Irish Green Building Council

⏰ Last days ⏰ to book your place in our upcoming online masterclass to learn everything you need to know to integrate #nature into your projects! 👇

🌿 Driving Innovation for a Greener Built Environment 🌿 To rapidly decarbonise Ireland’s built environment, we need innovative regulatory approaches. That’s why the Irish Green Building Council is launching an exciting new project to explore the potential of #RegulatorySandbox in Ireland’s #ConstructionSector. 🔍 But what is a regulatory sandbox? It’s a controlled environment where innovators can test new products, services, and methodologies while working within a flexible regulatory framework. This approach supports innovation, encourages regulatory learning, and helps break down barriers to sustainability in construction. 💡 With our partners at winnovation consulting gmbh, we’re eager to learn from successful examples across Europe. Over the next year, we’ll host a series of workshops to identify key challenges and shape a regulatory sandbox model tailored to Ireland’s needs. This project is funded by Construct Innovate and #BuildingLife, with support from Coillte, Henry J Lyons Architects and Irish Institutional Property 👉 Want to get involved or learn more? Contact Catherine Keenan. Banbha Mc Cann MRIAI and Olivia Rusk from Henry J Lyons Architects, Catherine Keenan and Marion Jammet from the IGBC, Neil Menzies from IIP, Des O'Toole from Coillte at the initiative's kick off meeting.

📣 SAVE THE DATE! 📣 🎉 Don’t miss your chance to attend the #NebulaB4P final event and second #Built4People Innovation Cluster (B4PIC) signing ceremony; ‘Shaping Sustainable Futures’! 🎉 On March 6 - 7 2025, the Nebula Project will host its final event, in collaboration with fellow European Union (EU) funded projects: 🔹 CrAft - Creating Actionable Futures 🔹 AEGIR 🔹 INGUMA_Biobased 🔹 NEB Academy Join the event to discuss the projects’ results and lessons learnt on how: 🟢 Clusters can drive innovation for sustainable construction across Europe. 🟢 Renovation can become more sustainable, beautiful and inclusive. 🟢 Digital tools and education can help implement the New European Bauhaus (NEB). 🟢 The NEB is taken up with municipalities. The coming together of several EU-funded projects will provide a unique opportunity to share findings about sustainable innovation in the built environment and the key role that Built4People Innovation Clusters (B4PICs) can play in contributing towards the decarbonisation of Europe’s building stock by 2050. 🏢 The event will also offer an opportunity for exchange with the European Commission about future needs of the construction sector. Day one of the event will focus on innovation for the built environment, and will include a special signing ceremony for B4PICs (thereby demonstrating their further commitment to the Built4People partnership), while day two will focus on NEB impact and skills. ⚠️ Spaces are limited! ⚠️ Don’t miss your chance to register and view the full agenda here: https://bit.ly/4gALTfT 📅 6-7 March 2025 📍 Brussels, Belgium #BuildingTheTransition #BeBoldOnBuildings World Green Building Council, Architects' Council of Europe (ACE-CAE), BUILD:INN, Basque Construction Cluster, Green Building Council Croatia , Dowel innovation, ECTP - European Construction and sustainable built environment Technology Platform, Green Building Council Finland, Irish Green Building Council, NOBATEK/INEF4, Odéys, PLGBC Polish Green Building Council, R2M Solution, Savet zelene gradnje Srbije | Serbia GBC, TECNALIA Research & Innovation, TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY, European Commission

🔥 Does reclaimed timber char faster? 🔥 Is there a fire safety concern in circular timber construction?  🔥 How can the #DrasticProject help?   ♻️ Emerging circular timber practices in Europe are driving efforts to standardise reclaimed timber for industrial-scale use. Despite the increasing adoption of reclaimed timber, fire performance—along with other key performance criteria—must not be overlooked as a vital part of the design process.    🪵 Charring is a fundamental factor in evaluating the fire performance of timber structures, as it leads to a reduction in both the material’s strength and load-bearing capacity. Currently, limited data on how aged wood chars makes it challenging to use reclaimed timber in new buildings, therefore missing a crucial opportunity to introduce more material reuse and circularity into European construction practises. Existing fire design principles in Eurocode 5-1-2 (part of a series of 10 European Standards that provide a common approach for the design of buildings and construction products) are based on modern, standardised timber, leaving a knowledge gap for reused materials. As part of Drastic’s Norwegian Demonstrator pilot project, researchers from TalTech – Tallinn University of Technology, including Prof. Alar Just, Johanna Liblik, and Maria Pernits, are conducting small-scale fire tests to determine and compare the charring rates of aged timber versus new timber, to address the current data gap. This research is an important step towards understanding how aged timber performs in fire, aiming to support fire safety decisions for reclaimed timber in structural applications, a key challenge that Drastic’s Nordic Demonstrator plans to address, supported by project partners Omtre and Produktif.   🌟 The initial findings from these tests will be presented at the World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE 2025), in a session dedicated to research on spearheading circularity in timber construction in Europe and chaired by Kristine Nore of Omtre (the Nordic Demonstrator leader). 🌟 Drastic is a pioneering initiative that aims to demonstrate affordability, sustainability and circularity within the built environment via a collection of innovative European pilot projects known as 'Demonstrators’. ♻️ ➡️ Learn more about Drastic: https://bit.ly/44LufAY Eero Nigumann #TimberReuse #FireSafety #SustainableBuilding #Eurocode5 #ConstructionResearch #CircularEconomy #BuildingTheTransition #BoldOnBuildings World Green Building Council, European Commission, Sorigué, Adec Global SL, Alliance HQE - GBC, CELSA GROUP, Saint-Gobain, TECNALIA Research & Innovation, ICADE, LEZAMA DEMOLICIONES, Madaster, Omtre, Produktif, TalTech – Tallinn University of Technology, Timbeco, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Maastricht Sustainability Institute, VITO, CALAA, Saint-Gobain Ecophon AB, Clipper Coramine (Saint-Gobain), Saint-Gobain Research Paris, Saint-Gobain Weber Deutschland

Business parks, across both public and private sectors, include a variety of landowners and asset managers who have the potential to positively influence #biodiversity on-site. 🐝 The National Biodiversity Data Centre has released "Top Ten Actions to Help Pollinators in Business Parks", providing practical steps to make a difference. 👇 👷♀️ Are you a building professional interested in enhancing biodiversity in your area? Look no further! Join the IGBC as a member. You'll have the opportunity to participate in our Community of Practice, receive quarterly updates, join tours and initiatives to see biodiversity in action! 🔎 Learn more and get involved ➡️ https://lnkd.in/dZGQrx-i

🌍 On to Level 2: Qualified ECO EPD Officer 🌿 Our pilot course “Qualified ECO EPD Officer” is moving forward! Next week, we will kick off Level 2 of this training, diving deeper into relevant topics to enhance skills in Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), with around 30 participants from various stakeholder groups including manufacturers, POs, consultants, and industry representatives. Here's what to expect in Level 2: ➡️ Producing an EPD covering choices such as PCR, types of EPD, energy modelling, EPD Programmes, indicators etc. ➡️ Data Collection Process – Types of data, background and generic data, data quality, comparability of EPD, validity. ➡️ Learning from your EPD – The project report, interpreting EPD, normalisation and weighting, ecodesign, training. ⁉️ Would you also like to participate in the training for becoming a Qualified ECO EPD Officer? ✅ Register now via the following link. The next course begins mid-February! https://lnkd.in/eqeukydj #epd #lca #education #sustainability #ecoplatform

📢 We’re Growing! Join Our Team at the IGBC 📢 The Irish Green Building Council is on the lookout for passionate and talented individuals to join us in shaping a greener, more sustainable built environment. We currently have three exciting roles open: 📘 Education Manager Apply here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/dkmrCGPH 🤝 Membership Support Officer Apply here ➡️https://lnkd.in/dNXFSBgR 💼 Accountant Apply here ➡️https://lnkd.in/daJpVUyw If you're passionate about sustainability, keen to make an impact, and excited to be part of a collaborative team driving positive change, we’d love to hear from you! 💡 Apply now or share this post to help us find the right people. Let’s work together to create a more sustainable future! #JobAlert #SustainabilityCareers #JoinOurTeam #GreenBuilding #JobFairy #GreenJobs

💰How can we tell what’s a “green” investment?    The EU Taxonomy is an important tool to help validate activities that represent an ambitious standard of sustainability. But, in the building and construction sector, it is in danger of lagging behind.    Read our latest policy briefing here: https://lnkd.in/exQPmykV     The EU Taxonomy climate related criteria are up for review and the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance is consulting on its preliminary recommendations. Our policy briefing sets out recommendations on how to better integrate life cycle global warming potential (GWP) (known as whole life carbon) requirements for new buildings in line with the 2024 revision to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).    The revised EPBD mandates Member States to develop life cycle GWP targets and limits by 2027. The taxonomy needs to be swiftly updated to reflect these changes so that it can differentiate truly green investments from those that simply follow the legislated performance standards for all buildings.    In the latest policy briefing, we:    🔎 Look closely at the EPBD and the EU Taxonomy – and their respective life cycle GWP requirements.    🇪🇺 Provide recommendations for the European Commission.    These recommendations target improvements in data collection, capacity building, usability and compliance. They were created in collaboration with WorldGBC’s Sustainable Finance Taskforce and the Europe Regional Network Policy Taskforce featuring Green Building Councils and partners from across Europe.    Updating the EU Taxonomy will help create new markets, capacities, databases and leadership ahead of the implementation of the EPBD and support the achievement of Europe’s ambitious climate goals.    Read our full Sustainable Finance series here: https://lnkd.in/exQPmykV    #BuildingTheTransition #BeBoldOnBuildings #SustainableFinance #EUTaxonomy #BuildingLife #BuildingToCOP #BuildingToCOP30  

🌧️ Ever wondered where the rain goes? ☔ With the heavy rains we're experiencing this weekend in Ireland, it's crucial to understand how our urban areas can evolve to become more sustainable and resilient to #floods and extreme weather events like #StormÉowyn. This video by CIRIA demonstrates how changes to the natural water cycle caused by development can be positively managed. It also highlights how Sustainable Drainage Systems #SuDS turned this challenge into an exciting opportunity, contributing to the creation of better places. #FloodResilience #GreenInfrastructure #NbS https://lnkd.in/d6cAqHxi

🌧️ Ever wondered where the rain goes? ☔ With the heavy rains we're experiencing this weekend in Ireland, it's crucial to understand how our urban areas can evolve to become more sustainable and resilient to #floods and extreme weather events like #StormÉowyn. This video by CIRIA demonstrates how changes to the natural water cycle caused by development can be positively managed. It also highlights how Sustainable Drainage Systems #SuDS turned this challenge into an exciting opportunity, contributing to the creation of better places. #FloodResilience #GreenInfrastructure #NbS https://lnkd.in/d6cAqHxi