Image shows the living room of a terraced house in Dublin, with a view of the stairs and into the kitchen. Grey/blue walls with many timber features

Mass appeal - The Thursday long read

An architect’s four-year quest to build his family home on a Dublin laneway demonstrates how mass timber can maximise space and character in the tightest urban sites – with award-winning results, and fascinating performance insights.

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The PHAI Passive House Product Certification event last Friday in Dublin was a great opportunity to hear Professor Wolfgang Feist pioneer and founder of the Passive House Institute. Still huge scope for more compact MHRV's, heatpumps and combinations of both for passive house micro heating

Red Lights : trust cyclists ! YouTube video by Ministères Écologie Territoires

The French Red Light Rules for Cyclists (Turn Right/Straight On) is a sensible approach for protecting cyclists and pedestrians from deadly motorised vehicles. The average new car weighs 1950 kg an increase of 400 kg in 7 years. youtu.be/yIcj9rIWgA8?...

It never ceases to amaze me how nature can turn a pile of household vegetable waste into rich dark brown compost when left alone for six months. No plastic bags or waste trucks, just microbes and worms.

Left on red for bicycles to be trialled in Dublin -- "Contrary to preconceived notions... it provides improved safety," says French authorities. A pilot programme allowing bicycle users to turn right on red -- while yielding to road users with a green light -- is to be put in place at at least one south Dublin junction "over the next 6 months," the Minister for Transport has said in a written parliamentary reply.

Left on red for bicycles to be trialled in Dublin

-- "Contrary to preconceived notions... it provides improved safety," says French authorities. A pilot programme allowing bicycle users to turn right on red -- while yielding to road users with a green light -- is to be put in place at at least one…

Kitchen countertop workers are dying. Some lawmakers want to ban their lawsuits Some safety experts want California to stop the cutting of quartz countertops saying it can't be done safely. Lawmakers, meanwhile, contemplate a ban on workers' lawsuits against quartz manufacturers.

Some safety experts want California to stop the cutting of quartz countertops saying it can't be done safely. Lawmakers, meanwhile, contemplate a ban on workers' lawsuits against quartz manufacturers.

Loved this

Images show to two magazine covers, one is in the interior of a living room, the other shows two people in a kitchen

New issue out now! -
Always worth waiting for, issue 51 of Passive House Plus is at the printers, but subscribers can read the digital version online now!

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I forgot to mention in lovely Belfast

From LinkedIn. Nice reminder from a founder at the end the UK & Ireland Passivhaus Conference 2025 brilliantly hosted by @passivhaustrust.bsky.social and @passivehouseie.bsky.social . For new build PassivHaus is a no brainer but how do we apply PassivHaus EnerPHit to renovations ?

RTÉ Nationwide on Monday Oct 6th focused on the upcoming Irish www.architecturefoundation.ie #OpenHouseDublin . The first 10 minutes are about CLT Mass Timber and feature an in-depth look at Teach Sprúis tinyurl.com/4vthcajp For Open House Oct 11th -19th events see openhousedublin.com/whats-on/

It's amazing how many vistas in Dublin have been altered by the construction of this one single grim tower on Tara St D2. This photo is from Parnell Square in D1. How did it get planning ? If a 3D model was submitted to planners could it not be used in a city model to check these impacts ?

I joined the campaign group I BIKE Dublin for their monthly Bike Bop last Friday. Met at Parnell Square - opposite Hugh Lane gallery at 6pm and bopped around the city on our bikes for an hour. Punters loved it as did we
bsky.app/profile/ibik... Last Friday of every month. See you Aug 29th

Honoured to have our work on sustainability acknowledged at the RIAI Architecture Awards 2025 where Teach Sprúis was highly commended in the SUSTAINABILITY category

Thanks Andrew, maybe it might form part of a mix if biodiversity is given more weight in evaluating timber options

Timber Lodge in Queen Elizabeth Park [2013]. I'll soon figure out threaded posts

CLT has to be seen to be appreciated. On a recent trip to London I visited 2 beautiful community buildings : the Timber Lodge in Queen Elizabeth Park [2013] and the Frampton Park Baptist Church [2013] Sourced with the help of the 2018 publication waughthistleton.com/100-projects...

My letter to the editor in the Irish Times today on why we ought to target one million people cycling every day instead of one million EVs on Irish roads by 2030.
#ActiveTransport

Can Scots pine Save the Irish Forestry Industry? Scots pine forests could not only enhance biodiversity and combat climate change but also provide a sustainable and valuable timber resource.

Architects are being urged to decarbonise buildings. If timber is part of the solution, how much biodiversity does forestry support? Nordic spruce used to make CLT is native to central Europe. Sitka spruce grown in Ireland is not. Why don't we grow more native Scots pine ? ecoplan.ie/can-scots-pi...

Citizen Science - Local Authority Waters Programme Citizen science actively involves citizens in science that generates new knowledge or understanding. Experience by LAWPRO in the 2nd RBMP cycle has shown that

For water biodiversity the Citizens Science program can help communities assess wildlife quality in water samples using the great recording form. More info lawaters.ie/citizen-scie... Thanks to Prof Mary Kelly-Quinn freshwater ecologist at UCD for showing it at Rewild Dublin ? 25 Conference.

Teach Sprúis has been selected for the RIAI Architectural Awards 2025 shortlist. All 48 projects on the shortlist are part of the Public Choice Award. Votes can be cast until June 16th at www.riai.ie/public-choic...  The Public Choice Award and category awards will be announced on June 19th.

Whether through outright lies about the harmlessness of fossil fuels or the indirect lies of snake oil ‘Abundance theory’, both Right and Left politicians and commentariat have decided it’s easier to pretend global warming isn’t an extinction-level threat than it is to tackle it.

Sorry about the "emmissions" typo. Cannot see a Bluesky option for corrections.

Rotor Deconstruction – Reuse of building materials made easy We are a cooperative that organises the reuse of construction materials. We dismantle, process and trade salvaged building components.

Brussels based RotorDC have built a business around desconstruction and salvage. It is also a Cooperative. The support and interest of the Brussels region government has been critical to supporting its development. rotordc.com/home. Every region in Europe can have one of these.

In Brussels I visited 2 impressive circular economy businesses. Inspired by BC Materials who make the léém brand low-carbon clay plasters, paints and earth blocks from the excavation material under Brussels. bcmaterials.org/products-leem

March 16th I went by ferry/train from Dublin to Brussels. From ferry at 7:30 am to arriving in Brussels took 14 hours. With better train times it can be 12 hours. London Euston to Pancreas is a short walk. For CO2 emmissions of trains v planes see. www.directferries.co.uk/carbon_footp... Great trip

World’s most powerful underwater turbines are coming to French coast One of France's first commercial-scale tidal energy pilot projects, NH1 is due to supply thousands of locals with clean electricity.

France’s new tidal turbines aim to power thousands of homes with clean energy supplying electricity to 8 million people.

www.euronews.com/green/2025/0...

When science showed in the 1970s that gas stoves produced harmful indoor air pollution, the industry reached for tobacco’s PR playbook The natural gas industry has spent years trying to undermine scientific findings about gas stoves and health. If this sounds familiar, that’s no accident.

theconversation.com/when-science...

Buildings don't breathe!


VERY useful animation from UK Centre for Moisture in Buildings UCL.

Helpful myth-busting, explaining moisture and building materials with the aid of biscuits!


youtu.be/Aky2HsB03Tk...

Wood Awards Ireland 2024 - Eden Architects We are delighted to announce that Teach Spúis is a Winner at the Wood Awards Ireland 2024 in the category Small-Scale Buildings. The awards were announced at a ceremony in Farmleigh House on December ...

We are delighted to announce that Teach Spúis is a Winner at the Wood Awards Ireland 2024 in the category Small-Scale Buildings. Read about the awards and see the catalogue of winning and shortlisted projects www.edenarchitects.ie/2024/12/13/w... #passivehouse #masstimber #clt