Achieving NZEB event in Cork hears of embodied carbon plans

This article was originally published in issue 30 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

Speaking at Achieving NZEB, a one-day event that aims to make it easy for the building industry to understand how to achieve nearly zero energy building (NZEB) standards, Department of Housing building standards advisor Emmanuel Bourdin told delegates that the department would work on embodied carbon standards once imminent changes to Part L & F are implemented.

The event, which took place on Thursday, 30 May in Youghal, Co Cork was organised by Passive Sills, the local manufacturer of thermally efficient sills and mouldings, and took place adjacent to the company’s factory in the Foxhole Industrial Estate.

Among the 20 trade stands, seven different manufacturers of NZEB-compliant building systems attended on the day, including timber frame manufacturer Cygnum, light gauge steel frame builder Framespace, insulated concrete formwork supplier Amvic Ireland, as well as Quinn Building Supplies with their super insulated masonry (Sims) system, and ClayBlock Ireland with their single leaf insulated poroton block system. The event also featured innovative insulated foundations on display from KORE and Geocell Ireland, external insulation & render systems from Premium Facades, sustainable building product supplier Magic Depot, airtightness & natural insulation specialists Ecological Building Systems, leading ventilation supplier Aereco, renewable energy & ventilation specialists Energywise Ireland and electric vehicle charger suppliers Easygo.ie.

Among the speakers on the day, Joseph Little of Technological University Dublin spoke on how design professionals can upskill for NZEB, Gavin O Se of GreenBuild provided insights on achieving high levels of airtightness, Irish Green Building Council CEO Pat Barry spoke on embodied energy and life cycle analysis – with 90% of the cost of courses paid for by the Springboard initiative – Raymond O’Reilly of Quinn spoke about achieving rapid-build NZEB and passive house standards using single leaf masonry, Joe Fitzgerald of Ecological Building Systems talked about airtightness and active moisture management using intelligent vapour checks, while David Murray of Medite SmartPly presented on achieving NZEB and zero carbon standards using Irish wood products.

Meanwhile, Dr Marc O’Riain of the Department of Architecture at CIT, where he was part of the team that delivered Ireland’s first NZEB retrofit, convened a panel of speakers including passive house architects John Morehead and Paul McNally, Joseph Little, Passive House Plus editor Jeff Colley and Emmanuel Bourdin. Passive Sills also launched their new insulated door threshold prototype on the day.