A social housing scheme in Dublin is the first to achieve the exacting Home Performance Index (HPI) label.

The block of apartments at Rathmines Crescent was built by Dublin City Council and designed by its own architects. The label allows housing providers and private developers to highlight the quality and sustainability of their homes to occupants, investors and home buyers.

The HPI label was developed by the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) after extensive research and consultation with the industry to encourage quality and excellence in the development of new homes.

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The HPI certificate demonstrates that the home has been designed and constructed with care to ensure low running costs, enhance the health and wellbeing of the occupants and minimise environmental impacts.

The certificate was presented to Dublin City Council by Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Simon Coveney TD and Pat Barry CEO of the Irish Green Building Council.

Mr Barry said: "We are delighted to award the first certificate to Dublin City Council for social housing, as this demonstrates sustainability is about skills, choices and design and not about additional cost.

"It is important that we are all working to a quality sustainability standard for new housing in order to protect home buyers and the environment. This also demonstrates that sustainable housing have a role to play in enabling active healthy communities."

(CD/JP)