From frozen tea to thermal bliss: energy specialist Esmond Tresidder transformed his leaky 1970s Highland home into one of the highest performing retrofits ever featured in these pages, combining academic knowledge with hands-on retrofit innovation to create a comfortable, healthy family haven with breathtaking views of Ben Nevis, proving that even Scotland’s most challenging climates are no match for passive house principles.

Through passion, patience, and architectural expertise, a 16th century Carmel-ite friar’s cottage in Kinsale, owned by Passive House Plus columnist Dr Marc Ó Riain, has achieved what many thought impossible— an A1 energy rating for a Tudor-era building. But not without challenges.

The upgrade of Ireland's retrofit target to A3 marks a critical step forward, bridging the gap between energy modelling and real-world performance, explains Dr. Marc Ó Riain.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland has launched a home energy upgrade for traditional homes pilot.

KORE Retrofit, a leading provider of sustainable retrofit solutions in Ireland, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Barry Mc Carron as its new managing director. Mc Carron brings extensive experience in sustainable development, building energy performance, and project management to this pivotal role.

What does it feel like to suffer the cold, mould and discomfort of a 1960s bungalow, and experience its rebirth as a passive house? The owner of one award-winning project spills the beans.

Additional reporting by Jeff Colley

A passive house, by its nature, requires a much smaller amount of energy than a typical home, and when its heating demand is met by electricity, and you cover it in solar PV panels, you can start to see the potential for a whole new generation of passive homes that are semi-independent of the electricity grid. This is the case for Carrstone House in Bedfordshire, which generates so much solar energy it had to be registered as a power station.

How flexible can heat pumps be to handle what may be inexactly defined heating demands, asks Toby Cambray?

The skilful deep retrofit of a red-brick semi on the south side of Dublin has brought an old property into the 21st century in terms of energy performance and living space, while carefully upgrading its century-old façade with breathable materials.

The Association for Environment Conscious Building (AECB) has introduced a new retrofit standard catering for hard-to-treat homes and cases where homeowners want to take urgent action on climate change but are not currently able to commit to a deep retrofit.

Rural Ireland has a crisis of dereliction, with numerous government policies aimed at breathing new life into thousands of old, vacant buildings. The careful transformation of one 19th century schoolhouse into a small, beautiful home shows a way forward for the sensitive, climate-conscious renovation of many of these properties.

There has been a sleuth of recent reports on how to retrofit Britain’s existing homes, but we must think deeper than the practical matter of reducing energy and carbon, to how we create beautiful places to live, writes Peter Rickaby.

Some one-stop-shops will not take on projects with new build extensions.

The Irish government has announced significant new grants designed to make it “easier and more affordable” for homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades.

While there is much debate about whether we should prioritise retrofitting homes or installing heat pumps, the climate crisis means we may not have a choice but to do both as fast as possible, writes Toby Cambray.

This Enerphit project in the suburbs of South Dublin has dramatically transformed and extended a dated 1970s dwelling by adding an extra storey, radically reducing its energy consumption and creating a smartly-designed, light filled family home and office.

Complete with butterfly roofed extension, this fabric first renovation has turned a cold and uninspiring 1970s bungalow into a cosy A-rated modern home, with some clever design touches helping to open the house up to wide-angle views and dramatic coastal light.