CHAIRPERSON

Caroline Ashe Brady, Director of KORE Group for nearly two decades, has dedicated her career to advancing sustainability in Ireland’s built environment. She holds a BSc in Marketing & Management (DIT), an MSc in Strategic Procurement (DCU), and is a certified Passive House Consultant. Caroline mentors and serves on boards including the Small Firms Association and Passive House Association of Ireland, driving industry collaboration and innovation.

She has led KORE to numerous awards, including SEAI Energy Awards, and spearheaded achievements like ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 50001 certifications. Under her leadership, KORE Retrofit became Ireland’s first SEAI Registered One Stop Shop, championing nationwide energy upgrades and progress toward net-zero by 2030.

VICE CHAIRPERSON

Dr. Barry McCarron is the Managing Director of KORE Retrofit, bringing over a decade of expertise in sustainable construction and renewable energy. Formerly Research & Development Coordinator for the award-winning CREST Pavilion at South West College, Barry has been instrumental in advancing Passive House standards and sustainable technologies.

He holds an MSc from Queen’s University Belfast (Gibson Scholarship) and a PhD focused on Passive House performance in Ireland. With an academic foundation in Architectural Technology, Project Management, and Building Engineering, Barry continues to drive innovation and excellence in Ireland’s energy and construction sectors.

BOARD MEMBER

Stephen O’Shea is an architect of 25+ years experience whose career took a late turn towards Sustainability. He now works for Cairn, one of the largest home builders in Ireland, as their Head of Sustainable Construction, helping them to set and implement their ambitious sustainability strategies.

BOARD MEMBER

Paul McAlister, a chartered architect since 1997, leads a renowned practice specializing in sustainable and energy-efficient design. In 2010, he became Northern Ireland’s first Certified Passive House Designer and pioneered its first architect-designed Passive House, championing the standard as a pathway to Near Zero Energy Buildings.

His award-winning projects include the £1.8M CREST Pavilion, recognized for its exceptional sustainability with accolades like the RSUA Sustainability Award. A passionate advocate for Passive House principles, Paul promotes their adoption for reliable, high-quality, sustainable architecture. Beyond architecture, Paul has been an active rugby referee since 2002.

BOARD MEMBER

Martin has over 30 years’ experience as a Practicing Architect, Lecturer and Passive House Designer. Prior to setting up in independent practice in 1996 he worked within practices in Ireland, the UK and the USA; where as a Fulbright scholar he completed studies in Urban Design, winning the William Dunlop Darden Medal, at Rice University, Houston, Texas.

His work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy London, and his practice is involved in a wide variety of projects from Commercial to Residential; Conservation through to Exhibition Design, Urban Design and Low Energy Strategies.

BOARD MEMBER

Simon Bell, Director at HLM Architects, leads the firm's Sustainability Specialism. A Chartered Landscape Architect and Certified Passivhaus Consultant, Simon’s passion for sustainable development is evident in projects like the award-winning ‘Tigh na Croit’ and his own Passivhaus home, Knockboy Barn. Since 2019, he has built a team of 12 Passivhaus Designers at HLM, delivering certified projects in education, residential, and commercial sectors across the UK and Ireland.

Simon advocates for the Passivhaus standard’s benefits, including enhanced air quality, thermal comfort, and resource efficiency, and its role in addressing health, education, and climate change challenges through sustainable design.

SECRETARY

David Hughes is a specialist low energy and historic conservation architect practicing with Iarnród Éireann. He has designed the first non residential ‘passivhaus’ for Iarnród Éireann or indeed for any railway company worldwide. He has won many national and international awards with two international awards for low energy and environmental design in particular.

He has been a selected at the Passivhaus Institut’s own conference in Hannover in 2012 as well as the See The Light Passivhaus confer­ences in Ireland. Apart from an interest in energy he has a strong design background having worked for high profile practices in Paris and Dublin. Since May 2014 he has been secretary of the PHAI.

TREASURER

Maoilíosa Reynolds is a registered architect with 30 years experience in Ireland, UK and USA in project management, conservation, urban design and developer-led housing.

In addition to setting up in practice in 2008 Mel has previously collaborated with a number of award-winning Architectural firms. Previous broad-ranging experience in Ireland, UK and USA has covered project management, conservation, and urban-planning projects. Project type/size has varied from high-quality small scale residential to commercial mixed-use schemes. Mel has worked directly with developers for over twenty-five years in the residential speculative development sector.

BOARD MEMBER

Shane Colclough carries out research at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies in Ulster University in addition to being principle at the consultancy firm Energy Expertise Limited. His research area of interest is the application of the Passivhaus standard to the Irish Climate for which he was awarded a PhD. He is a Chartered Engineer and holds a Master degree in Engineering and an MBA.

He believes passionately in the potential afforded by the Passive House Standard in providing a better standard of housing for our citizens, simultaneously reducing Ireland’s dependence on fossil fuels and eliminating fuel poverty. He has chaired the Passive House Association of Ireland for a three-year term, authored papers on the topic of passive houses & solar inter- seasonal energy storage in addition to presenting at national and international conferences. He is an experienced consultant and serves in the EU as an Expert on Energy-Efficient Buildings.

BOARD MEMBER

Jeff is the editor of the Passive House Plus Magazine. An award-winning magazine reporting on the latest trends and innovation in the world of low energy buildings, it is the main reference for passive houses followers and experts. Jeff is at the forefront of promotion of sustainable construction in Ireland, and in 2003 he founded the Environmental and Sustainable Construction Association.

Jeff is a key figure in managing relationships with public authorities, as well as dealing with the industry environment. Jeff’s intervention has been indeed one of the main driving forces leading to the historical decision of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to integrate the Passive House Standards into its development plan.

BOARD MEMBER

John has over 26 years’ experience in a wide variety of architectural and urban design projects for both the public and private sector. He is a member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, a fully Certified Passive House Designer and board member of the PHAI, a member of the Irish Project Management Institute and a registered BER assessor in both domestic and non-domestic buildings. He also qualified to level 1 ITC thermography in 2009.

His entire professional career has been committed to sustainable, quality, performance driven architecture delivering very low energy buildings. In 2010 WMA completed their first fully Certified Passive House in Carrigaline. Other projects would include the Garden Still house, Midleton and Passive House domestic buildings in both the Cork City and West Cork.John has extensive experience in climatology and its application in low energy buildings providing support to other designers worldwide.

Archie has been an Architectural Technologist for 12 years with experience in commercial architecture and is a qualified planner. Archie has worked as a sustainability consultant with accreditations in BREEAM and Code for Sustainable Homes and was a trainer for the Greenworks courses in thermal bridging. He has specialised in developing cost-effective building solutions, adapting Irish construction techniques for passivhaus and Part L 2011 compliance.

As the owner and operator of Integrated Energy, Archie has focused the consultancy to provide energy efficient building fabric with high comfort levels. These approaches include the analysis and application of appropriate renewable based heating and ventilation systems.

Archie is also training to be accredited in thermal bridging with the DIT CPD certificate in thermal bridge analysis with a view to certification by NSAI on the database of registered thermal modellers.

BOARD MEMBER

Helena is a Registered Architect with over 20 years’ experience and principal of Helena McElmeel Architects – an award-winning Galway based team of architects (including four Certified Passive House Designers) specialising in Certified Passive House and sustainable buildings, urban design and public realm.

She became a Registered Architect in 2007 and a Certified Passive House Designer in 2013. Helena holds a Masters of Science in Architecture: Advanced Energy and Environmental Studies in 2013 (CAT / UEL) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Project Management in 2018 (Trinity College Dublin). She taught the Built Environment module in the School of Engineering in the University of Galway for over five years. Helena and her practice continue to contribute to various academic and research studies relating to energy and carbon impact of both new build and retrofitted buildings.Description goes here

BOARD MEMBER

Chris Millar has over a decade’s experience of working with construction industry professionals across Ireland and beyond. As Ventilation Project & Brand Manager with Kernohan Distribution (specialists in the supply of sustainable and low energy solutions for the electrical, drainage, plumbing, heating and ventilation sectors).

A graduate of Ulster University, Chris is additionally an independently accredited ventilation designer, working with partners, primarily to deliver Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery projects, utilising PHI approved systems and components.

Chris is passionate about sustainability and minimising our collective impact upon the environment. Central to this approach, is client education. Chris offers free, CIBSE, RIAI and RIBA accredited CPDs to architects and consulting engineers across Ireland on a weekly basis. These free seminars, encompass best practice and promote the importance of regulatory compliant ventilation solutions, to conserve energy and reduce whole life cost.