Dead air - airborne covid 19 and poorly ventilated buildings
Written by Jeff Colley
In the early stages of the Covid-19 crisis, there was little official recognition that airborne transmission was a risk. Has that view changed, and what role will building ventilation play when winter approaches?
Coasting home - Beautifully designed Hampshire home breezes past passive standard
Written by David W Smith
‘Architecture is the blissful moment when the site and brief come together,’ says architect Ruth Butler of the challenge she and her engineer husband faced in designing their family home, on a difficult urban site by the Hampshire coast. But it was a challenge they met and exceeded, because even though they hadn’t even planned to build a passive house, they soon realised the design was on course to meet the onerous energy standard anyway.
Remote home monitoring can help in Covid fight – iOpt Assets
Written by News Desk
Glasgow-based remote home sensing provider iOpt Assets believes its digital monitoring service can help to significantly limit maintenance visits by local authority and housing association staff, reducing one potential avenue of infection spread during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Veterinarian and passive house enthusiast Chris Copeman, whose £60,000 passive house retrofit was featured in Passive House Plus issue 29, has built a new veterinary practice in Wigan that is aiming to meet the passive house standard.
Time to move to life cycle assessment of our buildings
Written by News Desk
New regulations over the last decade have substantially cut operational energy use in buildings, and with more building product manufacturers now publishing environmental data on their products, now is the time to move towards in-depth life cycle assessment to reveal the full environmental footprint of our buildings, Pat Barry of the Irish Green Building Council tells Passive House Plus.
Double standards - Mayo home takes passive approach to NZEB
Written by John Cradden
Sited on the side of a hill in the west of Ireland, a new home that meets the NZEB and passive house standards boasts a locally-made and super-insulated timber-frame, and is designed to fold cleverly into the rural landscape.
Over the past couple of months, the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) has been focusing on helping those in the industry to upskill during the lockdown.
Covid may delay Part F competency & validation rules
Written by News Desk
The Department of Housing is considering short-term changes to ventilation requirements under building regulations due to the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the construction sector, Passive House Plus has learned.
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Tipperary Energy Agency has secured significant new EU funding to further the development of its domestic retrofit programme, SuperHomes Ireland. The latest version of the scheme, dubbed ‘SuperHomes 2030’, is supported by the EU Horizon 2020 programme. The new programme will run for three years.
The National Insulation Association of Ireland (NIAI) has published guidelines on how home retrofits can safely re-start in the age of Covid-19. Construction activity recommenced in Ireland on 18 May.
Built Environment completes ‘mammoth’ MVHR installation
Written by News Desk
Built Environment Technology Ltd are supplying an innovative MVHR system with geothermal intake ducts at a luxury new-build home for a private client and his family, in Surrey.
