The guide is aimed at architects, developers, home builders, engineers and anyone wishing to build their own concrete home.

The guide offers practical advice on how to reduce energy consumption as well as outlining practical measures for anyone aiming to obtain an Arated energy efficient home.

"For those designing and building their home, the guide provides a series of measures to take at the construction stage, " says ICF chief executive, John Maguire.

"Importantly it also provides guideline prices on how much these measures may cost and information on the efficiencies achieved.

"For example, increasing the insulation in the external fabric of the house will cost in the region of 500 and will lead to an improvement in energy efficiencies of 4%.

Improved window orientation to southwest facing is normally possible and will typically achieve energy efficiencies of 4%.

"There are also practical measures that every homeowner can take which will reduce their energy consumption including changing to energy efficient light bulbs and increasing the insulation levels in the attic and on the hot tank.

Other changes include replacing the open fireplace with a balanced flue enclosed stove leading to an 11% improvement in energy efficiency and installing a condenser boiler rather than a standard one which typically would give a 10% improvement in overall building efficiency, Maguire says.

"Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation out there regarding how to achieve energy efficiency in the home.

"No single change will turn a current building regulation compliant home into an Arated one. It is a series of steps that need to be taken and that is true of all construction methods, whether concrete, timber or even steel."