The Irish Green Building Council is developing its Home Quality Rating tool - a sort of Irish version of the Code for Sustainable Homes, albeit with measures in place to hopefully ensure that it's less about box ticking and more about producing buildings which actually function properly - and is seeking to engage discretely with the industry for feedback.
One of the IGBC's ultimate end goals is that local authorities could use the tool to assess the quality of proposed development in their areas, with a view to encouraging developers to build schemes that obtain higher scores, as well as applying the tool on their own housing projects. The notion of planning gains and/or reduced development levies for schemes that achieve higher ratings is also being explored.
IGBC director Pat Barry tells me he's planning to run their Home Quality Rating tool on pilot projects, and looking to work with a couple of developers/social housing providers to get some pilot projects done and certified, and then roll out a technical manual.
The idea is to propose best practice in terms of everything from ventilation, acoustics, energy, materials, water, and much more besides, with mandatory targets set under a number of fields, along with some voluntary targets. For materials, the intention is to look for products with Environmental Product Declarations as a means of verified environmental data on a given product. Watch this space - EPDs are bound to grow in significance generally. Irish and UK distributors of building products would do well to check with their manufacturers for EPDs on construction products, and to make enquiries to EPD consultants in their absence. Contact Passive House Plus if you'd like to pick our brains on this.
The IGBC has been working on a technical manual and is now looking for feedback. Contact Pat Barry at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request a copy of the manual for comment if you'd like to learn more and feed back to help to shape the document.
