World forum on new energy saving building
A world forum on nearly zero energy building (nZEB) standards is due to take place in Wexford next month.
A series of pre-forum workshops will take place at County Hall on the opening day of the forum on Wednesday, November 15, with Clayton White’s Hotel hosting the main event in their conference suite on November 16.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was briefed on the details of the forum at Government Buildings last week and was introduced to the organisers by Minister Paul Kehoe, who has been instrumental in attracting this major event to Wexford. More than 400 delegates from Ireland and overseas are expected to attend the forum which will examine all aspects of nZEB which will become mandatory in Ireland and across the EU for all public buildings from the end of 2018 and for all other structures from 2020. The nZEB legislation will have a seismic impact on all sectors of the construction industry and the Wexford forum will focus on the implications of the new legislation. The two-day gathering is being organised by consulting and education firm nZEBRA, which has its headquarters in Ireland operates globally. Presentations will include include reports on 12 high-performance buildings from Ireland and abroad, including the tallest passive building in the world, a 27-storey project in Manhattan, the much-celebrated Central Bank project in Dublin and a major UK medical centre. Almost half of the 24 speakers will be from outside Ireland including Scott Foster, Director, Sustainable Energy Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Deborah Moelis, Handel Architects, New York City, Mike Ingui, an architect specialising in retro fitting of listed buildings, from New York. Professor Jim Freihaut from Penn State University will share his experience on highly sustainable buildings with the delegates, as will Jens Lausten, co-ordinator of the European Performance of Buildings Directive Concerted Action.