Open Source Content Management

Gloucestershire based Seymour-Smith architects are about to apply for planning permission for a bold new dwelling in the Buckinghamshire countryside that the firm says will go beyond the passive house standard in terms of energy efficiency. The project has already won the support of a Design Review Panel, which independently review the design of signficiant building projects. 

Check out this video from Saint Gobain on their technical academy in Kingscourt, Co Cavan. The academy showcases the company's products and provides training in their application. The company said that video is designed to provide an insight into the kind of courses that are available — most of which are free, and contain a mix of theory and hands-on training. Saint Gobain's brands included Isover, Gyproc and Weber.

It's not too hard to remember a time when 'passive house' was a rare, hallowed term. Of course it is still the zenith of low energy building. But there was a time only a few years ago, at our predecessor magazine Construct Ireland, when the possibility of featuring a certified passive house only came along every couple of issues.

To coincide with the publication of our third issue, we're delighted to announce the launch of an exciting new feature for subscribers to the magazine.

My blog post last week on 'passive house vs passivhaus' generated a fair bit of debate, so I thought it'd be nice to take a look at some of the reaction it provoked. The vast majority of those who responded disagreed with my stance, and this magazine's stance, expressing preference for the German 'passivhaus'.

Work is nearing completion at Stirley Farm, Green Building Store's design and build project to turn a derelict barn into an Enerphit-certified education centre for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. Enerphit is the Passive House Institute's slightly less onerous standard for retrofit projects.

Watch this video of leading eco-architect Howard Liddell, who passed away three months ago, discussing his philosophy of eco-minimalism.

Straw bale construction expert Bee Rowan will run a series of straw bale building workshops at Rock Farm on the Slane Castle Estate in Co Meath, starting from Saturday, 18 June.

Readers of Passive House Plus will probably have noticed that we use the English 'passive house' rather than the German 'passivhaus'. Though it might seem like a pedantic grammatical issue, we actually put a lot of thought into this before launching the mag.

Christoph Duenser of passive house veterans Hermann Kaufmann Architects will give a lecture on 13 June at 6pm in Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland.