This pioneering upgrade project, completed in 2009, turned a Victorian redbrick in Birmingham into one of the UK’s greenest homes. Along with a much wider ecological agenda, the house employed fabric first principles of insulation and airtightness, and met passive house design targets at a time when the standard was still in its infancy in the UK.
The Royal Institute of British Architects said that, despite some growing pessimism among architectural practices about business prospects, passive house design represents a new and exciting growth area that offers added value for architectural firms.
It’s taken Mick Kiernan more than 10 years to upgrade his Cork bungalow, and it’s still not finished. But along the way he discovered the passive house standard and let its principles guide his way towards a warm, airtight and healthy home.
The head teachers of an East London school put their interest in sustainable building into practice by adding a new passive house extension — and the results already seem to be paying off for pupils.
Huge expanses of unshaded glass are usually a taboo for passive house designers, but with his clients insistent on maximising their wide-angle coastal panorama, this project’s architect found clever ways to integrate the passive house approach with wrapping the house’s ground floor in glass.
This house on the coast of County Waterford is built from an insulated concrete formwork shell that delivers an inherently warm and airtight construction, and easily exceeds passive house targets.
Three years ago quantity surveyor Ross Cremin set out from scratch with the goal of self-building a passive house on a site in rural County Longford. Here he tells the story of his project and offers advice for others thinking of building their own passive house.
This issue’s selection includes a Chinese apartment block, Finnish social housing, an ambitious New York retrofit, and a German passive house district
Penny Randell has been appointed as a director of Ecological Building Systems UK Ltd.
The Association for the Conservation of Energy (Ace) has described as “scandalous” the Chancellor’s announcement of a 42% cut in the help available to households living in “dangerously” cold homes.
Medite Smartply, the leading manufacturer of oriented strand board (OSB) provided a rapid, reliable solution for a humanitarian project coordinated by Greenpeace UK to build emergency accommodation for homeless families in time for Christmas.
The UK Green Building Council has come together with Green Building Councils from around the world to publish a series of commitments from the private sector that would result in massive carbon savings from buildings and construction.
Industry experts Mark Siddall and Nick Grant will deliver a masterclass that examines the potential causes of overheating, and how to design, build and operate a passive building in order to prevent overheating problems, on 15 February in the Saint-Gobain Innovation Centre in London.
Stephen Fry has been announced as the special guest at Ecobuild 2016, the UK’s largest show dedicated to construction and energy. The erudite writer, actor and campaigner joins a lineup of industry leaders and experts.