Helena is a Registered Architect with over 20 years’ experience and principal of Helena McElmeel Architects – a Galway based team of architects and passive house designers specialising in delivering Certified Passive House and sustainable buildings, placemaking and public realm projects and winner of the Building and Architects of the Year Green Architectural Practice Award 2024. Helena holds a Masters of Science in Architecture: Advanced Energy and Environmental Studies and a Postgraduate Diploma in Project Management. She is a Certified Passive House Designer since 2013, and her practice contributes to academic and research studies relating to energy and carbon impact of both new build and retrofitted buildings including the RIAI 3Twenty10 ‘Rebound’ project, the IGBC ‘Indicate’ project and ‘DeepPHit’, a new research project in collaboration with Construct Innovate and University of Galway, examining whole life carbon impacts of dwellings retrofitted to EnerPHit standard. Helena is a board member of the Passive House Association of Ireland and is current Chairperson of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland Sustainability Taskforce, advocating for design for performance – operational energy and embodied carbon, building performance / post occupancy evaluation.
