Adventures in green building

The University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, England, is home to one of Europe’s largest concentrations of researchers in the fields of environment, health and plant science.

One of the areas in which the university excels is in the promotion of environmentally-friendly building practices, striving to initiate ‘environmental best practice’ when it comes to buildings on campus.

It’s probably not an environment in which you would expect to encounter a timber frame company based in Macroom, Co Cork, but it this is where you will find Cygnum’s (www.cygnum.ie) largest building to date. The company which currently employs 60 people, with plans to expand this to 100 in 2015, has played a significant part in the construction of what is being termed ‘The Greenest Building in Europe.’