Welcome to the new and improved Construct Ireland website. The new site includes some substantial progress, ranging from an archive of past articles, to a detailed calendar of events, an updated version of our sustainable building jobs section, to this blogs feature. It's our intention to use the blog and news section to keep you up to date with breaking stories related to sustainable

Since the announcement last September by the Minister for the Environment of substantial improvements to be made under Part L of the Building Regulations, speculation has been rife in the construction industry about what the details of the updated regulations would entail. Jeff Colley examines some of the key parts of a regulatory improvement that will help the Irish construction industry to modernise and meet the demands of a rapidly changing world.

It’s commonly thought that 2008 is not going to be a good year for the Irish construction industry. House building in particular is set to struggle, with new house completions expected to fall short of half the total of 90,000 homes built in 2006, when the housing market reached the dizziest of heights. This grim outlook is echoed in the prospects for the Irish economy as a whole – a perhaps

It’s commonly thought that 2008 is not going to be a good year for the Irish construction industry. House building in particular is set to struggle, with new house completions expected to fall short of half the total of 90,000 homes built in 2006, when the housing market reached the dizziest of heights. This grim outlook is echoed in the prospects for the Irish economy as a whole – a perhaps

Based on past form, the Department of the Environment officials could be forgiven for bracing themselves for a construction industry backlash in response to the proposed changes for Part L of the building regulations which aim to both improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions by 40%, whilst also introducing mandatory renewable energy and air tightness requirements. Jeff Colley outlines why, for reasons of self interest alone it’s very much in the industry’s interests to embrace the new regulations rather than attempt to resist change.

As Ireland struggles to meet its commitments to reducing CO2 emissions in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol, the renewable energy sector continues to flourish as wind farms rapidly develop and solar energy becomes increasingly viable

An indepth look at the forthcoming Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings by Jeff Colley.

It is hoped that the lessons learned from the construction and monitoring of these buildings will assist in reducing the energy usage of future school designs.

In light of the failure of AER 5 and the widespread pessimism in the wind industry regarding converting AER 6 contracts into operating wind farms, we asked the six main political parties what their proposals are for the development of an Irish wind industry.

Up to 150,000 workers are at potential risk of developing fatal lung cancer as a result of exposure to dangerously high levels of radiation, while a leading radon expert has cited ‘widespread confusion amongst employers’ regarding their legal requirements.