The fourth annual NZEB Open Doors will take place during the weekend of 11th – 13th November 2016, where owners of low energy buildings will open their doors to the public nationwide. Supported by SEAI, the event will enable the public to visit examples of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) in order to inspire them to aim for similar standards for their own building or renovation projects.

Dublin City Architects development of the amalgamation of existing bedsit units in Tom Clarke House Senior Citizens Complex will be one of properties open to the public to visit.  Planning for Tom Clarke House was granted through a Part 8 process in September 2015 and after appointment of a design team post planning, refurbishment work started in November, 2015.

Tom Clarke House is a late-1950’s development comprising of 24 bedsit units, in three, two storey blocks with deck access situated in a U-shaped courtyard arrangement in a cul-de-sac, which has passive supervision from the adjacent 2-storey houses.

The proposal consists of the amalgamation of two bedsits into a one bedroom dwelling unit to improve on the existing accommodation standards.  The proposed units are fully accessible at ground floor.

The buildings were wrapped with external insulation, the attic and ground floor were further insulated to provide higher levels of comfort for the occupants as well as achieving higher energy ratings and reducing carbon emissions.  A demand controlled ventilation system was installed and best practice levels of airtightness permeability were achieved.  Key junctions were thermally modelled and a bespoke Y factor was calculated for each unit type.

The previous BER ratings have been assessed at an average G rating and the refurbished units resulted in an 80% improvement to B3 and B2 BER ratings, within the criteria for NZEB existing building targets.

General:

Property Type: Two Storey block with deck access.
Construction Year: 1958
Year of Renovation: 2016
Total Floor Area:  m²

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U-Values:

Walls: 0.18 W/m²K
Floors: 0.4 W/m²K
Roofs: 0.14 W/m²K
Windows: 1.4 W/m²K
Doors: 1.1 W/m²K
Air Tightness (changes per hour): 2.92 at 50 Pascals

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Construction Partners: 

Architects: James Walsh, Low Energy Design Mechanical Engineering Consultant: Codex Energy
Contractor/Building Company: Noonan Services
Energy Consultant: Codex Energy Consultants LTD and Low Energy Design

Airtightness  Testing: Greenbuild

For more information and to register as a visitor please click here