The wind may puff but a Huf Haus is designed to be cosy

Kit houses with solar panels and high insulation, from German eco-build company Huf Haus, launch in Ireland today

THE SNOW IS knee-deep around the house near Frankfurt where I sit, contemplating Germany’s coldest winter for decades, with Huf Haus president Georg. It’s very warm in here.

“And you have solar panels?” I ask him.

“Of course.”

“And insulation?”

“Of course.”

“And heat recovery? Photovoltaic cells?”

“Of course.”

I’m asking because we are still having conferences in Ireland to discuss how we can apply green technology here and yet this family firm, launched in Germany in 1912, has just gone ahead and incorporated the latest in sustainable building products into its houses (as have many German companies).

We do have green technology in buildings in Ireland. Lots of architects are designing in sustainable features and Kingspan, Keenan Timber Frame and Hanse Haus are some of the companies already offering housing that incorporates it.

Tonight Huf Haus launches in Ireland, with John Gormley in attendance, to offer its high-spec, factory-made houses. Clients in this country will work with Denis Byrne Architects to get a house that suits their needs.

The houses are of a timber post-and-beam construction, with multi-layered insulated panels incorporated into the walls, and triple-glazed low u-value glass. The timber is planet-friendly and sourced in Nordic countries where the trees grow more slowly, fighting against the cold, and so are stronger (perhaps there are advantages to living in a cold climate then).

Houses can have flat or pitched roofs and are designed and constructed in bays: so a smaller house will comprise three bays and then they rise through four, five, six and so on up to vast nine-bay homes.

The post-and-beam construction means there are no load-bearing walls and all of the houses have an open-plan layout in the living areas and vast glass walls (although you can block out various panels with solid material for more privacy).

The process is like car construction, in that everything is made in the Huf Haus factory, all fitting together neatly without any gaps through which dreaded cold air can come in (or warm air escape) – and then the kit is delivered to site. Once the foundation work has been done – they can be erected in five days to their shell form and then it takes a further 10 to 12 weeks for the interior fit-out (viewers saw a Huf Haus on the television programme Grand Designsbe completed in six days).

The houses come complete with flooring, tiling, lighting, bathrooms and blinds. You choose and pay for the kitchen separately.

Inside the houses feel conversely cosy and spacey, and often have wood-burning stoves and, should you wish, indoor pools and integrated sound systems can be provided too. This doesn’t come cheap – the houses cost about €2,000 to €2,500 a square metre to build, typically starting at just over €500,000 for the smallest house – of about 214sq m (2,303sq ft) – and rising to about €2.5 million (although you can spend much more). Architects fees are included. Denis Byrne Architects are already working on Huf Hauses here and the Nazareth House nursing home in Sligo was built by the company, which is run by Georg and his brother Thomas.

After today’s official launch in Ireland, Huf Haus envisages building six houses a year here along with commercial buildings. They already supply 150 homes a year, with just under half of these being exported around the world.

So how have Germans managed to get so far with eco-construction while certain other countries are still discussing the merits of sustainable design.

Was it down to the government telling people they had to do it, I ask. “The people are the government,” says Georg. Now there’s a concept.