Picking from some of the best current sustainable design the world has to offer, we profile a floating passive house currently moored in the Netherlands, a ground-breaking timber hybrid tower in Austria, a multi unit passive scheme in Malmö, and an Enerphit upgrade to a brutalist Connecticut home originally designed by one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s colleagues.
The combined floor area of certified passive buildings worldwide has reached the one million metre mark with the certification of a retrofit project in Santa Cruz, California.
The passive house standard may be acceptable as an alternative method of compliance with Ireland’s stringent energy efficiency regulations, according to a leading expert in energy and construction law, leaving the door open to a similar approach in the UK.
Last week, the German-Irish Chamber of Commerce showcased five Irish low energy building projects that incorporated German energy effiiciency technology. The projects include a certified passive house, a radiant heating ceiling system, and two CHP units.
Following a successful World Green Building Week series of seminars and demonstrations in September, Ecological Building Systems has announced a series of new training courses and seminars.
The Burnham Overy Staithe development in North Norfolk picked up a prestigious UK Passivhaus Award in October, and is profiled in depth on page 28 of the new issue of Passive House Plus.
The line-up for the self-contained outdoor units now boasts 5kW, 8.5kW, 11.2kW and 14kW units, to make Ecodan suitable for almost any situation.
The 2014 UK Passivhaus conference, held this year in Stevenage, was, like the previous such events, completely packed. Discussion centred around fine tuning of financing, delivery and performance — and on how to bring the wider construction sector on board the passive house agenda.
Hastoe Housing Association has released the findings of a two year study on its first passive house housing development, Wimbish in Essex. The study found that the development performs as designed and delivers very low heating bills for residents.
Dublin’s old city wall in Woodquay provided the backdrop on Wednesday 15 October to a conference, titled 'Better Than Best Practice', on the urgent need to upskill the Irish construction industry.
Nearly a third of construction professionals did not know about the nearly-zero energy requirement for all new buildings by the year 2020, according to a survey of Passive House Plus readers.
The Passive House Association of Ireland has announced its inaugural all-Ireland design charrette, in UCD on 5 and 6 November, in advance of its annual conference which takes place on 7 November in UCD.
The majority of homes in Dublin city have a Building Energy Rating (BER) of D1 or lower, according to figures released by Dublin’s energy agency Codema.
Advantage Austria is to host a CPD-oriented presentation and networking event on passive house and low carbon building in Edinburgh on 2 October.