The Passive House Association of Ireland (PHAI) has announced that it has welcomed four new patron members to the group: the Passive House Academy, Cygnum Timber Frame, Medite SmartPly and J & N Windows Ltd.

The AECB (Association for Environment Conscious Building) has invested over five years of extensive research to put together a unique online advanced retrofit training course, which brings together a wealth of knowledge on low energy retrofit and methodology.

Although full passive house training is regarded as the best way to gain an in-depth understanding of all aspects of passive house design, some construction professionals may not have the time or resources to be able to attend the typical two week passive house course. 

Ecological Building Systems has updated its Irish training programme for the autumn and winter season. Along with its award winning airtightness installer training, the company will launch a new course titled Low Energy Retrofits. To coincide with this Ecological will be also hold a Retrofit Insulation Masterclass on the 25 and 27 October.  

Passive House + has been widely praised for its editorial content, technical information and the relevance of its advertising in a survey of AECB members.

Kingspan Insulation has become the first insulation manufacturer to become a patron member of the Passive House Association of Ireland. The association, which is chaired by Dr Shane Colclough, aims to promote the passive house standard and fabricfirst building principles across the Irish construction industry as a whole.  

The big winners at this year’s UK Passivhaus Awards were Tigh na Croit by HLM Architects, which won in the Rural category, and Lansdowne Drive by Tectonics Architects, winner in the Urban Category. 

As part of the Passive House Association of Ireland southern region programme of CPD in passive house building knowledge, members have kindly agreed to open their passive building projects for site visits as a learning resource for builders, architects, students, systems installers and potential clients.

Cork-based manufacturer Poly Passive Mouldings Ltd has been recently been awarded a passive house certificate for its Passive Sills range of thermal bridge free window sills 

This year’s NZEB Open Doors event takes place from 11-13 November across Ireland. The event sees dozens of cutting edge, low energy buildings open their doors for members of the public to visit and experience for themselves. 

Leading low energy and passive house builder Pat Doran Construction Ltd recently picked up two leading construction industry awards for its Enerphit-standard upgrade to an early 20th century house in Rathgar, Co Dublin.

Passive house indeed works everywhere was the core message at the second annual South Pacific Passive House Conference, writes Andrew Michler. The conference was held in Melbourne on 12-13 February. While just a handful of passive houses have been completed in Australia so far, a sizable contingent from New Zealand came to the conference armed with multiple examples of how even warm climate buildings benefit from the energy savings, comfort and critically the health of a passive house. With a major spike in asthma from damp and mouldy homes, the principles such as airtightness, controlled air exchange, and thermal bridge free design are finally being accepted as the best solution in this part of the world. 

The shortlist of projects for this year’s 2016 UK Passivhaus Awards has been announced. There are just two categories this year, urban and rural, with Rehau being the main sponsor. 

On 20 April the Irish arm of the world’s largest heat pump manufacturer, Daikin, hosted a social housing forum at the Mullingar Park Hotel in Westmeath. Attendees primarily included architects, consultants, and representatives of housing bodies and local authority housing departments from all over the country. 

Leading external insulation supplier Hammond Roof & Energy has launched a new technical roadshow series promoting the Soltherm external insulation system – at a live passive house construction site in Carlow.

Passive house building envelope specialist training is now available at Ecological Building Systems, complementing the array of award-winning training courses Ecological have been delivering for almost 15 years now 

The winners of the Passive House Component Award 2016, which focuses on ventilation solutions in the retrofit of residential buildings, have been announced.

 With Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown making passive house or equivalent energy efficiency standards mandatory for all new builds in a historic vote, the German-Irish Chamber of Industry & Commerce’s Passive House and Energy Efficiency Conference and trade mission is expected to be more relevant than ever.

This annual two-day business event, which last year saw up to 200 companies exhibit their energy saving products and services, is the premier business energy exhibition in Ireland, and a must for those interested in energy management and innovations in sustainable energy solutions.