Fingal County Council is pioneering sustainable public housing in Ireland by building energy efficient homes that achieve an A3 building energy rating. The development in Oldtown uses high performance timber frame construction with rigorous air tightness standards to minimize energy usage. Solar panels and a heat recovery ventilation system provide renewable energy to meet domestic hot water and heating needs. This project sets a new standard for sustainable public housing that can help address Ireland's ongoing need for more affordable homes.

1. Fingal County
Council is arguably
one of Ireland's
most forward-look-
ing local authori-
ties when it comes
to sustainability.
Pioneers of local
energy standards
that later led to
drastic improvements in Part L of the
Building Regulations, the north Dublin
local authority has also been at the fore-
front of developing its own energy effi-
cient public housing.
Local issues
In today's gloomy house-building climate
it's easy to forget that the demand – and,
in fact, need – for more and better hous-
ing continues. As Niall Keenan of Keenan
Timber Frame points out, although the
pace of private developments has cer-
tainly slowed, there remains a public
housing requirement. "The local authority
is where the ball is going to bounce at the
minute," he says.
Local authority housing can be viewed in
a number of ways. As Lynsey Hanley
documents in 'Estates: An Intimate His-
tory'1
her outstanding history of council
housing in the UK, public housing has
gone through a number of image changes
over the course of the past century, from
the 'homes fit for heroes' of the post-
First World War era to the 'property-own-
ing democracy' of Harold Macmillan, a view
climber
SOCIAL
FINGAL COUNCIL HOUSING PUSHES UP ENERGY STANDARDS
With some of the most impressive moves toward sustainability over the last few years com-
ing in the form of planning requirements, it should come as no surprise that many local au-
thorities are pioneering energy efficient housing in their own housing stock. Jason Walsh
visited a site in Oldtown, County Dublin, to see how Fingal County Council is putting sus-
tainability into practice with help from Keenan Timber Frame, Ecological Building Systems,
Nutech Renewables and others.
Photos:AnthonyHopkins

2. CI 53
later espoused by Margaret Thatcher who
decimated Britain's public housing stock
by allowing tenants to buy on the one hand –
itself no bad thing – but, crucially, for-
bidding councils from using the revenue
gained to build more houses.
By the 1990s, 'council house' had become
a pejorative term. CJ Stone's 'Housing
Benefit Hill'2
details life in what it is now
popular to refer to as 'sink estates', bleak
fortresses of unemployment whose in-
habitants lead dim lives, alienated by ar-
chitects and isolated by planners.
Ireland has perhaps had a somewhat less
antagonistic relationship with public
housing and yet 'the Flats' – note the def-
inite article – loom large in the Irish
urban imagination. The Fatima Mansions,
the 'Mun – these places have been short-
hand for poverty and despair in the lexi-
cography of Irish psycho-geography.
It wasn't always this way. Ireland's public
housing programme was initiated as a re-
sponse to the continued existence of ten-
ement dwellings – otherwise known as
overcrowded slums. The object of public
housing was that most republican of val-
ues: equality. The job of the concrete
and mortar was not simply to provide
shelter but to raise up, to allow everyone
equal access to the resources of society
as citizens. Unfortunately, things didn't
always work out that way and, for many,
state-built housing is seen as at best a
place where lives are dominated by
poverty, loneliness and despair or, worse,
a dumping ground for 'problem tenants'.
Here and now in 2008 we can see clear,
if tentative, moves to redress the decline
in public housing and make-up for the
mistakes of the past. One important way
of doing this is by providing tenants
with attractive and comfortable houses,
and energy, both use and conservation,
is a major part of this.
With the Fingal County Council develop-
ment in Oldtown a good building energy
rating (BER) is the central concern: "A3-
rated houses are where it's at, at the mo-
ment," says Keenan. "The [forthcoming]
2010 regulations will get you an A3-rat-
ing, more or less."
Keenan also argues that A3 is not only an
attainable standard, it's a realistic one
too: "In the studies we've done we found
that A3 is affordable. As you get to an A2
or A1 it gets more expensive."
Dublin dwellings
Sustainable housing has become something
of a fixture in the north Dublin area thanks
to Fingal County Council, a fact that
makes the local authority a trail-blazer.
For example, Fingal County Council was
the first local authority to raise require-
ments for planning permission above the
national level by demanding 60% energy
demand and carbon emissions reduc-
tions, along with a renewable energy
component in housing under local area
plans. Fingal’s initiative was matched by
other local authorities including Dún
Laoghaire-Rathdown, Wicklow, Wexford
and South Dublin County Councils, creat-
ing an irresistible groundswell which in-
evitably forced the hand of national
government to improve standards na-
tionally. The principle behind Fingal
County Council's move is a simple one:
raising standards across the board.
Sustainable building has a longer history
in Ireland than is commonly acknowl-
edged – at least for those who could af-
ford it. Tim Cooper's Green Building, an
apartment complex built in Dublin's
Temple Bar district during the 1990s,
shows that given a desire to do so, sus-
tainability was always achievable. The
problem was that not only did it cost
money, awareness was at a low level. The
people interested in sustainable housing
tended to be relatively well-off greens.
However, if sustainable building was to
become the norm, Fingal County Council
understood that the real changes had to
be made with family homes, including
local authority houses. With both its pio-
neering changes to planning requirements
and its own high-specification develop-
ments, Fingal County Council intends to
achieve just that.
The dwellings in Oldtown are a combina-
tion of 76 square metre two-bed bunga-
lows and 98 square metre three-bedroom
houses. A total of 35 dwellings are being
built on the site of which, at the time of
writing, 24 were complete.
All of the houses in the Oldtown devel-
opment use Keenan Timber Frame's Fu-
ture Frame system for construction.
Future Frame and Future Frame Plus, both
developed by Keenan Timber Frame are
semi-closed panel timber frame building
systems designed with energy efficiency
in mind, particularly with relation to pro-
moting air-tightness.
"We take care of air-tightness in the fac-
tory and assist on-site," said Niall Keenan.
"It takes the hassle out." 
(opposite) Almost ready: the smaller, two bedroom bungalows see exactly the same level
of care and attention to detail; (above) on the way: a three bedroom house takes shape
in Oldtown

3. (above) John and Niall Keenan of Keenan Timber Frame; (below) built on the factory floor,
not the site: Keenan Timber Frame's manufacturing facility
CI 55
According to Keenan Timber Frame, old-
fashioned open panel systems are no
longer in much demand: "Ninety per cent
of what goes through the factory is Future
Frame," says Niall Keenan. "Open panel is
finished – it’s had its day, it’s archaic."
Founded nine years ago and employing a
total of 35 staff, Louth-based Keenan
Timber Frame developed Future Frame
and Future Frame Plus as a result of its
experience in the timber frame housing
market. The firm produces around 250
houses per year, half of which are for de-
velopers, the other half tending to be sold
in the self-build market.
Contractor Joe Commins says the Future
Frame system did not result in any par-
ticular difficulties: "There were no major
problems. As it's been our first air-tight
job it did throw-up a few minor challenges
– everybody has to be trained and pushed
on."
Nevertheless, with on-site support from
both Keenan Timber Frame and Ecologi-
cal Building Systems, Commins says his
firm was comfortable with the build and
is pleased with the results thus far: "I do
believe they'll be very warm houses – if
these houses aren't warm, none will be.
"It's not rocket science to get to this level,"
he said.
Vacuum packed
When it comes to maintaining the in-
tegrity of the building envelope in order
to provide air-tightness, Keenan Timber
Frame chose to work with Ecological
Building Systems, a division of McCann
and Byrne. Ecological Building Systems
have been a stalwart of sustainable
building in Ireland for many years and
for Future Frame and Future Frame Plus
it supplies the Pro-Clima Intelligent Air-
Tight System.
As Niall Keenan explains: "We went with
Ecological Building Systems because it's
one thing getting the product but they
have the expertise."
Ecological Building Systems' Niall Crosson
explained to Construct Ireland during a
telephone interview: "We've been work-
ing with Keenan Timber Frame for over a
year now, helping them to develop their
Future Frame product.
"We [also] gave a seminar to Fingal County
Council about air-tightness," he said.
As Crosson explained, the Pro-Clima sys-
tem runs the gamut of air-tightness: "There's
Intello Plus, an intelligent vapour check and
Unitape for sealing – windows can often
be an area where buildings fail to achieve
air-tightness. That can be a difficult area
to seal. Keenan Timber Frame used Tescon
Profile to tape all windows and doors."
Crosson explained that one of the major
areas for leakage in timber frame build-
ings is floor separations which often re-
sult in significant air-leakage through the
joists: "Solitex Plus, which is air-tight
and strong, but also vapour permeable
was used over the joists. Vapour transfer
is allowed but air transfer isn't.
"The connections from the external walls
to the ground floor were [also] important. 

4. (above, left & right) Attention to detail, sadly lacking from typical Irish buildings, is in this case impeccably observed, and guarantees
air tightness – even the mechanical and electrical services are designed so as to avoid puncturing the vapour check
CI 57
Orcon F adhesive was used to bond the
membrane to the concrete floor."
Crosson is also keen to stress the bene-
fits of the timber frame manufacturing
process itself: "Moving the majority of
the labour from the site to the factory
was essential," he said. In addition, work-
manship on-site remained vital: "The
contractor on-site was exceptionally
keen to get this right – he got the detail-
ing and sealing to the highest level."
At the end of the process, the houses are
achieving exceptional performance:
"Keenan Timber Frame grasped the de-
mands from Fingal County Council as an
opportunity. They achieved an air per-
meability almost ten times better than
required," said Crosson.
Indeed, the Oldtown houses have an air
permeability of of 1.2m3
/h/m2
at 50 pascals.
"The upper limit of the regulations is
10m3
/h/m2
at 50 pascals [and] the demand
on this project was for less than 3."
Even when it came to on-site testing for
air-tightness the Oldtown development
saw innovation. The standard approach
to assessing a building's air-tightness is
a blower-door test, performed at the end
of the building process. Unfortunately,
this is often too late and going back to
fix problems can be costly.
"KTF have a machine called a Pro Clima
Wincon which is used during the actual
building process," said Crosson.
The Pro Clima Wincon is a high perform-
ance air-tightness testing device
(9800m3
/h at 50 Pa pressure differential)
that provides a simple, cost-effective
means of monitoring the consistency of
on-site practices and the quality of the
air-tightness layer of any type of con-
struction – at any stage of the construc-
tion process. Its operation is based on a
simple principle: the Wincon generates a
negative pressure and thereby enables
un-designed air leaks to be identified
and sealed.
"It allows the building to be depressurised
and [the user to] identify leakages by
feeling the wind coming in or using a
smoke pencil for visual representation,"
said Crosson. "You could call it a spirit
level for air-tightness."
After the buildings were up a blower-door
test was performed as usual and the re-
sults were good: "The tester hadn't seen
anything like it," said Crosson. "Usually
you only get results like this one with
buildings where the owner has gone to
extraordinary lengths to do so.
"The passive house requirement has an
N50 of 0.6 [air changes per hour], that's
not far off a Q50 [air permeability] of not
more than one. These buildings are ex-
ceptionally close to that standard."
Energy in, energy out
Vital as air-tightness is, it is not the only
requirement of a sustainable building:
"Air-tightness is only one element of it,"
said Niall Keenan of Keenan Timber
Frame, "a good U-value is only one ele-
ment – you have site orientation and re-
newables also. They're all important”.
The Oldtown houses are insulated with
high-density fibreglass with a thermal
conductivity of 0.035.
Keenan Timber Frame stresses that in
the future natural insulation material
could replace high-density fibreglass
once it becomes more unaffordable.
John Keenan remains hopeful, though:
"This will end at the passive house –
that's the objective, but we're maybe be-
hind our European neighbours, but we’re
quickly catching up”.
Windows and doors, supplied by Munster
Joinery are all fitted with low-e, argon-
filled glazing, in order to achieve better
thermal performance.
In order to achieve their A3-rating, of
course, the Oldtown development also
required a significant renewable energy
component. To this end the houses feature
an innovative renewable energy system
designed by Nutech Renewables in War-
renpoint, County Down.
"We've supplied air-solar collectors that
are linked into heat-recovery ventilation
and a solar hot water system," said Nutech's
Bill Quigley. "We've integrated a heat pump
into it also – it's a complete package."
The majority of a household's domestic
hot water needs can be met by using
solar panels. During the winter, the solar
panel can heat a hot water cylinder to 30
degrees celcius, removing this heating
component from the household’s main 

5. (above) The solar panels which adorn the roofs of each house can supply the majority of
a household's domestic hot water needs; (below) heat recovery ventilation systems, sup-
plied by Nutech Renewables, installed in the attic of every house
CI 59
heating source of oil or gas. Nutech fur-
ther estimates that Ireland has sufficient
solar resource to provide around 60 per
cent of a typical household’s hot water,
mostly during the summer months.
The system used in Oldtown is Nutech’s
140 Sunwarm, designed for solar air heating
and ventilation. Sunwarm provides solar
thermal energy to heat the house and hot
water through a flat plate panel collector
and integrates a ventilation system that
maximises energy efficiency. This re-
sults in fresh air throughout the house
without having to open windows to ventilate,
something that is important in a house
designed with air-tightness in mind, and all
with very low running costs in electricity.
In winter as much solar energy as is
available is collected and is distributed to
the hot water storage and ventilated through
each home to provide preliminary heat-
ing. This reduces the amount of input
that is required from the main heating
source, so reducing the home’s heating bill.
Conversely, in summer heating may not
be required and a preferred cooling ef-
fect may be desired. In this instance all
available solar energy is used to heat the
water in the storage cylinder and the
ventilation system circulates cool fresh
air around the home.
This system has been designed by Nutech
along with Nuaire to provide an innova-
tive and environmentally friendly solar
energy home heating solution that is a
recognised renewable energy product by
the Reconnect scheme in the North of
Ireland, and Sustainable Energy Ireland’s
Greener Homes scheme in the Republic
for the purpose of grant aid.
What can be seen with the Oldtown de-
velopment is a marker being put down
for higher standards of construction and
a clear move toward sustainable housing
on a scale that meets the needs of a
growing population, not just salves the
consciences of the well-heeled.
Of course, it is as easy to romanticise
public housing as it is to demonise it. In
reality public housing has always been
something of a mixed bag. There is no
reason why houses built and managed by
the state should be any worse than those
built by the private sector – but that has
often been the case. Fingal County Coun-
cil's Oldtown development should, if all
goes to plan, show that making a distinc-
tion in quality between private and public
housing could become a thing of the past.
PROJECT DETAILS
Client: Fingal County Council
Architect: Fingal County Council
Main contractor: Commins Construction Ltd.
Timberframe manufacturer: Keenan Timber Frame
Heating & ventilation system: Nutech Renewables
Air-tightness products: Ecological Building Systems
Windows: Munster Joinery
References
1
Hanley, Lynsey 'Estates: An Intimate History',
Granta, London, 2007
2
Stone, CJ 'Housing Benefit Hill and Other Places:
Collected Columns 1993–1998', Verso, Edin-
burgh, 2001