New energy efficient pilot houses to open to public in rural Kilkenny

South East Energy Agency are set to open new energy-efficient homes constructed under the Housing 4.0 Energy Project to the public on March 1 and March 8.

Construction of these four new low carbon houses began in early 2022 and wrapped up in December 2022.

These houses will be used as social housing by Kilkenny County Council, who are one of the key partners in this project, and are pending individuals to be assigned.

These low carbon local authority homes were constructed as part of the Interreg NWE Housing 4.0 Energy project.

This project was partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and aimed to lower embodied emissions in house builds and in time reduce the cost of construction by utilising a Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) model and ensuring the houses are built to a Passive House standard.

The Irish pilots are built with lower embodied carbon and energy-saving measures such as solar panels and Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery (MVHR).

The Graignamanagh pilot is two, one-bedroom, apartment-sized housing units with a pre-BER of A1.

The Mullinavat pilot is two semi-detached, two-bedroom housing units. The pre-BER for this build is an A3 but has a reduced embodied carbon compared to standard builds.

The public open days will take place on Wednesday, March 1 (Graignamanagh) and Wednesday March 8 (Mullinavat) from 10.30am-2pm and will encourage householders to become more energy efficient and see how these low carbon houses were constructed and the different technologies used in them.

Three motorists arrested on Saturday night in Kilkenny

Representatives from South East Energy Agency will talk about the work carried out. Admission to both events is free-of-charge.

The pilots will be available to be viewed on the following days:

·        Old Firestation, High St, Graiguenamanagh, Kilkenny (R95 NP2K): March 1

·        Buckstown, Inchacarron, Mullinavat, Kilkenny: March 8th 

Please note, the pilot house in Mullinavat doesn’t have an Eircode yet but can be found next to X91 R82H