Passivhaus design and certification

Become a Passivhaus Designer in Plymouth

Helen — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:46:05 +0000

The AECB CarbonLite Plymouth Passivhaus Designer course is fast approaching! The course will take place in May/June as follows:

Week 1 (Monday 21st-Friday 25th May inclusive)

Introduction to Passivhaus

Science of Passivhaus

PHPP

Week 2 (Monday 11th – Friday 15th June inclusive)

Building Services for Passivhaus

Construction of Passivhaus

Revision session

Certified Passivhaus Designer Examination

An additional 1 day Thermal Bridging course will take place on Wednesday 6th June. This is not compulsory for those taking the Passivhaus Designer examination, however we do recommend that this course is taken by Passivhaus Designers.

If you are interested in attending the course, further information can be found on our training pages, or by contacting Tim Martel on 01752 542546.

How much for a sustainable building?

sallyj — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:04:31 +0000

We’re always getting asked about the extra cost of sustainable buildings, Nick Grant puts his finger right on it in this fantastic article in bdonline.

As for low energy buildings is there an extra cost?

Yes, there will definitely need to be more time (and therefore cost) spent during the design, and its likely it will require greater attention on site to get these new details right but these are short term costs as we up-skill. And the overall cost doesn’t have to increase, the graph below is taken from the analysis of some built commercial Passivhaus buildings in Frankfurt courtesy of Axel Bretzke:

Come and meet us at Ecobuild!

sallyj — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:18:31 +0000

If you are at Ecobuild this week you why not see us at our 3 seminars, all in the North Gallery 4&5:

Tues 20th, 11:50 John Trinick is talking about the “Essential steps to achieving Passivhaus Standards”
15:45 Peter is talking about Passivhaus construction and techniques. See link

Wed 21st, 10-12 meet us at the Passivhaus Trust stand

Thurs 22nd, 14:15 Peter will be on a panel with Wolfgang Feist discussing PH as the UK advanced fabric standard, see link

Sunnyside, Craigothie gets official stamp of approval

peterw — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 13:10:19 +0000

North east Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell made a house call with a difference, when he visited a recently-completed accredited Passivhaus in his constituency, specially built to demonstrate the benefits of gold standard energy efficiency.

Developed by St Andrews company, Passivhaus Associates, and built to rigorous standards, Sunnyside, tucked away on Old Mill Road, Craigrothie, is so efficiently insulated that it is heated to a comfortable level by the sun shining through its triple-glazed windows and the warmth created by cooking, bathing and electrical appliances.

To put it another way, central heating isn’t necessary in a Passivhaus. All it takes to keep you cosy in winter is the equivalent of one lit candle, in every square metre of floor space.

Presenting Passivhaus Associates’ Director Graham Drummond and Chris Morgan, principal of Dunblane-based Locate Architects, with a Quality Approved Passive House certificate Sir Menzies was visibly impressed by the building’s light airy atmosphere and comfortable temperature. “Congratulations on your successful project and on completing such a delightful and comfortable home,” he told them. “Whereas wind farms and other renewable energy projects treat the symptoms, this Passivhaus really tackles the problem. If we conserve energy properly, by creating more buildings like this, we will remove the need to keep creating more ways to cope with our growing consumption.”

Thanking him, Graham said: We are confident this privately-funded project will encourage others to build homes to the same quality standard guaranteed to deliver low heating bills and high indoor comfort levels.”

Chris, one of only five RIAS advanced accredited Architects in Sustainable Design in Scotland, said: “It has been satisfying to work on a project where the energy efficiency aspirations were matched by on-site quality control, leaving us with a house which only uses 20% of the energy of the average new-build house.”

Co-heating of Ford Farm Passivhaus Begins

sallyj — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:07:55 +0000

We’ve started a co-heating test on one of the 20 Passivhaus dwellings at Ford Farm in Cornwall. Ford Farm was our very first Passivhaus design projects so getting to test it now it’s built is fantastic – we’re all hoping for some really cold, overcast weather, let’s see what Bodmin Moor can deliver!

Be the first to see PH school & vicarage

sallyj — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:57:38 +0000

Email Dawn or go to the CarbonLite website for more information on the courses on offer

As part of the CarbonLite Passivhaus Designer course in Birmingham there will be two exclusive visits to recently completed projects in the area:

Bushbury Hill Primary School – the first (of 3) passivhaus schools in the UK, you will be shown round by Nick Grant who was strongly involved in the design on the project and Peter Warm who certified it. Architype the architects may also come along. This is a fantastic opportunity to discuss the constraints, red herrings & solutions that the team had to cope with during the design.

Penzer Street vicarage - a chance to have a candid talk with the occupants of this recently completed Passivhaus house and find out what it’s really like to live in. Is the ventilation system noisy? Has it been warm throughout the winter? and have the energy bills been as low as expected? As well as talking to the occupants there will be plenty of time to look around the house and experience the environment for yourself.

Email Dawn or go to the CarbonLite website for more information on the courses on offer

First Passivhaus Schools in UK receive certification!

sallyj — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:57:03 +0000

A milestone in the UK building industry was reached today with the formal certification of the first
Passivhaus schools in the UK.
We are delighted to announce the completion of the rigorous certification process, and issue
Passivhaus Certificates for the first three Passivhaus schools in the UK:

Bushbury Hills Primary School in Wolverhampton, commissioned by Wolverhampton City Council, designed by Architype and built by Thomas Vale Construction
Montgomery Primary School in Exeter, commissioned by Devon County Council, designed by NPS and built by BAM Construction
Oakmeadow Primary School in Wolverhampton, commissioned by Wolverhampton City Council, designed by Architype and built by Thomas Vale Construction

There are many architects and contractors out there claiming that they are building to ‘Passivhaus principles’, but it is only going through this tough and formal Certification process that gives credibility to such claims. Many congratulations to Architype, Thomas Vale, NPS and BAM for putting themselves through this process, and for achieving certification – this is a huge achievement!

The approach of each design team was different, demonstrating that Passivhaus can be achieved using different design approaches and types of construction. NPS adopted a heavyweight concrete SIPS solution, and added photovoltaics to achieve a ‘zero-carbon’ solution, whereas Architype focussed on developing the timber construction for which they are well known, and on delivering Passivhaus within a standard budget.

Wolverhampton City Council, Architype and Thomas Vale are supporting their schools with an innovative Soft Landings and monitoring programme. Devon County Council has undertaken to monitor the performance of the building, and has funded a PhD study as a condition of the Zero Carbon Task Force grant. Both teams have agreed to share and publish data for the benefit of the building industry, in order that the two different approaches to Passivhaus can be compared.
Arthur Tatchell, Director of Architecture at NPS (Group) Exeter said ”Achieving Passivhaus at Montgomery Primary School had been a steep learning curve for all involved in the design and construction process. We are very grateful for the assistance given by Warm Low Energy Building Practice, David Coley of Bath University, the Zero-Carbon Task Force and Devon County Council in enabling us to develop what we believe is also the first “zero-carbon in use” school in Europe”.

“We are delighted to have achieved Passivhaus Certification, and hope that we have helped to move the UK building industry forward by delivering the first Passivhaus schools at no extra cost”, said Jonathan Hines, director of Architype, “but, for us the most important thing is that the children love their new building, and the staff tell us that the children are staying more alert and concentrating better, due to the comfort and quality of the internal environment with its constant supply of fresh air”

For further information on the Wolverhampton schools please contact:

Jonathan Hines, Director of Architype t: 01981 542111

For further information on the Exeter school please contact:

Arthur Tatchell, Director of Architecture, NPS. t: 01392 351085

Schools near certification

sallyj — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:08:16 +0000

Bushbury, Oakmeadow & Montgomery primary schools are now occupied and going through the final checks before we award Passivhaus Certification. We’re aiming to certify all three on the same date to avoid competition between the three which could undermine the incredible commitment the design & construction teams have given over the last couple of years to bring these schools into fruition.

This is the first time we’ve certified a school and it’s certainly been a learning process – we’ve worked with the Passivhaus Institut to give us a guiding hand, but in many cases (such as how to consider the heat loss of the kitchen) the UK is a special case and there was very little previous work to go on. We’re looking forward to comparing our estimates with the results from the real buildings (we think!)

Just a few more weeks then time to celebrate!

Cunning long term plan to increase WARM’s capacity…..

peterw — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:05:09 +0000

Congratulations to Sally and Mike! (Hat-sizing = convective bypass??)

PH article in CIBSE Journal

sallyj — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:49:23 +0000

See Sally’s article on bridging the design & reality gap that occurs in building energy use published in this month’s CIBSE journal here