Clean, green low-energy family home in Kilternan for €1.195m

"My architectural friends were horrified when we purchased the house" says retired architect Noel Kidney – a former partner at Burke Kennedy Doyle.

“We used to drive up here on Sundays, and decided it was the perfect place to raise a family with five children. What I saw was a shell – a challenge really, as the gardens were overgrown and the house was not in good condition, but I loved the horizontal space and light.”

Kidney purchased the 1970s built property in 1998, replacing all the single pane windows with double glazed Rationel windows, and insulating the roof. When he retired in 2010, he again decided to upgrade the property – this time the focus was on insulation.

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The property now has a BER energy rating of B2. “It’s now so cosy and draught proof but it is empty” – which is the reason the family are selling as the children have moved on and the couple are left with a substantial 306sq m of empty nest.

Kidney installed solar panels which provide hot water throughout the year, two stoves replaced open fires to decrease any heat loss through open hearths, and the entire ground floor now has solid oak floors.

Passive heat

One of the remarkable features of the house, which Kidney describes as north European contemporary style, are the full height windows. These throw a huge amount of light and passive heat through the house. “It is essentially a rectangle laid out on the four points of the compass – with the utility on the north face, and the rooms and patios catch the sun at different times of the day.”

The kitchen by Kube, lies on the east face – as does the master bedroom, to catch the morning sun, and overlooks a patio, where the family grow a plethora of vegetables. Adjacent lies a drawing room – with double height ceilings and a door opening out to a south facing terrace.

Kidney uses a further room on the west face as his office – which would also make a perfect evening reception room to catch the setting sun.

A bathroom and fine sized dining room complete the downstairs.

Upstairs are five bedrooms, a family bathroom and a smaller room currently used as a study.

The gardens stand on 1.3 acres, and new owners have scope to landscape them further. Littlefield is for sale through DNG with an asking price of €1.195 million.