sustainability at every turn.

Out of control? Are building control systems properly equipped to deliver safe, healthy and well-constructed buildings?

After a litany of dangerous and high profile building failures in Ireland, many in the country’s building industry looked longingly across the Irish Sea and held up the UK as an example of how to do building control properly. But following a series of embarrassing defects with UK construction projects, it’s clear the British system is far from perfect. So is either of these building control systems properly equipped to deliver safe, healthy and well-constructed buildings?

Ireland’s largest passive house scheme shows way to nZEB

At a time when the industry’s under increasing pressure to deliver cost-effective, robust, low energy homes at breakneck speed, one new west Dublin project is leading the way – while picking off sustainability targets for fun.

Our passive journey #5: Getting the right advice

In the fifth instalment of her column on designing and building a passive house for her family, Nessa Duggan talks about the importance of getting good advice — on everything from airtight sliding doors down to your choice of timber flooring.

Bow Tie & Beattie collaborate on 3-storey London passive house

Leading passive house contractor Bow Tie and build system provider Beattie Passive have begun collaboration on a series of passive house projects in London and surrounding areas, with Bow Tie recently supplying labour for the erection of a three storey Beattie Passive house in Clapham, South London.

Use all your solar electricity at home rather than export it — Warik Energy

Dublin-based solar power expert Warik Energy has advised anyone with a solar PV array or wind turbine that they can make significant cash savings through the installation of a smart energy storage system, ensuring 100% of the electricity they produce is used on-site rather than exported to the grid.

Framespace steel-frame system passes thermal imaging test

A thermal imaging report carried out by thermography experts EcoScan has revealed crucial differences in energy performance between a new light-gauge steel-frame house in Sligo, and a neighbouring house of cavity wall construction.

Time to move beyond the architecture of the oil age

We must discard the architectural baggage of the 20th century to solve 21st century problems – argues our columnist Marc Ó Riain – and relearn some lessons from before the advent of oil.

Experience is key to successful self builds: Kudos

The need for experienced contractors who can be depended upon to deliver the high quality product that a passive or indeed low energy house demands cannot be undervalued, leading timber frame manufacturer Kudos has claimed.

Flaw in NSAI retrofit code raises ventilation concerns

The National Standards Authority of Ireland has appeared to acknowledge a major discrepancy spotted by Passive House Plus in SR 54, its code of practice for the retrofit of homes, that could give rise to inadequate ventilation and poor indoor air quality in some dwellings upgraded to the code.

Architectural education must focus on occupant well-being — UCD lecturer

The co-ordinator of a sustainability focused architectural masters programme in University College Dublin believes that education in building design needs to focus more on the health and well-being of building occupants, as well as the numbers-driven approach of energy efficiency and resource conservation.

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