This unique sports and drama hall, inspired by the architecture of local buildings, was built to a new standard that aims to ensure buildings deliver all round health and comfort to their users.

Built with a timber frame insulated with straw-bale, and featuring an extensive suite of ecological and recycled materials, this stunning North Yorkshire home also produces more energy than it consumes, making it the first straw-bale building in the world to reach the brand new ‘passive house plus’ standard.

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. 

Industry experts Mark Siddall and Nick Grant will deliver a masterclass that examines the potential causes of overheating, and how to design, build and operate a passive building in order to prevent overheating problems, on 15 February in the Saint-Gobain Innovation Centre in London. 

The Passive House Academy, in association with Saint-Gobain, will run a Passive House Tradesperson course on 21 and 22 October at the Saint-Gobain Technical Academy in Erith, Kent. The course will cover passive house design principles, U-value calculations, thermal bridging and airtightness, insulation materials, passive house glazing, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery systems, and much more.

Saint-Gobain has launched its ‘Multi Comfort’ building concept at Ecobuild in London. Click here to see a short video outlining the idea, which is based on passive house principles.

Saint Gobain, the global building materials supplier, has announced that it will donate €100,000 to the Peter McVerry Trust. The money will be used to refurbish six apartments in a disused building on Pim Street in Dublin 8. The project will be complete by February 2015.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland Energy Show 2014 takes place at the RDS in Dublin on 12 and 13 March.

Check out this video from Saint Gobain on their technical academy in Kingscourt, Co Cavan. The academy showcases the company's products and provides training in their application. The company said that video is designed to provide an insight into the kind of courses that are available — most of which are free, and contain a mix of theory and hands-on training. Saint Gobain's brands included Isover, Gyproc and Weber.

Ireland's first passive house development emerged as the big winner at the first inaugural Isover Energy Efficiency Awards in Dublin on Friday. The Grange Lough project — by developer Michael Bennett and Shoalwater Timber Frame — won first place in the competition and will now go on to Isover's European awards in Barcelona this June. This is the first time Ireland will be represented at the finals.