Kilbride Court/

Project description as provided by the Architects:

Kilbride Court provides new housing for a mix of tenants from the Local Authorities housing list, with a mix of 1, 2, 3 and 4 bed houses, single storey and 4 storey  for assisted living , and 1 and 2 bed duplex units for smaller families and individuals with 3 bed for larger families

In light of the global environmental and biodiversity crisis, now reflected in RIAI Sustainability Policy and the recent RIAI Climate Challenge, we wished to test and measure how current standard designs were performing and how measurable improvements can be made. For us developing data on the holistic performance of a project was a critical first step in building more sustainable architecture

To achieve this we choose to assess the project under the recent HPI, a certification system developed by the IGBC to assess quality and environmental impact in new residential developments. The certification goes well beyond the Building Energy Rating (BER) with 54 specific indicators, including: embodied carbon, biodiversity, land use, density, water use, design team skills, sustainable locations and others

Operational Energy

Thermal modeling the key junctions  allowed the design of each junction to be optimized, both reducing insulants where they did not contribute to improved values and identifying specific areas where simple inexpensive thermal blocks were integrated into the wall construction. This fine tuning of the key junctions delivered an average thermal bridging factor of 0.03 W/m2K well below the Building Regulation  min of 0.08 W/m2K . These typical detail  have been transferable to other project. 

Smoke tests were carried out to ensure the integrity of the air and vapour control line was maintained and thus reduced the risk of interstitial condensation. The building envelope was designed and tested on site to be airtight, achieving an average 1.6 m3/m2/hr  @ 50pa, to eliminate unintended heat loss.

To ensure good internal air quality, avoiding the reliance of residents opening manual wall vents, demand control ventilation with humidity control, reduces heat loss whilst ensuring good internal air quality.

Embodied Carbon – Extensive engagement  over 3 years with the supply chain resulted in the used of 62 EPDs (both product specific and generic) and the homes achieved an embodied carbon impact of 718.1 kg CO2e/m2 aligned with Level(s) 50 years lifespan This impact is well under and four years ahead of the recently published RIAI Climate Challenge targets of 800 kg CO2e/m2 for 2025. Recent in house preliminary studies have revealed that a 50% ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBS) binder content in all concrete products and a change in wall construction from masonry cavity to timber engineering joists could achieve a whole life carbon of 610 kg CO2e/m2 which is below the 2030 RIAI targets of 625 kg CO2e/m2 .

 Potable Water use – The development is designed to have exemplary levels of water efficiency at 79.1 l/p/d meeting the RIAI Climate Challenge target of 95 l/p/day three years ahead of time and just short of the 2030 targets of 75 l/p/d. This has been achieved by specifying inexpensive low water flow fittings WHB @ 2l/m Shower @ 5l/m, Kitchen tap @ 12 l/m and Shower  @ 5l/m and WC @ 4/2.4 dual flush (see Table). Also a 270 litre water butt has been installed to the rear garden for gardening use. Research on previous housing scheme found that the water butt was being used for car washing, feeding pets and a high level of use enjoyed by young children.

 Biodiversity  – We developed a landscape design strategy with Mitchells Landscape Architects and NM Ecology to minimise the ecological impacts of the development and enhance biodiversity in line with EU Biodiversity Strategy  and National Pollinator Plan . The  low cost and low maintenance  option form the Green Point System was adopted . which included A variety of planting including pollinator friendly species and kitchen garden herbs for fragrance and residents use, 20 bird boxes to be installed and fruit bearing trees in rear gardens . A majority of the species were also selected for household use. The productive design provides an environment that could develop and improve community affiliations through harvesting. As part of the research we calculated the Change in Ecological Value (CEV) using HPI’s CEV calculator, resulting in a negative value of -11.2. This is the 1^st such assessment to be carried out in Ireland  on  a multi unit housing scheme

 Post Occupancy Evaluation – Kilbride Court is also part of the SEAI’s Amber (Assessment Methodology for Building Energy Rating) project, which monitoring post occupation environmental and energy related data.13 units have has monitors installed monitoring Temperature, CO2 levels and humidity to be completed in August  2022.   Interim analysis carried out recently, show that 1 unit exceeded the WELL maximum CO2 level of 1200 PPM and was well over 3000 PPM in the early hours of the mornings. Two other units have average temperature of 15.5 degree Celsius. We have reported this information back to our client to make necessary inspections, especially in light of the potential ‘at risk’ nature of the particular tenants.

Project Team

Architect / PSDP /
Assigned Certifer
COADY Architects

Engineers : Hayes Higgins Partnership

Quantity Surveyor: O’Reilly Hyland Tierney & Associates

Landscape Architects: Mitchell & Associates

Ecologist: NM Ecology Ireland

Post Occupancy Evaluation: IES

Life Cycle Assessment: John Butler Consultant

Contractor: K M Lynskey

BER assessor Airtight/Acoustic Testing

Building Envelope Technologies

Water Testing: Fitz Scientific

Photographer: Fionn McCann Photography