Lead PI:
Marion Jammet, Irish Green Building Council (IGBC)
Philip Crowe, University College Dublin)
Abstract:
Maximising the use of our existing housing stock, especially in our towns and cities, is a key priority for Government and represents a critical element of a sustainable housing policy (Ireland, Programme for Government – Our Shared Future, 2020). More specifically, the Housing for All plan is actively working to ensure existing vacant homes are brought back into productive use (Ireland, Housing for All – a New Housing Plan for Ireland, 2021), and several actions have already been delivered under this plan – see Strategic Alignment section.
Better use of our existing stock was also identified as a key action to decarbonise Ireland’s built environment across its whole life cycle in the Building a Zero Carbon Ireland roadmap. The embodied carbon emissions of a deep retrofit of a residential building are approx. 75% less than those resulting from a new build of a similar size (O’Hegarty and Kinnane, 20221).
Project summary:
As part of this project, IGBC and UCD (the project partners) will follow an evidence-based approach to assess the perceived and actual Building Regulations impediments to the reuse of existing buildings and recommend mitigations.
Objectives:
The project partners will assess the perceived and actual Building Regulation impediments to re-use of existing buildings and develop mitigation recommendations. These will be evidence based, and the project will be completed within 10 months.
Project innovation:
Historic Environment Scotland have produced guidance documents providing advice to practitioners, developers, building owners and local authorities regarding the application of the Building (Scotland) Regulations to the conversion of traditional buildings. In Ireland, the Bringing Back Homes Manual addresses these issues, but a number of organisations have highlighted confusion among building professionals in relation to the implementation of Building Regulation and TGDs for existing buildings, stressing that these are often perceived as impediments to the re-use of these buildings.
To gain a better understanding and assess perceived and actual issues relating to Building Regulations, and develop a set of practical and implementable recommendations, the project partners will complete comprehensive desktop research, followed by extensive stakeholder engagement. This will allow them to gain a strong evidence-based knowledge of these issues. Please see work plan below for further details.
Philip Crowe
Lecturer in Climate Responsive Design at University College Dublin
Philip is a highly motivated and creative architect and urban planner with 20 years of multifaceted experience bridging professional practice and academic research. As the co-founder and CEO of a research consultancy and social enterprise, and a former director and team leader at an award-winning architecture and strategic design firm, he possesses a proven track record of leadership in complex projects, including the management of a work package within an EU FP7 transdisciplinary research project. His academic rigor is reflected in his PhD and published peer-reviewed research on urban resilience, which is further complemented by a Masters in Applied Carbon Management earned with distinction, highlighting his deep commitment to sustainable innovation in the built environment.
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