"Yes, there was something very wrong and it was very obvious and it still has not changed very much. What has changed from the 70's is that you have added double glazed plastic windows and a bit of attic insulation that was not there before. That's it. Nothing else has changed really. The building business is conservative in all countries. Even in Sweden, they were talking inches on nails and timber up until fairly recently when everything else had changed to metric. "

Lars pointed out that there is much more regulation today than there was 25 years ago.
"To us, it was a great help that there was no building regulations when we came to Ireland. That came in much later. We could actually do what we thought was best. We developed a house that was right for here and for this climate: that is the house type that we are still building - but a slightly improved version. If we had had building control enforcements, like in England, it would have been much more difficult."

He said that the Swedish companies active in England seem to have had their Swedishness watered down and he suspects that it was done to comply with various local regulations.

Could you tell us about your original plan for the factory?
"Originally we decided that the houses should be as cheap as possible to build. They would be constructed to the highest possible insulation standards so that you wouldn't need a conventional heating system. Then after a few years we tried to build a factory here, but there were planning problems. We didn't want to be in an industrial estate across the other side of town with all the commuting that that would entail and also the very unattractive prospects of being situated in and also the cost of establishing a factory in such a place. It is expensive to buy land in many places. So, after various fruitless discussions with the planning authority and a planning refusal we gave up on the factory in Ireland."

He said that he was sad that Scandinavian Homes don't have a factory in Ireland instead of in Sweden where they built one a few years ago.

Could you describe your original vision for the cottage factory?
"Our original vision was that we would have a little factory where we would make a house every second week and have an ecology center where we would show what we were doing in the factory at the same time. We planned to build an experimental house to try different insulation techniques, such as active insulation, and to set aside an area for fast growing trees. We liked to see how large an area was needed to grow enough trees to be self sufficient for space and water heating of the house. Part of the plan was to fertilize the trees with the ashes produced when burning the bio-fuel - full circle!

"There was all sorts of opposition to that, from the Council and from some neighbours too because they thought it was a very strange thing to have a factory built in a nice setting and combine that with an ecology center. And then of course the ecology center couldn't be built on its own. Now, a few years later, we have built a new super insulated factory in Sweden and on the location in Galway we have built our first Passive house instead."

Is it true that some Councils are now sending staff to you to learn about your building methods?
"Since we built the passive house we have advertised a little about the fact that we know how to build passive houses. Sustainable Energy Ireland, SEI, has arranged a few conferences and we had members from the council out to learn about passive houses, because the Councils around the country are very interested in getting low heating bills for their social housing as well."

What are your views on today's building regulations?
"Fifteen years ago we had a list that was very long on items that we were in breach of. One was that whole house ventilation-heat-recovery systems were not allowed - the reason was that a ventilation hole in the wall in each room was required. It was all sorts of things like that. Then over the years, the list shrunk away because the regulations changed as the energy awareness increased with the regulators. Now various state agencies are promoting the same heat recovery ventilation systems that we were not allowed to use 15 years ago! I think it is great that the understanding of concepts such as passive heating and solar positioning has increased. There still seems to be resistance in the local planning offices to think a little more green but I think it will be better and better as younger and more educated staff replace those from the old school.

How does that compare with Sweden?
"Sweden is going the other way, from detailed bureaucratic rules to less regulations. Twenty years ago the State decided on how big your hat-shelf should be in the hall, but that type of stuff is gone now. There is more and more freedom. In some areas they are actually taking away planning requirements for houses in the country."

Are there any advantages in building Scandinavian Homes houses in clusters? And have you actually created any clusters?
"I think that this type if house is better in clusters. We never could create any. It is very difficult to build a cluster of houses in Ireland because the politicians and the system make zoned land extremely expensive. Then the planning process is very expensive. This excludes individuals from building in clusters. The developers in this game are consequently only interested in cramming in as many identical and poorly built houses as they are allowed in every estate. That's what is being done everywhere and there isn't really room to do a nice size cluster anywhere. I think that a different approach to zoning and less regulations could change that."

Roughly, what is the price comparison of your homes to standard homes?
"I think thre is a relatively small increase in cost to upgrade to fully passive specification for single storey houses with rectangular shape. For houses with converted attic-space it costs a bit more, maybe 15-20 % over the standard version. I think that it is important that we have been thinking in price-energy performance terms all the time. Other timber frame manufacturers have put an emphasis on other aspects such as elaborate designs."

Regarding insurance and timber frame houses, psychologically do Irish insurance companies think 'fire'?
"I think it is a sad problem. Have they [the insurance companies] no statistics that they can apply? Fires usually start inside of houses - the material of the external cladding is irrelevant. How many fires are there in concrete built houses every year, and how are they related to the materials of the external walls? Remember that all houses have timber-frame roofs, all houses have concrete foundations, most have timber partitions - it is only the external walls that differ."

Is your wood impregnated with any fire retardant?
"Oh no, that is poisonous stuff. We don't want to use that at all. We use plasterboards - one - two -and three layers to create fire barriers where needed. And that's another thing with the building regulation; in public buildings, they require poisonous flame-retardants to be put on exposed wood.
Generally I think that the fire-regulations are failing to address the problems. They do however seriously restrict innovative layouts, especially in apartment buildings. I would guess that almost all of Stockholm would be condemned if Irish fire regulations were applied there. I would like to see statistics of frequency of fires and the reason why they started.

At what stage are flame retardants unhealthy to other people? Is there any harm to people passing by?
I think it emits particles all the time. If you study this you will see there are a lot of health problems with flame-retardants, in computers, circuit boards, fabric. You are sitting in a Swedish couch that is upholstered in fabric [couch in Lars' house where interview was recorded]. If that sofa was sold in England or Ireland it would have to be treated with flame retardant because that's the law. I would never buy a soft piece of furniture in Ireland or England for that reason. You can physically feel it because it's a little bit tacky, compared to untreated fabric. It is not good to have your children too close to such impregnated fabric."

Is there any problem with woodworm?
"Wood worm is much less of a problem here than in Sweden. The bad woodworm we have in Sweden, we don't have in Ireland. I would like to point out that woodworm is not a regular worm, it is a beetle. The common furniture beetle, Amobium punctatum, only attacks exposed wood of a certain age, and is very easily treated when seen. The larger and more problematic beetle, Hylotrupes bajulies, depends on high temperatures to breed and we do not have that in Ireland."

Could you explain how you manage water in your houses and give us your opinion on direct and indirect water pressure?
"We use the Swedish way of having a floor trap in every wet room. The water heater and all the different water tanks are in the utility room, so you don't have things sprawled all over the attic because if you have that, you will eventually have a leak and that could flood the house.

"About indirect water pressure: for many years we have argued that all taps in a dwelling house should have water that is fit for human consumption. I was waiting for an EU directive to support this so that the Irish authorities couldn't stop the use of a direct pressure water system. Today everybody is forced to have their own little water tank in the attic, an open tank where mice, rats, insects and everything can go in. You are not supposed to drink any water except the cold in the kitchen, which is supplied under direct pressure. I always wonder why the regulators brought this in. I also wonder if we are all supposed to brush our teeth in the kitchen, considering that under current regulation this is the only tap that provides water that is fit for human consumption."

Very briefly, could you compare a Swedish person's perception of what a house should be to that of an Irish person?
Most Swedish people think it is a strange thing to build and live in a concrete house. Concrete is what military bunkers were made of. An Irish person thinks that a wooden house is a strange thing to live in because they remember the pre-fab they went to school in with wind blowing through and falling apart."

Do you truly believe that everything that has gone into the construction of your house will be easily repaired or replaced after two hundred years?
Well, I certainly would expect that most of them would be there in two hundred years time, if they are not moved. The trick is to build a dry foundation and to keep the wooden construction away from damp soil. Our wooden structures outlast concrete buildings wholesale. When you think of it, how many people really want to move into an Irish concrete house built in the between 1930 and 1960? No one! That means that its life span is really over. The Galway Council tore down apartment buildings that were built in the sixties. They had a life span of thirty years only. I think that is a very short life for a building. On the other hand I have direct experience of my grandfather's house that was built in the year 1900. All wooden, on a small island off the west coast of Sweden, and it is still in excellent condition – including the original timber cladding."

You have concrete tiles on the roofs, are they specially constructed?
They are normal Irish concrete tiles. In Ireland, I really think that you don't have so many options. If you are thinking of the environment, it is better to use Irish concrete tiles than importing slates from China."

Does the wooden texture need much maintenance?
"You must take precautions against the frequent wetting and drying cycle in Ireland; we have sunshine with rain in between many times a day, that's a killer for wood. It dries and it's wet, then you get cracks developing. Therefore you must saturate the wood with oil to prevent that happening."

Do you maintain yours with linseed oil?
"No we use Chinese oil, which is oil from the nuts of the Tung-tree. It has very small molecules that penetrate deep into the wood. This way there is no room for water to get in. We use a thin penetrating version and also a thicker variety that can withstand the UV radiation of the sun a bit better. Linseed oil is not as resistant to the sun but I think it is excellent for indoor applications and to make paint from."

Could you give us your thoughts on roof windows?
"All windows that are installed in the roof have to be installed above the insulation because they are above the roof tiles, so that means you will have a band or space around the window where there is hardly any insulation. A window in one of our walls is installed within a thick layer of insulation, so you don't have much heat loss through the frame around the window, but the roof window is actually installed on top of the whole construction, so that is why you have a massive amount of heat loss no matter how it is fitted."

So are you saying that a double glazed roof window is very inefficient?
In our case we have triple glazed Velux windows installed. They are not available in Ireland so we imported them from Sweden. But we have one customer who is getting a double glazed Velux of the best quality available here and then he is putting on a third pane himself and that's a lot cheaper than buying the super triple glazed units. The heat-losses around the frame will still be relatively high!"

Do you notice an increase in the number of people inquiring about your passive house, and what are the key points of passive design?
"An enormous interest, everybody wants a passive house.”
"The most important thing about a passive house is that it needs less energy. It is important to accept a few facts if you want to build a passive house at a reasonable price. Preferably single story, with only a few windows to the north, most on the south. Make the shape of the house in such a way that ordinary tradesmen can finish it: if you start to do funny things with split levels and things like that, it is impossible to get it airtight, and to avoid cold bridging. You can create unusual shapes inside, but they have to be down to earth practical and rectangular on the outside. On fashion, take something that was very hot in the seventies; how hot is that now? How well does the traditional shaped Irish house which was fairly rectangular hold up over time? It holds up better, and these fashion items, they go out of fashion; always. All these funny angles that they put on houses today are a disaster for function and long life span. Every housing estate is full of this and it is sickening to see such heat losses; the bay windows that hang outside the wall probably use as much heat as the entire house does."

Lars Pettersson (Swedish) is married to Linda from Co. Galway. After spending several years living in Sweden they opted to move to Ireland. Lars' area of expertise was making buoys for navigation, but now he follows his family tradition in building. After settling in Ireland it wasn't long before he saw the opportunity in the market to build houses which were much more environment friendly, but particularly were far more energy efficient than conventional Irish houses at that time.
This interview was recorded and photos were taken several months ago when a team from the LP, including Rosalind, Brendan and Patricia (who has since returned to France) traveled to Moycullen, Co. Galway to meet the famous Swede. The Local Planet would like to thank Lars for his enthusiastic cooperation and hospitality!