Private Developer Projects

NuTech Renewables Ltd has won a contract for the for the supply and installation of solar panels to 112 residential units in Dublin, in what may be the largest number of solar panels supplied to a development in Ireland to date/

Built by Cullen Construction for the National Association of Building Co-operatives, the development in Tyrrellstown features a mix of more than 250 appartments and 2/3 bedroom houses.  Just under half the unit will get solar panels as they were not "Substantially complete" before July 2009, and must therefore make a contribution of 10 KWh / m2/yr from renewables under  Part L of the building regulations.  NuTech will supply and install Kingspan Solar Thermomax Vacum tubes on the project

NuTech Company Director Mark Forkin stated “we were delighted to win this prestigious project. It was a great recognition for all the effort the staff at NuTech put in gaining quality accreditation such as the Kingspan Solar accreddited installer, the uk micro generation Certification scheme and the Investors in people award.

 "The extra effort put into these quality assurance schemes is well worth it, not just because it helped us to win this partricular project but also for the other benefits in running a business.  It forces you to put systems in place, and this helps keep everybody disciplined and leads to a smoother running operation."
 
 
As the Project was well advanced when NuTech arrived on site, scaffolding had been removed for many units, and NuTech had to make their own provisions for health and safety when working at height. Mr Forkin states "This presented its own challenges in getting the job done in a cost-effective and safe manner.  Health and safety is now a major issue for all contractors, particualrly for the retrofit market."
 
 In conjunction with Collen Construction NuTech identified some nearly developed equipment know as a a ladder staging system.  Mr Forkin states " that this new equipment greatly simplifies how we do refurbishment work and also improves our productivity, as the equipment makes it easier for the men to work on the roofs while make the work safer."

 

13 two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four-bedroom houses were built on the Ballyboy Road close to the Centre of Kilcormac. The developers aim was a small eco-friendly development, planned with rising oil prices in mind and the need for something for the environmentally conscious.

 

The "Cedars" , Ridgewood comprised of 50 four-bedroom townhouses, 66 three bed-room townhosues, 16 two-bedroom townhouses and 18 own-door two bedroom apartments. 

50 of the houses were built as part of the SEI (Sustainable Energy Ireland) House of Tommorrow Programme

Many of the Ridgewood houses were classified as low-energy/low C02 homes.  They include an innovative heating and ventilation system which combines quality construction and high levels of insualtion with clever use of renewable energy to provide maximum comfort in all seasons.

Full Details can be found at http://constructireland.ie/Articles/Sustainable-Building-Technology/Swords-housing-project-with-solar-heat-recovery-system-timber-frame/Page-2.html

 

 200 low energy/low C02 houses at Killeagh that do not rely on an oil or gas as the fuel to supply the space and water heating demand. 

NuTech designed a system with a low enough energy demand that an internal wood pellet boiler could be used to satisfy the back-up energy required.

Because the back-up energy demand is low it did not require a large tonnage of wood pellets per year.  This meant that the supply of wood pellets could be by way of the standard 18kg bags rather than by three tonne lots to a storage room.

 The system arrived at for these well-insualted and air-tight houses included

  • Solar assisted Heat Recovery Ventilation SystemUse this system and  thereby saved on a full central heating system
  • Wood pellet boiler placed in the main fireplace of the house.  This "room sealed" boiler removes the problem of the draughts caused by the typical open chimney in the house.
  • Intergrated all of these technologies together and controlled them by way of a single house thermostat and a boiler timer.

This system is now know as the NuTech Sunwarm 140 system and under testing by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) it was confirmed that these houses had achieved an A3 rating on the BER Scale.  This means that they had a designed Primary Energy use of less than 75 kWh/m2/Year for space heating, ventilation, hot water and lighting.

 Full Details can be found at

http://constructireland.ie/Articles/Case-Studies/200-house-low-energy-/-low-co2-development-at-Killeagh-Co.-Cork.html

 These houses also featured on RTE's ABout the house, which you can view online at

http://www.rte.ie/tv/showhouse/prog4.html