Course Title: Postgraduate Certificate in Building Performance (Energy Efficiency in Design)
The TU412 Postgraduate Certificate in Building Performance (Energy Efficiency in Design) course is open to the following categories of applicants:
- Registered Architects
- Professionally qualified architects who are or have been members of the RIAI, subject to interview.
- Registered Architectural Technologists
- Professionally qualified Architectural Technologists, subject to the requirements scheduled below.
- Registered Building Surveyors
- Chartered Engineers
- Professionally qualified Engineers, subject to a minimum 2.2 Level 8 qualification plus 2 years minimum relevant accredited professional experience, or equivalent.
- Other technical design professionals subject to a minimum 2.2 Level 8 qualification plus 2 years minimum relevant accredited professional experience, or equivalent.
In the words of the World Green Building Council "while we must continue to focus on addressing operational carbon, we must now rapidly increase efforts to tackle embodied carbon emissions at a global scale, too". New terms such as #zeroenergy #wholelifecarbon, #netzerocarbon and #zerocarbonbuilding reflect the widened focus. It is clear that Society looks upon the Built Environment to do much of the 'heavy lifting' in a drive to carbon neutrality and sustainability. The upcoming revision to the Environmental Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and our Building Regulations will bring this widened focus into normal design and compliance practice.
Clearly, architecture, engineering and surveying practices, and the growing number of consultants that support them, need to grow capacity in technical skills and knowledge relating to the performance of buildings. As practices can't wait for university graduates (who may or may not have the required learning, but don't yet have the necessary judgment), they must look at their existing teams to upskill. The only way busy professionals can upskill is part-time. Online learning technology has made this learning journey accessible and satisfactory for a far wider group than was ever possible before.
TU414 MSc in Building Performance (Energy Efficiency in Design) and its constituent parts (TU412 PG Certificate BPEED, TU413 PG Diploma BPEED and various CPD certificate courses) was created by Technological University Dublin to provide transformative learning & upskilling in key areas of technical building design to cross-disciplinary groups building design professionals.
In a great sign of faith in this programme and the willingness of hundreds of building design professionals to upskill, the Irish Government continues to provide Springboard funding (a 90% fee subsidy) for successful applicants to TU412 PG Certificate BPEED (aka Year 1 of the MSc BPEED) since 2018. As Year 1 costs €2,500, the 90% subsidy reduces the fee payable to €250.
Graduates of the TU412 Postgraduate Certificate in Building Performance (Energy Efficiency in Design) will be qualified to apply a range of NZEB and building performance design tools to assess the energy performance in new and existing buildings.
They will be able to research and advise on insulation options assessed as safe in accordance with the best international standards and detail, specify and oversee the installation to ensure performance targets are met.
Graduates will understand the dynamics of thermal, moisture and air movement through building fabric and understand the need to design the optimal balance of all three to ensure the integrity of any retrofit solution proposed and protect the structural longevity of the building fabric.
Their skills will be equally applicable to new build work where the principles of building fabric design are significantly more easily accommodated.
With energy analysis skills building on and enhancing their construction industry experience, graduates will be ideally placed to secure employment in the area of energy renovation of the existing building stock – an emerging and expansive field of construction activity across the European Union, in response to the recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.
MRIAI and RIAI (Arch Tech) graduates will be eligible to apply for RIAI Environmental Accreditation.
Modules in TU412 include:
Semester 1
- The Reflective Building Design Practitioner
- Decarbonising Building Design
- Building Energy Modelling using DEAP (Option A)
- Building Energy Modelling using PHPP (Option B)
Semester 2
- The Reflective Building Design Practitioner
- Hygrothermal Risk Assessment
- Thermal Bridge Calculation
- Net Zero Carbon Residential Design Project
Please view this series of talks from the Building Performance Symposium held in 2022 to understand the programme, its value and students learning and student perspectives.
The delivery of TU412 Postgraduate Certificate in Building Performance (Energy Efficiency in Design) course suits those upskilling, re-skilling & returning to work.
There are a range of ways in which the schedule and delivery have been structured to suit students who are fully employed professionals.
The programme is designed so that most study takes place each week between Friday morning and Monday evening, at times the student chooses. Modules are taught one at a time. A key aspect is that students may decide when to view lecture materials; there are few fixed teaching events.
- In the (5-ECTS) taught modules, the only fixed dates are webinars on the first four Tuesdays at 8pm, an online exam at 8pm on the second and fourth Thursdays, the feedback workshop at the end of the fifth week, and the project submission. Once a semester the feedback workshop will be held on campus.
- In the larger (10-ECTS) project module, seminars are held on Fridays. In general these are online, though 2 or 3 will be held on campus to benefit student learning.
Flexibility is provided via (a) the online resources; (b) videoed lectures that can be repeatedly watched (slowed down or sped up); (c) the recording of webinars to allow later watching; (d) the provision of repeat online exams within the same semester; and the Autumn supplemental exams and project submissions.
Students should plan for a weekly commitment of ~20 hours in most weeks of each module.
TU414 MSc in Building Performance (Energy Efficiency in Design) is a 3-year 'nested' programme. All access to the full Masters is via the 1-year course TU412 Postgraduate Certificate in Building Performance (Energy Efficiency in Design).
Funded Applications: This course received Springboard+ funding in 2023. Springboard+ funded courses for 2024 have not yet been confirmed. We are currently closed for funded applications, however we invite you to Register Your Interest for this course and we will contact you should funding become available.
How to Apply: Detailed information regarding the application process can be found on the part-time section of our website.
Further Information: For further information please email springboard@tudublin.ie.
It is a great course and I do love the way the course is structured, delivered online and tailored towards working professionals
Dympna, Architect.
The quality of the lecturers is superb. Andrew Lundberg is the best I know at his game. Patrick is equally as good technically and immense patience and attention to detail with all the additional resources and examples. If I don’t understand I can simply replay. Overall fantastic
John, Structural engineer.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my years study in TU412 PGCert Building Performance and believe it has made me a more mindful, knowledgeable technologist, using energy efficiency measures to the best of my capability. The workload is heavy and certainly not something to be under-estimated, however upon completion it all seems quite necessary
Aoife, Architectural technologist:
I have already used the knowledge I have acquired on this programme for my professional work. For example, I have prepared a Gas Boiler V Heat Pump LCCA for a client, advised an architect on U-Value calculations for tapered insulation and requested Psi-Value accuracy. In all these cases, I would not have been aware of what to look out for were it not for the knowledge gained on the course.
Ultan, Services engineer:
Congratulations on an excellent course. Never in my life have I found a more useful course to deal with all the issues I come across in my everyday practice. It is brilliant!
John, Architect.
The Postgraduate Certificate sits within the larger TU414 MSc in Building Performance (Energy Efficiency in Design). This includes:
- TU412 Postgraduate Certificate, which is focused on the acquisition of technical knowledge and tools to deliver Zero Carbon building design.
- TU413 Postgraduate Diploma, which is focused on the application of Net Zero Carbon design tools & wider sustainability metrics to deliver the emerging Whole Life Net Zero Carbon building design.
The Extern Examiners for the programme in academic year 2022-23, Dr. Will Swan (Salford Uni.) and Ms Dara Stewart (SEAI), recently reported:
"The programme is of exceptionally high quality. It is teaching a set of skills that is not well covered, even within the EU, but are desperately needed by industry in terms of effectively meeting the net zero challenge in the built environment. It is delivered by a knowledgeable and committed team with an excellent reputation outside of the institution, both in industry and academia".
"Overall, the learning outcomes for the programme were exceptionally strong and has clear value to industry. The students indicated that the learning has significant impact on their workplace decision-making. This indicates that not only are the learning outcomes being delivered, but they are in the form of actionable knowledge".