On 9-10 October 2024, the AIVC – TightVent – venticool 2024 joint Conference “Retrofitting the Building Stock: Challenges and Opportunities for Indoor Environmental Quality”, was organised by the International Network on Ventilation and Energy Performance (INIVE) on behalf of the Air Infiltration and Ventilation Centre (AIVC), the Building and Ductwork Airtightness Platform (TightVent Europe) and the international platform for ventilative cooling (venticool). The University of Galway, the Maynooth University and the Sustainable Energy Authority Of Ireland (SEAI) were also key organisers. This successful event brought together over 180 participants, including researchers, engineers, architects, policymakers, manufacturers, stakeholders, and international organizations from 26 countries.

The conference programme featured three parallel tracks with approximately 150 presentations across the key themes of Smart Ventilation, Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and Health, Building & Ductwork Airtightness, and Ventilative and Resilient Cooling. A special session of “90-Second Industry Presentations”, was organised to disseminate exclusive information from the event’s sponsors to the conference participants, in addition to the conference exhibition.

Additionally, the conference provided a vital forum for discussions on current projects, including the IEA EBC Annex 87, Energy and Indoor Environmental Quality Performance of Personalized Environmental Control Systems. The article available here offers an overview of the main trends, ideas, and insights shared over the two-day conference, focusing particularly on building and ductwork airtightness as well as ventilation systems’ inspection. The article is structured into four main themes:

• Building & ductwork airtightness impact and guidelines,
• Durability of building airtightness,
• Building airtightness measuring methods,
• Inspection of ventilation systems.