Six years after it was completed, Passive House Plus takes a look at a pioneering low energy upgrade that went on to become the UK’s first certified Enerphit project, to find out how it has performed — and what lessons have been learned.

Built in the 1970s, Rochestown House was a cramped, cold and damp social housing block in Sallynoggin, Co Dublin that has now been completely transformed, thanks to a deep energy retrofit inspired by passive house principles.

From a distance Steel Farm looks like a traditional Northumberland farmhouse, with its sandstone exterior and cluster of outbuildings. But inside, it is something very different.

When Mike Jacob of Trunk Low Energy Building started planning to build this unique Essex home, it seemed likely to run way over budget, and still fail to meet the passive house standard. But rethinking key details and making tough compromises got the house within touching distance of passive, while slashing costs.

Safeguarding historic documents and other artefacts requires stable building conditions. Until now this was usually achieved with the expensive and energy-hogging use of heating and cooling equipment, but a new approach by Herefordshire Council used the passive house approach to conserve energy, money — and the county’s precious historical archives.

Building this stylish south Dublin passive house, which recently picked up a Made in Germany energy efficiency award, demanded a steep learning curve, not least when it came to airtightness — but despite the struggles, it ultimately gave its owners their dream low energy home.
Words: Des Crabbe, architectural technologist, OA Studios

Motivated by the experience of building and living in a passive house, one of Ireland’s leading political figures has become a public advocate for the standard. Passive House Plus visited the house to find out why.

Late last summer, work finished on architect Paul McNally’s latest super low energy project: a three-storey building in Tipperary that has just become Ireland’s first certified passive house pharmacy.

This issue’s international selection of passive and low energy building includes two homes built for retirement —one in Austria, one in New Mexico — a striking house in a Romanian forest, and an out-of-this-world passive-certified dome in tropical south-west China.