Forget the energy spec. Glór na dTonn, Kevin O’Flaherty’s seven unit development in Furbo, Co. Galway commands one of the most stunning views you’ll see anywhere.
Standing at the southern edge of Galway Bay, the north coast of Clare and the Burren dominate the horizon, with the snub nose of Black Head carrying the eye out west to the Aran Islands. Inland, a clear day allows views as far south as the Slieve Aughty mountains. Designed to take maximum advantage of the panorama, the living areas of each of the apartments face the sea, which washes up onto a rocky limestone beach 100m down from the building. But it’s not all about aesthetics. That full-south orientation facilitates both passive and active solar gain, while a high-grade building spec incorporates a range of sustainable building technologies designed for low-energy living. Funded under Sustainable Energy Ireland’s (SEI) House of Tomorrow programme, the scheme for promoting greener practises within the building trade, grant aid of up to €8,000 per unit is dependent on the degree to which the house exceeds building regulations and incorporates innovative technologies. In total, O’Flaherty’s development has achieved an energy reduction on part L of the 2002 building regulations of 57.8% and an environmental reduction of over 50kg C02/M2/year, or 81.6%.
Having worked on building sites since he was fourteen, Kevin has a degree in property management and a diploma in auctioneering and real estate valuation. He explains why he decided to maximise the energy spec on this, his first full development. “You gather up all kinds of different ideas from different developments, now I can bring all of that together. Looking at the high end of the market, with oil getting more and more expensive, people want the best.” The best these days means getting more than simply the look of the place right. Of the seven units within the building, there are three three-bedroom apartments, three two-beds and one semi-detached house. The construction method throughout used is in-situ concrete. “It’s concrete all the way through. Solid; even the stairs. There are no joists. Every wall is block, the floors are all concrete and the floor’s built in. You put the conduit through the concrete and just pour it, all you have to do is just apply the bonding and skim. There’s no battens and there’s no plasterboard.” And there’s no room for mistakes when it comes to services. “You have to get the wiring right first.”
Designed to take maximum advantage of the panorama, the living areas of each of the apartments face the sea, which washes up onto a rocky limestone beach 100m down from the building
Basic insulation requirements have been beefed up to meet House of Tomorrow Standards. The cavity walls feature a combination of 60mm of Hytherm EPS SD in the cavity itself and 38mm of Xtratherm Polyiso XT Zero ODP underneath the plasterboard. Together, they deliver a U value of 0.25. Xtratherm also provide the pitched roof insulation. Again, 100mm of Xtratherm Polyiso XT Zero ODP between the rafters and 38mm of the same product directly beneath the plasterboard. This combination gives a U value of 0.20. A floor U value of 0.25 comes courtesy of 50mm of the same polyiso from Xtratherm. The final element of the specification is provided by Ecobead. 300mm of Warmcell between and over joists delivers a ceiling U value of 0.13. “It’s recycled paper.” Paul Gilmartin of Ecobead explains. “with boric acid added to it to give it a flame retardant. A lot of the paper is sourced here in Ireland and shipped over to Wales, they make it into insulation and we take it back then as insulation.” It’s a neat piece of green economics. Instead of sending over empty lorries to pick up the product, Ecobead established a partnership with the Welsh manufacturer. Newspaper overruns purchased here are transported to Wales and the same trucks bring home the insulation.
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