Hello and welcome to my eco / green architectural design site - dedicated to you if you are interested in building a green home or renovating and extending your current home in an environmentally friendly way. Low carbon and even zero carbon houses are feasible by adopting a passive house (or Passivhaus) design approach. If you are new to building or have done it all before and want to try a new green approach or just need some help or advice, there's something for you at landmarkdesigns.org.uk

In addition to award-winning eco homes, we also design environmentally friendly commercial & industrial buildings. We are based in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland and the travel distance to your site is not a problem, in fact we can design buildings for wherever you live.

The website provides free information and will keep you up-to-date through my green building blogs. Be sure to check for your free factsheets when they become available so that we can keep you informed in this fast-changing world of eco-building. Thanks for visiting - be sure to have a look at my blog page and please leave a comment.

 Happy eco-building !  

Les O'Donnell.

Green Design

It's important to realise how important 'eco-design' really is:

Some of the most serious challenges facing our planet and the human race, such as climate change, pollution and the waste of precious resources can be addressed by changing our thinking on how we construct and operate our buildings.

Design for Sustainability 

A house designed to meet the actual needs of a modern family can sometimes be designed smaller than many people think they need and the money saved can be put to better use in building a house with character and beauty which is more energy efficient and uses less raw materials in its construction.

Design for Beauty

 A beautiful building is going to be more eco-friendly in the long term, since it will be more likely that future owners will want to preserve it and - maybe sometime in the distant future will eventually re-model it instead of resorting to demolition.

Healthy Buildings         

Your eco-home should be made as healthy as possible by using people-friendly materials and construction methods. Many modern materials which contribute to improving the performance or appearance of an environmentally friendly building can unfortunately also be regarded as posing a risk to your long-term health. Request the related factsheet here.  

Reduce your

Carbon Footprint

 "REDUCE and PREVENT"

Here is the best piece of simple advice you will get anywhere:

You will need to use a combination of methods to achieve high levels of energy efficiency and always follow this rule:  

Reducing energy use and preventing heat & warm air losses should always come before you even consider installing alternative energy sources.

• Be very wary of the 'bolt-it-on' approach. Get an independent survey carried out before buying expensive renewable energy technology.
• Professional advice at the start will save time and money
• Remember that producing CO2 costs you money!

"Good advice will specify exactly what work is needed and what it will cost; and should not follow trends blindly nor encourage you to buy new technology without first balancing the environmental benefits with life-cycle costs."

Energy Ratings

In the UK, every home which has been on the market should have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) which rates the home for energy efficiency. Energy Performance Certificate Ratings run from A (very efficient) to G (very inefficient). The average rating in the UK at the moment is D. Generally, the newer the home, the higher rating you should expect it to have.

In Ireland, a Building Energy Rating or BER is similar, with a scale of A to G. From 1st January 2009, a BER certificate became compulsory for all homes being sold or offered for rent. If you are buying or about to rent a house or apartment now, you are entitled to a BER.

Find out more at: http://www.seai.ie/ or http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/

We can design your home to achieve the highest performance ratings, whether for EPC, BER, CSH (The Code for Sustainable Homes), etc. Contact me for advice.