Roofs endure a lot of weather. Moisture risks in pitched roofs can be exacerbated by poorly conceived energy efficiency-focused retrofits. Drawing on his research in this space – including a recent retrofit of a Victorian mid-terrace cottage – pioneering green architect and academic Joseph Little explores moisture managing strategies for retrofitting “cold” and “warm” pitched roofs.
Current life cycle carbon guidance was never designed for domestic retrofit. A new framework aims to change that – and to enable the impact of retrofit to be determined in terms of carbon and energy – as Dr Lois Hurst explains, in the third part of her series of articles on whole life carbon.
Decarbonising homes at scale demands pragmatic sequencing, not doctrinal purity. Lloyd Alter reconsiders the retrofit strategy he once vigorously opposed – while mounting a defence of deep fabric retrofit, with caveats.
If attempting to tackle a housing crisis is hard, how about doing so while taking on the climate crisis, energy crisis, cost-of-living crisis and pandemic all at once, with a sprinkle of Brexit? One pioneering Scottish project shows that with a little resolve, adversity can lead to triumph.
The first ever feature in Passive House Plus, a then new five house terrace in Dungannon, Co Tyrone that could make a proud boast: it was the first certified passive social housing development on the island of Ireland.
How can period properties be made fit for the demands of the 21st century, without pushing the building too far? One University of Cambridge retrofit project may have the answer, harnessing multidisciplinary expertise to balance energy, moisture and space constraints.
Additional reporting by Jeff Colley.
Contrary to popular belief, passive house isn’t about maximisation of passive solar gains. It’s about optimisation, balancing free winter heat with avoiding summer overheating. But on a site that seemed hellbent on denying sunlight, every last ray has been stolen to somehow deliver not just a passive house, but a net zero energy home.
Additional reporting: Jeff Colley
An Edinburgh-steeped couple wanted Georgian grandeur in a Cork city infill. Their architect obliged, wrapping double-height spaces and oversized glazing in a climate-responsive envelope that shrugs off Irish winters. Additional reporting: Jeff Colley
In the first instalment of a new feature where we try to get into the heads of prominent people in green building, we asked the president of the European Straw Building Association to peer into the void, peer into his record collection, and peer into the future.
Gordon Bunshaft's Banque Lambert has presided over Boulevard Marnix since 1964, a listed modernist landmark facing the King's Palace, its celebrated precast concrete exoskeleton as distinctive today as the day it was built.
World-renowned green building writer Lloyd Alter spills the beans on the first ever combined UK and Ireland passive house conference in Belfast.
Life cycle assessments are crucial for sustainable building design, but understanding their inherent limitations is key to making better decisions with imperfect data, writes Dr Lois Hurst.
Made to look easy on TV, Duncan and Anaya decided to give selfbuilding a go and somehow created the most comfortable house they’ve ever lived in – even in the face of extreme heat events.
An award-winning retrofit demonstrates that universal design and ultra-low energy performance are powerful allies, not competing priorities.
With 35,000 homes under their belt, one of the UK and Ireland's most prolific developers has just completed its first passive house scheme - aided by an innovative airtightness approach.
Big Picture - Forrest Passive House in Spotswood achieves certification while maintaining contemporary family functionality through thoughtful material choices and spatial planning.
An architect’s four-year quest to build his family home on a Dublin laneway demonstrates how mass timber can maximize space and character in the tightest urban sites – with award-winning results, and fascinating performance insights.
Additional reporting by Jeff Colley
With an increasing emphasis on the electrification of heat as the electricity grid decarbonises, interest in reducing the embodied carbon of buildings is growing. But does a focus on embodied carbon alone risk giving needlessly energy intensive ways of making buildings a free pass? In the first of a new series of articles, Dr Lois Hurst journeys into understanding embodied and life cycle impacts in construction.
From frozen tea to thermal bliss: energy specialist Esmond Tresidder transformed his leaky 1970s Highland home into one of the highest performing retrofits ever featured in these pages, combining academic knowledge with hands-on retrofit innovation to create a comfortable, healthy family haven with breathtaking views of Ben Nevis, proving that even Scotland’s most challenging climates are no match for passive house principles.
Through passion, patience, and architectural expertise, a 16th century Carmel-ite friar’s cottage in Kinsale, owned by Passive House Plus columnist Dr Marc Ó Riain, has achieved what many thought impossible— an A1 energy rating for a Tudor-era building. But not without challenges.
What do you do when a building type is inefficient, common, hard to treat – and often used to house vulnerable people? Chris Morgan of leading passive house architects John Gilbert Architects tells the story of an extraordinary pilot project that may show the way to solve the stickiest of problems.
In recent years, the drive to reduce the embodied carbon of buildings has led to a resurgent interest in timber and other biobased building materials. But peering into the future, if we are to think not just about carbon but also land, water, and regenerating nature, how might we build to meet our essential needs, and what might we build with?
By Lenny Antonelli and Andy Simmonds
Mike Eliason, architect, founder of Larch Lab and author of the must read Building for People, reflects on how a series of personal and global crises – from pandemic lockdowns and climate disasters to urban housing challenges – shaped his mission to bring sustainable, community-focused, and climateadaptive neighbourhoods to North America.