PHOTOGRAPHY: STEPHEN O’ SULLI VAN ( WI CKLOW COUNTY COUNCI L)
H IG H A 3 R A TE D
& mighty
SO C IA L H O U SIN G
IN
TH E W IC KL O W
H IL L S
An advocate of sustainable building long before it was fashionable, Bill Quigley of N uT ech R enewables has subseq uently seen the m ainstream ing of sustainability at first hand, having inp ut into substantial p rojects for L eahy B ros, M K N
and G E D A C onstruction am ongst
others. In their latest p roject, N uT ech are work ing with W ick low C ounty C ouncil on a social housing schem e with im p ressively high energy p erform ance targets to m eet, as Q uigley exp lains.
ca rry ou t a fu ll energ y a na ly sis of v a ri-
a na nna on w hich
ou s hou se ty p es a nd constru ction to en-
b u ild stag e w ou ld b e the nex t p art, w here
these tw enty -tw o
su re tha t the hou ses w ou ld p erform
N u Tech R enew a b les w ou ld b e closely in-
hou ses a re situ a ted
p ra ctice a s low
energ y , low
C O
2
in
hou ses.
v olv ed in the b u ild p rocess to ensu re that the hou ses a nd sy stem s w ere m eeting the
is interesting from the energ y d esig n
In ea rly m eeting s w ith M a rc D ev ereu x ,
criteria a s set ou t in the a na ly sis sta g e.
v iew p oint for tw o
senior eng ineer, hou sing section in W ick-
The final p art w ou ld the m onitoring stag e
rea sons. F irstly , a
low
w here N u Tech R enew a b les w ou ld m oni-
rea lly g ood p oint is
w as clear that as p art of this p roject the cou ncil
tor the energ y p erform ance of the hou ses
tha t the site slop es
w a nted to u nd ersta nd the p rincip les of
to rep ort on the energ y b a la nces a nd en-
C ou nty C ou ncil and Step hen O ’Su llivan,it
g ently to the sou th w hich m a kes it a t-
effectiv e low
tra ctiv e for the u tilisa tion of sola r en-
cou ld b e rep licated throu g hou t the cou nty
erg y , b u t second ly , the site is hig h in the
in fu tu re p rojects.
W icklow
hou ses w ere g oing ou t to tend er. The
The site in Knock-
energ y hou sing a nd how
it
su re tha t the d esig n w a s fu nctioning correctly .
A p p rov a l for the p roject to p roceed w a s
hills w hich w ill ha v e a neg a tiv e
effect on the a m b ient tem p era tu res tha t
It w a s d ecid ed tha t the p roject shou ld b e
receiv ed from
w ill b e ex p erienced in w inter. B eca u se of
d iv id ed into three p a rts, b eg inning w ith
v ironm ent on the b a sis tha t p ha se one of
the D ep a rtm ent of the E n-
these tw o p oints the d esig ner a nd p roj-
the d esig n and analy sis stag e, carried ou t
the p roject, w hich inv olv ed the first ten
ect m a na g er of this hou sing schem e for
b y N u Tech R enew a b les w ith the help of
hou ses, w ou ld b e b u ilt and m onitored p rior
M a rc D ev ereu x a nd S tep hen O ’S u lliv a n.
to p hase tw o, the last tw elv e hou ses, b eing
This sta g e w ou ld b e conclu d ed w hen the
com p leted .
W icklow
C ou nty C ou ncil, S tep hen O ’S u lli-
v a n, a p p roa ched N u Tech R enew a b les to