Welcome to the archive of Construct Ireland, the award-winning Irish green building magazine which spawned Passive House Plus.
The feature articles in these archives span from 2003 to 2011, including case studies on hundreds of Irish sustainable buildings and dozens of investigative pieces on everything from green design and building methods, to the economic arguments for low energy construction.
While these articles appeared in an Irish publication, the vast majority of the content is relevant to our new audience in the UK and further afield. That said, readers from some regions should take care when reading some of the design advice - lots of south facing glazing in New Zealand may not be the wisest choice, for instance.
Dip in, and enjoy!
The rapidly growing public interest in sustainable building is finally starting to impact on property developers. Bill Quigley of Nutech Consultants describes an innovative 200 house development currently on site in Co. Cork where forward-thinking developers J & W Leahy Brothers have decided that the market is ready for low energy, low CO2 buildings.
With an economy fuelled by a government approach to planning that many people equate to a road building and house building free for all, it should come as no surprise that quality of life suffers
Construct Ireland tracked down the busy director of Limerick Civil Trust to talk about the sterling work already done, current projects and to ponder the implications of recent FAS cutbacks.
RICHARD DOUTHWAITE proposes measures including energy upgrade of the housing stock which could help to avoid economic meltdown, and JAY STUART outlines some energy saving measures which could be rolled out.
Foxrock passive development built with externally insulated poroton & aircrete blocks along with timber frame
Energy Directive
Construct Ireland and Century Homes present the need for Energy Labels before the Joint Oireachtas Committee
With great attention to energy, materials and water, ABK Architects’ new civic precinct shows that smart green design can show no sign of compromise
With 36 years experience in ecological architecture, Paul Leech of Gaia Ecotecture possesses a formidable knowledge of international green design. Fresh from picking up the best ecological building 2010 Lama award for the pioneering Navan Credit Union – and a favourable review in Prof George Baird’s Sustainable Buildings in Practice: What the Users Think - a global survey of green buildings - Leech describes a handful of inspirational green exemplar projects from around the world.
Long-caricatured as resource destroying monsters clad in steel and glass, the skyscraper is rarely viewed as an environmentally sound form of architecture. Construct Ireland’s Jason Walsh looks at efforts underway to change that perception.