Leading passive house consultancy Encraft has advised that the standard is affordable for large scale housing projects — and cheaper over the whole life cycle of a development — once there is some investment in learning and education up front.
Thirty leading environmental and energy groups have written to the new secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy Greg Clark urging the government to maintain its commitment to crucial EU targets on energy post Brexit — including the demand that all new buildings be ‘nearly zero energy’ (NZEB) from 2021.
The refurbishment of a landmark listed property on London’s Leicester Square has seen Marmox Thermoblocks specified in very large quantities for an unusual application. Number 48 Leicester Square is being completely redeveloped behind the retained 1920s stone facade, with Make Architects leading the design team on behalf of client, Linseed Assets, while Pacific Construction is the main contractor.
Passive house indeed works everywhere was the core message at the second annual South Pacific Passive House Conference, writes Andrew Michler. The conference was held in Melbourne on 12-13 February. While just a handful of passive houses have been completed in Australia so far, a sizable contingent from New Zealand came to the conference armed with multiple examples of how even warm climate buildings benefit from the energy savings, comfort and critically the health of a passive house. With a major spike in asthma from damp and mouldy homes, the principles such as airtightness, controlled air exchange, and thermal bridge free design are finally being accepted as the best solution in this part of the world.
Casa Architects has achieved NPPF 55 statusfor the development of a new passive housein a listed parkland near Frome, Somerset.NPPF 55, recognised as one of the mostdifficult planning applications to achieve, setsstrict planning restrictions to allow only trulyoutstanding or innovative architecture of thevery highest quality and standard to be built in the English countryside.
Two leading Irish manufacturers of passive house components have both received passive house certification for their systems.
Buckinghamshire-based passive house door manufacturer Urban Front can now integrate airtight, insulated, thermally broken Petwalk pet flaps into their door systems, as one of the company’s latest door projects shows.
Leading international sustainable technology manufacturer Viessmann has collaborated with high end prefabricated house manufacturer Huf Haus, to equip a UK residential property with first-of-its-kind technology.
Innovative ventilation supplier Lunos has picked up awards for its decentralised heat recovery ventilation and demand-controlled ventilation systems.
The shortlist of projects for this year’s 2016 UK Passivhaus Awards has been announced. There are just two categories this year, urban and rural, with Rehau being the main sponsor.
Roughly 50,000 excess winter deaths occur annually between the UK and Ireland, with fuel poverty a primary cause. Yet although concerted social housing retrofit efforts could help tackle climate change while preventing thousands of senseless deaths of vulnerable people, flawed financial modelling is letting us down, argues Peter Rickaby.
In October 2015, PYC Systems carried out the first of several air tests at the Hilltop project in Richard’s Castle on the Hertfordshire— Shropshire border, Architype’s first small scale residential passive house project. The first blower door test result was 0.59 air changes per hour (ACH), prior to insulating the envelope, which everyone was keen to improve on as it only marginally passed the passive house standard and was prior to fitting services, which are known to increase the risk of air leaks.
An initiative aiming to increase knowledge and understanding of the issues moisture can cause in buildings old and new, was launched in London on 26 May. The UK Centre for Moisture in Buildings (UKCMB), backed by University College London and other academic institutions plus the BRE, plans an ambitious programme of research, public engagement, policy work and training to improve moisture safety.
Green Building TV, a new community platform that uses video to communicate ideas, products and services between buyers and sellers — all relating to the sustainable construction sector — is set to go live in mid June.
Fixing specialist Ancon has launched a brand new ultra-low thermal conductivity wall tie
World-renowned author, environmentalist and advisor to the Democratic Party Bill McKibben has praised the green leadership that Ireland is starting to show through Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Dublin City Council voting to make the passive house standard or demonstrably equivalent alternatives mandatory for all new buildings.
It is well documented that parapets allow conductive materials to transfer energy through the thermal barrier and are therefore just as prone to the problems of thermal bridging as balconies.
SMET Building Products has advised those specifying floor screed to avoid product failure, particularly in heated screeds, by ensuring their choice of products meets the right standards. “Historically, floor screed failures have regularly resulted from the interaction of heated screed constructions with a wide range of coverings. Failure by the contractor to check on residual moisture and consequent installation of coverings on an overly wet screed may have serious implications for the durability and longevity of the flooring,” said Joris Smet of SMET Building Products.
The primary reason for requiring airtightness in buildings has nothing to do with energy efficiency or occupant comfort, writes Helen Brown, head of building physics at Encraft — it's for the protection of the building fabric.
Leading passive house rooflight supplier DVS recently designed, supplied and installed two large Passive House Institute-certified glass roofs for the University of Leicester’s Centre for Medicine, the largest non-residential building built to the passive house standard in the UK.
The Keystone Group is the first lintel manufacturer to offer an online Psi-value calculator designed for energy assessors and architects.
Passive house & sustainable building mortgage provider Ecology Building Society has become the first building society in the UK to be awarded the Fair Tax Mark.
Sustainable flooring company Forbo’s new Marmoleum Striato collection of contemporary linear linoleum designs has been awarded with the iF Design Award 2016.
Leading Irish timber frame manufacture Cygum has said that it is possible to tackle the housing crises in the UK and Ireland by mass-producing high quality timber passive houses on a large scale.
Ecological Building Systems are pleased to announce global leaders in innovative airtightness solutions Pro Clima have added a new range of pre-folded airtightness tapes, Tescon Profect to their array of intelligent airtightness solutions.
The long-held claim that customer demand for purchasing sustainable homes is limited has been challenged in new research by UK housebuilder Redrow.