Passing on expertise

A group of 70 Irish delegates arrived in Nuremberg on Thursday evening for the 2008 Passivhaus Institut conference.

The 70 strong group, which includes architects, developers and local authority representatives, will be studying and exchanging information on the building of passive houses in Ireland.

The size of the Irish group indicates a massive growth of interest in low energy passive buildings in the country.

“It’s an explosion,” said architect and passive house specialist Tomás Ó Leary, “with the rapid changes in the building regulations we’re effectively heading for passive houses to be standard.”

Ó Leary’s new passive house centre of excellence based in Rathnew, County Wicklow, a partnership between his architecture practice, MosArt, and consulting engineers Energy 365 has seen 700 visitors since opening late last year. In 2005, Ó Leary built Ireland’s first certified passive house, named ‘Out of the Blue’, for himself and his family.

Last year’s Passivhaus Institut conference saw 30 delegates travelling from Ireland, while 2006 saw just four. In 2005, Ó Leary was Ireland’s sole delegate.

The conference comes hot on the heels of Sustainable Energy Ireland’s (SEI) publication of new guidelines for passive buildings, intended to show how Ireland’s mild climate means building to the passive standard is easier than many developers or architects realise.

SEI’s Paul Dykes told construct Ireland that the new guidelines were making waves: “We’ve distributed over 500 hard copies and 3,500 CDs,” he said.

“The point is to raise awareness of the concept and ensure that developers and architects have access to the guidelines and the right standards,” said Dykes.

Designed to ultra-low energy standards, passive houses require little or no energy for space heating or cooling. The first passive buildings were built in Darmstadt, Germany in 1990 and occupied in 1991. The concept of the voluntary standard was pioneered by Dr. Wolfgang Feist, who went on to found the Passivhaus Institut in 1996. The institute operates as an independent research institution employing building physicists, mathematicians and civil, mechanical and environmental engineers to perform research and development on efficient energy use.

The next edition of Construct Ireland will feature a special report on passive houses.