Tomás O'Leary, director of the Irish Passive House Academy
Designers and contractors looking to keep ahead of the competition no longer have to leave Ireland to learn about cutting edge sustainable design, with the launch of a new academy specialising in passive house design.
Established by leading Irish passive house advocate Tomás O'Leary of Mosart, the Wicklow-based Irish Passive House Academy is accredited by the creators of the passive house standard - Darmstadt's Passivhaus Institut - to provide training and the pertinent internationally-accredited qualification of certified European passive house designer.
"We specialise in providing high quality training in all aspects of passive house, combining both theory and practice," said O'Leary, who is accredited by the Passivhaus Institut to certify passive house projects. O'Leary and his co-director Art McCormack drafted the suite of three SEI national guidelines on passive house design. Having famously designed, built and lived in Ireland’s first Certified passive house since 2004, O'Leary has extensive first-hand experience of the world-leading standard.
Based at the Wicklow County Campus, Rathnew, the academy's training facilities include a passive house building lab showcasing the latest technologies and products relevant to the design of passive houses. As well as offering 10 day courses for certified passive house designers - the first of which commences on 8 March - the academy will offer one and two day courses covering key principles and an introduction to the design of passive houses.
For more information on the Irish Passive House Academy, including details of forthcoming one, two and ten-day courses, click here.
