Creative & client-focused architectural practice
nZEB stands for ‘nearly Zero Energy Buildings’, and is a high-performance building energy standard impacting residential and non-residential buildings, both new build and existing (retrofit).
The European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive Recast (EPBD) requires all new buildings to be Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) by 31st December 2020 and all buildings owned and occupied by public bodies by 31st December 2018.
Here is a short nZEBRA guide to nZEB:
200mm of high performance EPS external wall insulation (Conductivity 0.031 W/mK) being fitted to walls of our nZEB house currently under construction. Rockwool mineral wool insulation is being used to provide vertical fire-stopping / fire-breaks.
The external walls are built using low-conductivity ‘Thermal-Liteblock’ concrete blocks, and there will also be an additional internal layer of 50mm mineral wool insulation together with a wet-plaster airtightness layer. The U-Value of the complete wall construction has been calculated at less than 0.12 W/m2K (Floor U-Value: 0.09 W/m2K, Roof U-Value: 0.11 W/m2K, Windows U-Value: 0.75 W/m2K)
The wall insulation layers are designed to be continuous with the floor and roof insulation in order to eliminate thermal bridges at junctions. This is important both to prevent additional heat losses that would occur otherwise at the junctions of the wall, floor and roof planar elements, as well as to ensure interior surface temperature factors (fRsi) are sufficient to avoid cold spots and potential condensation (& mould growth) risks. A specially designed threshold detail has been developed for the fixing of the large format glazed doors and screens using stainless steel bracket support angles, faced with 180mm of XPS (extruded polystyrene) carried down to foundation level.
Full Planning Permission has been granted by Dublin City Council for our Sandymount House extension and refurbishment project.
The project involves the construction of a 110m2 two-storey contemporary extension, as well as the comprehensive refurbishment and conservation of the original 1830s Georgian Villa and walled garden. A key aim of the design proposal is the reorintation and opening up of the main living spaces to the large south facing walled garden to the rear.
Academic paper by Daniel Coyle on the cost optimality of Passive House standard deep retrofit of an existing dwelling has been published in the recent addition of SDAR Journal of Sustainable Design and Applied Research.
The paper which is a summary of Daniel’s MSc Research Thesis, examines an economic analysis of a Passive House Retrofit Project in Galway City, Ireland, using Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA). This is a deep retrofit of a semi-detached house involving significant capital investment to achieve Passivhaus standard and significant reductions in energy usage; however, the payback is long. The critical impact of discount rate, investment time frame and energy price escalation on cost optimality for deep retrofit projects is highlighted.
Download a copy of the SDAR paper here: https://arrow.dit.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=sdar
Download the full MSc Research Thesis here: https://arrow.dit.ie/builtmas/22/
Leeson Street House featured in ‘The Gloss’ interiors magazine
Leeson Street House (Leeson I) featured in ‘The White Book’ Interiors Magazine:
Palmerston Road House featured in Irish Homes Magazine:
Palmerston Road House featured in Image Interiors Magazine
