A warm home and guaranteed low heating costs

Own housing in a high-quality and energy-efficient new development is a property with increasing value. Moreover, the costs related to its maintenance are no less important.

In Latvia’s climatic conditions, we live in heated premises for almost half of the year. This winter, when the average air temperature was significantly lower than in previous years, high heating bills in January came as an unpleasant surprise for many residents of Latvia. In non-insulated buildings, energy losses are considerably higher, therefore in the context of high bills, a building’s energy efficiency and its direct impact on the ability to significantly save on heating were often mentioned.

Pillar’s new developments feature high A+ level energy efficiency, which means truly low heating costs even during the coldest winter months. For example, in our new projects Mežciema mājas, Dreiliņu priedes and Dārzciema liepas, the average heating bill for a three-room apartment in January did not exceed EUR 55.

Here were the average heating costs for residents in January in Pillar’s new developments for two-, three-, and four-room apartments:

• EUR 35.49 for a two-room apartment;
• EUR 53.75 for a three-room apartment;
• EUR 70.56 for a four-room apartment.

The building airtightness test (“Blower Door” test) is a diagnostic method during which special equipment is used to measure the building’s level of airtightness — how much air and therefore heat escapes from the building. The results of such a test very accurately indicate the building’s energy efficiency. The lower the values, the better the result and, accordingly, the higher the level of comfort for residents: less noise, dust, uncontrolled air movement (drafts), and, which is particularly important in Latvia’s latitude, lower heating expenses.

For example, during measurements in the Dreiliņu priedes project, an air permeability value of q50 = 0.44 m³/(m²·h) was achieved. The test results are three times better than the requirements of Latvian building regulations (q50 ≤ 1.50 m³/(m²·h)) for residential buildings, and also about one-third better than the passive house airtightness standard (q50 ≤ 0.60 m³/(m²·h)).

The building airtightness test was carried out by specialists from SIA IRBEST. According to the company’s data, only about 5% of new multi-apartment projects are able to achieve such indicators, therefore the obtained results are considered outstanding, which is also confirmed by the residents’ low heating costs.

View Pillar’s new developments here.