From the Construct Ireland archives

Closed-panel timber frame home in Wicklow with impressive thermal performance and airtightness

There are surprisingly few truly iconic buildings, structures that dominate their environs, not to mention the country's intellectual landscape. Halla Chontae Chorcai, Cork County Hall, is one such building. Construct Ireland's Jason Walsh visited to find out about the building's environmental credentials.

As policy makers start to set mandatory low energy and renewable energy requirements as conditions of planning, the ability of the construction industry to find sound low-cost ways of achieving the new standards is becoming a key factor. John Corless speaks to leading sustainable building consultant Jay Stuart of Delap & Waller EcoCo and Paul Gilmartin of Ecobead to discover an approach with enormous potential for en-masse usage.

As fossil fuel prices rise, the need for energy efficiency in achieving both is increasingly leading Irish people to an approach which combines both ventilation and heating,

Earlier this summer SEI announced that, from December, external wall insulation systems must have Irish Agrément certification to be eligible for support under the Home Energy Saving scheme. But many in the green building sector are critical of the decision, and some are questioning the value and purpose of Agrément. Lenny Antonelli reports.

Sustainable architect Simon McGuinness describes a project in Dublin which is set to surpass the onerous standard using structural insulated panels.

Earlier this year constructireland.ie broke the news of the introduction of the pilot Home Energy Saving Scheme, a new grant funding programme designed to stimulate the en masse refurbishment of Ireland’s poorly performing existing housing stock. John Hearne travelled to one of the pilot areas to see how the scheme is working on the ground, and discover how the scheme is developing.

Much of the housing built around Dublin over the last forty years has been built of single-leaf nine-inch hollow block construction – which are both notoriously energy inefficient and extremely difficult to insulate effectively without causing damp problems. Lenny Antonelli visited a hollow block house which has been ecologically renovated to protect occupant health whilst shooting to the top of the energy rating scale.

As our recognition of the problems of dwindling fossil fuel supplies and climate change grows, the need to reduce the energy consumption and carbon emissions of our homes becomes increasingly apparent. Leading energy consultant Patrick Waterfield describes why and how we should switch to zero heating homes.

Ron and Collette Wardle started suffering ill health almost immediately after a sloppy energy upgrade. But reading a copy of Construct Ireland started a chain of events that led to the couple getting a brand new ventilation system — and seeing a marked improvement in their health.