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Low energy building isn’t complicated, but it’s easy to get wrong. Since Irish house builders downed tools en masse when the last boom ended, energy efficiency standards for new homes have seen unprecedented rises of 40% in 2008 and 60% in 2011, shooting far ahead of the UK. But with signs of a new boom emerging, can the industry get to grips with this brave new world of insulation, airtightness and thermal bridging and deliver healthy low-energy homes — or are damp and mould set to become the norm in new build?

A passive retrofit in Co Meath offers a template that could be applied across much of the Irish housing stock: a long, dark, 1970s bungalow was transformed into a bright modern home that’s now warm and comfortable.

If you’ve ever wanted to take a passive house for a road test, one holiday letting on the coast of west Cork may be too good an opportunity to turn down. The aptly named Sea Spray – an as yet uncertified Enerphit upgraded bungalow – is a bona fide triumph in the face of adversity.

A simple building form, few junctions and minimal surface area are some of the cornerstones of passive house design — but as this spectacular certified passive house in Co Meath proves, rules are made to be broken.

Despite its stop-start beginnings, this cottage in the west of Ireland delivers a traditional-but-stylish design with close-to-passive performance.

In the absence of strong energy requirements under building regulations, much of the UK’s new build innovation has been driven by the Code for Sustainable Homes. Amid growing concern that the code’s attention to energy efficiency falls some way short of passive house, monitoring results from one social housing scheme offer a rare opportunity for direct comparison.

In spite of having no construction experience Steve O’Rourke decided to make his self-build home a passive house, a feat achieved by a well-considered and collaborative approach.

Exploding the myth that passive house means unfamiliar construction methods and considerable expense, one Cork-based builder has gone passive using wide cavity wall construction – for a competitive cost of €100 per sq ft.

In spite of a dauntingly complex and crumbling existing building, a detached house in Donnybrook has been modernised to become Ireland’s 2nd certified Enerphit building. 

None of the team behind Passive House Plus has the good fortune to live in a passive house – at least not yet – meaning our promotion of passive house comes with more than a hint of “Do as I say, not as I do”. That’s emphatically not the case with certified passive house designer Helena Fitzgerald, who chose to practice what she preaches with her own home, to stunning effect.