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Passive mixed development |
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A new development in south Dublin features a variety of building systems, including externally insulated poroton and aircrete block along with timber frame construction – all used to build two buildings to exacting energy standards.
I’m standing in a room at the back of the new Ark veterinary clinic in Foxrock, south Dublin – a King Charles Spaniel and West Highland Terrier are staring curiously at me from their kennels. Seamus O'Loughlin of green builders Viking House explains how he won the contract for the clinic and the building next door. "We just tendered for it with everybody," he says. Though he had to compete with conventional builders for the job on cost, his plan was always to build it to a rigorous low energy standard.
Poroton and aircrete veterinary clinic
Viking House constructed most of the 250 square metre clinic with poroton block, insulated externally with 220mm of expanded polystyrene (EPS) from Aerobord. But when Ark asked for more space, Viking House got to work building an extension with Quinn Lite’s aircrete blocks. Aircrete is a lightweight cementitious block made with pulverized fly ash cement, sand, lime, aluminium powder and water.
O’Loughlin says Quinn Lite is a greener material than many think. Manufactured in Fermanagh in a factory powered by a 54MW wind farm, Quinn Lite is produced at 110C – quite cool compared to the 900C poroton is fired at.
Both poroton and aircrete are what O'Loughlin calls “warm materials”. He explains: "If you put your hand on a poroton or Quinn Lite block…your hand starts to feel warm at the count of ten, so it starts to give you heat back, it's a warm material. If you put your hand on concrete and count to 1,010 it's still cold – it's a cold material."
The reception area of the veterinary clinic building
He says choosing warm materials means you can heat your building to a lower temperature and still feel comfortable. "If your Quinn Lite block is at 19C you only need to set your room temperature to 21C to feel warm, but if your wall is at 15C then you need to set your room temperature to 25C.”
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