Dublin City Council scheme first in Ireland to get Home Performance Index label
News Desk

Dublin City Council scheme first in Ireland to get Home Performance Index label

A scheme of social housing in Dublin has become the first to achieve the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC)’s Home Performance Index (HPI) label. The block of apartments at Rathmines Crescent was built by Dublin City Council and designed by its own architects. The label allows housing providers and private developers to highlight the quality and sustainability of their homes to occupants, investors and home buyers. 

This article was originally published in issue 18 of Passive House Plus magazine. Want immediate access to all back issues and exclusive extra content? Click here to subscribe for as little as €10, or click here to receive the next issue free of charge

The Home Performance Index label was developed by the IGBC after extensive research and consultation with the industry to encourage quality and excellence in the development of new homes. The HPI certificate demonstrates that the home has been designed and constructed with care to ensure low running costs, enhance the health and wellbeing of the occupants and minimise environmental impacts.

The certificate was presented to Dublin City Council on 6 October by minister for housing, planning and local government Simon Coveney TD, and Pat Barry, CEO of the Irish Green Building Council.

Pat Barry stated. “We are delighted to award the first certificate to Dublin City Council for social housing, as this demonstrates sustainability is about skills, choices and design and not about additional cost.” Mr Barry added: “It is important that we are all working to a quality sustainability standard for new housing in order to protect home buyers and the environment. This also demonstrates that sustainable housing has a role to play in enabling active, healthy communities.”

Meanwhile Minister Coveney said: “Energy efficiency should be at the heart of all our building projects. It is important that we build all our social housing to the same quality in terms of energy efficiency and design as we saw here this morning.”

Sustainability labelling schemes such as HPI have become increasingly important for banks when assessing mortgage default risk, with the European Mortgage Federation recently announcing the intention to develop a green mortgage product which could allow Irish banks to offer discounted mortgages to homebuyers of certified green homes.

A number of leading Irish developers are currently vying to bring the first privately built HPI certified homes to the market.  

Related items