MNN - Mother Nature Network

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I have chosen to look at the state of green building in Ireland.  From USGBC LEED registered projects to a popular sustainable building conference, Ireland is embracing the "go green" building trend.

 

LEED Registered Projects
A quick search of the LEED registered projects database on the U.S. Green Building Council website shows that four projects in Ireland are being built to LEED specifications.  There may be more as inclusion in the database is not a requirement for LEED registered projects. 

 

Several buildings at the Ballycoolin Business Park in Dublin are pursuing LEED Existing Buildings Operations & Maintenance (EB O&M) certification.  One of the buildings, the Orion building, is the home of a key site for the Symantec Corporation.    Additionally, a 52,000 square foot commercial building in Waterford, Ireland is registered under the LEED for New Construction 2.2 standards.

 

In addition to the LEED registered projects, there are several LEED Accredited Professionals (LEED AP) in Ireland.  According to the Green Building Certification Institute's searchable directory, there are currently seven LEED APs in Ireland.

 

Ireland's Sustainable Building Show
In 2008, Ireland's Sustainable Building Show became the first carbon neutral conference in Ireland.  The show's organizers purchased carbon credits from Ecocem, an Irish specialty cement manufacturer.  The three-day conference featured a variety of discussions, an Eco Show House and a specialized set of seminars produced in conjunction with the Construction Information Technology Alliance (CITA).

 

The Irish Sustainable Building Show will return in the fall (September 17-19, 2009) but the show's organizers have published a video synopsis of the 2008 show (seen above this article).  One of the biggest draws of this show is that members of the public were able to attend for free, nothing is better than a no-cost sustainable building show. 

 

Ireland, a country long associated with the color green, is putting an environmental spin on this association and its citizens and companies are joining the global green building movement.