Cairn Homes plc is developing Pipers Square in Charlestown, Dublin, with 598 apartments. It will be the largest passive house development in Europe and the history of the state.
Cairn has just launched its position paper – ‘Passive House – Sustainable Living Spaces’ – and is leading Ireland’s construction industry as the first large-scale homebuilder adopting the Passive-House standard, a sustainable building certification that demonstrates how house builders can actively contribute to climate action while addressing the housing shortage and enhancing the quality of life for residents.
Projects such as Cairn’s new Pipers Square development in Charlestown, Dublin, with 598 apartments, are designed to be energy efficient and ideal for high-density living. They offer substantial long-term cost savings for residents due to lower maintenance and operational expenses, with many households potentially never needing to turn on heating, effectively insulating them from extreme energy price shocks and reducing their financial burdens.
Cairn estimates that passive house heating bills are, on average, up to 40% lower than an average new build.
In addition to being energy efficient, passive homes provide greater comfort. While traditionally a home is designed to be heated for eight hours per day, passive houses are designed to maintain a constant temperature of 20 degrees 24 hours a day and provide a constant supply of filtered fresh air.
The announcement represents a key step in delivery against Cairn’s sustainability strategy. The business has outlined targets of reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 46.2% and Scope 3 emissions by 61% by 2030.
In addition to Pipers Square, Cairn is developing apartments to Passive-House Standard in Whitehaven and Niven Oaks in Santry, Dublin 9, and Cooper Square, Seven Mills, Dublin 22. This will result in a further 1,700 Passive-House Standard apartments in 2025.
Commenting on the plans, Cairn’s Director of Construction & Operations, Gavin Whelan, said: “The benefits of the Passive-House Standard across Cairn’s four developments include the saving of 75,000 TCO2 (Total Carbon Dioxide), which is the equivalent of flying 68 million air miles.
“We have researched and planned carefully for this to enable us to be in a position where we can develop these ambitious projects. While passive houses traditionally may have been viewed as a slower, more expensive way to develop homes, we have been working hard to understand how we can build to this standard while bringing Cairn’s typical approach of delivering high-quality homes at scale and pace and that offer value.”
“As we begin to develop passive homes, we will continue to explore new and additional ways to reduce our environmental impact while still improving communities by delivering quality homes.”
Discussing Cairn’s overall sustainability strategy, Head of Sustainable Construction Stephen O’Shea said: “At Cairn, we are actively working to become Ireland’s first large-scale developer to adopt the Passive-House Standard. By adopting the Passive-House Standard for major projects like Pipers Square, we’re showing our commitment to building sustainable, comfortable homes with lower energy bills and reduced emissions. Like the entire construction industry, we know we are on a sustainability journey, but steps like passive house show how we can contribute to climate action and improve the quality of people’s lives.”