Open Source Content Management

Passive house design is often seen as belonging to the world of hi-tech construction — perhaps unfairly, seeing as it emphasises a good building fabric over bolt-on technologies. Straw-bale construction, meanwhile, is usually regarded as the preserve of only the most committed, do-it-yourself eco-builders. To some these two approaches appear to be chalk and cheese, but in fact they are inherently compatible, and more and more projects are now combining the maths-centred approach of passive house with the extensive use of natural materials. In the first of a series of case studies on passive straw-bale dwellings, Lenny Antonelli spoke to architect Fran Bradshaw of Anne Thorne Architects, who designed and built a straw-bale home for herself in Hickling, Norfolk two years ago — and aimed to meet the passive house standard while doing so, with only a single infrared electric panel as the building’s sole active heat source.

This issue feature a passive house cabin in the Rocky Mountains, and a jaw-dropping new passive house in Majorca.

The inaugural nZEBRA conference was held in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford on 2 March, and aimed to draw attention among policy makers, building designers and construction professionals to the rapidly approaching introduction of nearly zero energy building (nZEB) standards in Ireland.

Report author Prof Diana Ürge-Vorsatz praises “fantastic” Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown passive house policy

This issue features the world’s smallest certified passive house in France, and the first certified passive house on New Zealand’s South Island.

Isover Ireland has announced the launch of SpecHub, an innovative new specification and project tracking service. This new service allows registered users access to a host of technical information including CAD and BIM files, access to Isover’s technical team, as well as direct information on Isover Academy training courses and CPDs. 

Coillte Group’s wood panel manufacturing subsidiary, Medite Smartly, has engaged EcoReview Ireland for the provision of an innovative life cycle assessment application.

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.

This new award-winning two-building extension to a primary school in the south of Wales delivers healthy, ultra low energy school buildings – one of which is passive house certified – while pushing the boundaries of timber engineering.