Richard O'Hegarty

Richard O Hegarty is a research engineer interested in the sustainable engineering of buildings. A multidisciplinary research background of energy analysis, material science and structural mechanics provides the foundations for him to pursue this field of research. Richard holds a BE (hons) in civil engineering from UCD, an MSc (distinction) in structural and environmental engineering from TCD and a PhD in a combined field of façade engineering and renewable energy technologies, also from TCD. He has most recently completed a postdoctoral research position in UCD which focused on the development of energy-efficient cladding solutions for building retrofit. Here, he lead the design and development of a high performance fibre-reinforced concrete and conducted the structural and thermal testing of the composite wall systems. He has worked closely with a number of industry partners, including IES, Firebird, Techrete and Ecocem. Currently, he is working half-time as a postdoctoral researcher on an SEAI funded project (nZEB101), concerned with the assessment of near zero energy buildings. He is based in UCD's Richview Research Hub and his work here focuses on assessing the in-use performance of energy efficient technologies. Richard also works for Techrete (a global leader in architectural precast concrete) as R&D manager. At Techrete he conducts research on advanced concrete mix development, novel precast cladding solutions and the recycling of waste products.