#2 Oliver Kinnane

Oliver Kinnane is Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy in UCD, and academic lead of the Building in a Climate Emergency Research Lab there. He is founder and director of the MSc in Architecture, Urbanism and Climate Action. His research is focused on building construction, conservation and operation, and improving the performance of the built environment at large. He has written over 100 peer reviewed published articles on these topics. Oliver has multiple funded research projects including four Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland RD&D projects; FabTrads: hygrothermal testing of traditional building fabrics, MacAirH; evaluating heat pump performance in-use, Re-CUGI: investigating models of compact urban growth and nZEB101; analysing the performance of nZEB dwellings). He also has a project on building vacancy funded by the EPA (Trebuchet), and a project on Viable Homes funded by Construct Innovate which is outlining carbon guidelines for planners and developers. He has a H2020 project (ProBono) and works closely with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to transform it Dun Laoghaire into a Green Building Neighbourhood. He is leading the Whole Life Carbon in Irish Construction Sector and Built Environment study with Dr. Richard O’Hegarty for the Irish Green Building Council.

• The masterclass emphasizes the importance of avoiding retrofitting and highlights the need for better understanding of building materials, technologies, and occupant behavior.
• Oliver emphasizes the need for more research, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing in the field of sustainable construction to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050.