Eco-home to make you green with envy

An aid worker's environmentally friendly home in D8 feels healthy, light and airy, but most of all warm and cosy, writes EMMA CULLINAN

Sharon Jackson, who works in international aid, lives with her partner David in an eco apartment at the Daintree scheme in D8 designed by Solearth Architecture

How long have you been here?

We were the first people to buy an apartment here, in November 2005. We weren’t really in the market for an apartment but I walked by Pleasant’s Place one day and saw a sign saying “ecological apartments” and that got my interest. Myself and David are both quite environmentally minded. That was a Friday. We called the estate agent on the Monday and she said the apartments were going on sale on Thursday. So we ended up condensing the normal apartment-buying process into four days. We were very attracted by the ecological features: solar panels for water heating, the ground-source heat pump for space heating, rain water harvesting for the toilets, and a high level of insulation. The apartments were very beautiful, a good size and I liked the courtyard.

Had you lived with ecological things before?

We lived in Rathmines before, in a flat the same size as this one but it was poorly insulated and had single glazing. It was heated with an electrical storage heater that cost a fortune to run. The place was cold and draughty.

Did you notice a difference when you moved here?

Definitely. We haven’t turned the heating on yet. We turn it on at some point in November. All of the ecological systems are backed up with conventional systems. The solar panels are not heating all of the water, all of the time, but heating the water to some degree.

Do you know when the back-up kicks in?

No, because there is a central system for all seven apartments and the offices. Heating and hot water is included in the management fee; we just get electricity bills. We are now trying to monitor how the systems are working, and what their efficiency is. But it is much, much cheaper to run than our last apartment.

Do you notice the rainwater harvesting?

Not too much. The gutters go into a central tank in the basement and then the water goes into the toilets. If the tank runs low, normal water comes from the mains. After heavy rain the water can be a bit darker but the interesting thing about here is that it is an ordinary apartment. The ecological features do not change the way you live.

Are you in the Cake Café all the time?

Yeah, quite often I go down for coffee in the morning and I sometimes have dinner or lunch there. There is a nice sense of community here. We don’t have too many social events but we do have some get-togethers. There is a mural in the courtyard made out of recycled materials and we had a party when that was finished. Residents and workers in the building are in the management company. We take out the bins on a rota basis: one person each week brings everyone’s stuff out to be collected. We have a recycling shed with green bins and composters and there is a chute for glass that is collected every couple of months. The architects, Solearth, are in the building so can answer queries. The fact that they have their offices here is a mark of their belief in the building.

What do you ask them?

When we were putting up shelves we were able to ask how deep the insulation and plasterboard was. The insulation is sheep’s wool in the outside walls and cellulose on internal walls.

Does the apartment feel different?

Yes, it feels healthy; light and airy but warm and cosy. The whole building is designed to be breathable. Outside it is lime render, encased in cedar in some places. You have a sense of air circulating. It feels a lot healthier than other places I’ve lived in.

What about the internal layout?

This room’s main feature is its dual aspect and because of the balcony there is a great sense of space. It’s nice having the kitchen and livingroom together and I like the fact that the kitchen is slightly separated, around a corner. Cooking and having people over is important to us. All the appliances are A-rated.

How did you go about furnishing the apartment?

We have some design pieces, such as the jigsaw bench seats from Inreda on Camden Street. Our kitchen table and coffee table – which is one plank folded over – are made from sustainably sourced wood. They are by Benchmark, Conran’s sustainable design unit. We ordered them from the UK as we found it very difficult to get sustainable furniture in Ireland in 2006. The dining chairs are by Ethnicraft from a shop in Belfast – as is the bedroom furniture. The Fairtrade bowl is from a shop called Ten Thousand Villages in Connecticut. We got bookshelves from a skip outside a house in Rathmines. The sofa and ottoman are from Oxfam Home. I often go and check to see what they have.

There’s an international feel to the room.

We have quite a bit of African art that I picked up in Tanzania and photographs that myself, David and friends have taken. The Luas picture is a Frank Kiely print. The big wooden spoon is by a Polish craftsman which we bought on the street in Dublin. The light is by Mathmos – the people who make lava lamps – and you operate it by waving your hand at it. The floors are reclaimed pine and the walls are painted in Auro organic paints.

Did your values impact on any other choices?

We got to choose the kitchen and had an entertaining discussion with the kitchen guy: we were saying that we didn’t want things coming from too far away and that we didn’t want tropical hardwoods. When we asked where the granite came from he said Zimbabwe. We said we were not too keen on that and he said, ‘oh, because of miles’. But we said no, it was more about the political situation. At that point he was sort of giving up: I doubt these are the typical issues that a kitchen installer has to contend with!