Passivhaus Goes Personal

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Superior comfort is one of the biggest benefits of both the Passivhaus & EnerPHit design and construction practices. There is a lot of building physics that is fed in to achieving both.   

In the summer comfortable temperatures are maintained whatever the weather. Optimal use of building orientation, shading and detailed modelling should keep you cool right through the summer. 

And through the winter a Passivhaus also keeps itself warm using very little energy. High quality windows & walls feel warm. There are no draughts, no cold spots, no mould, and no condensation no matter where you are in your building.   

Warmth and ventilation are the top building performance issues affecting health, however other indoor environmental factors can also make a big impact on health and well-being – for example, overheating, air pollution and noise. Passivhaus & EnerPHit certified properties aim to eliminate these known issues. Achieving an optimal balance.   A healthy home facilitates a healthy life.

We’ve become so accustomed to bad air inside buildings, marred by elevated CO2 levels, that it can be viscerally surprising to breathe clean, oxygen-rich air when inside. It is scientifically proven that this will increase concentration, increase energy levels, improve mood and reduce stress plus a lot more. 

Passivhaus & EnerPHit buildings supply filtered fresh air through a balanced mechanical ventilation system. This system removes the warm moist stale air, extracts the heat from said warm air and pumps it out of the building, whilst in tandem supplying fresh clean filtered air that is pre-warmed by the heat exchanger and then distributed.  

This process also controls humidity and temperature, thus preventing the ideal conditions that could allow the growth of dust mites and mould spores. Air quality is high on the agenda for Passivhaus & EnerPHit occupants. Of course, you can always open the windows to let nature in!  

We also champion the integration of biophilic design. This creates a connection back to the natural environment which has been proven to enhance our mental well-being.

Passivhaus & EnerPHit buildings are more economical to operate than conventional ones, with lower energy bills and fewer maintenance expenses. Less energy consumed = more pounds. The standards are able to achieve up to 90% reductions in energy requirements for heating. Over the whole life of the building this adds up to a considerable amount of money saved.

While the upfront construction cost of Passivhaus & EnerPHit is generally slightly higher than conventional buildings due to their superior building envelopes and build quality, the added ‘debt’ for this upfront investment is off-set by savings in operational costs. It is possible to mitigate these upfront costs by exploring several routes that need to be captured early in the design process. 

Passivhaus design tools empower practitioners to optimise building performance and cost. As we design and build more Passivhaus & EnerPHit projects, the experience gained from those projects drives the cost of future projects down. 

Combine this with our Quantity Surveying and Project Management experience will ultimately deliver true value for money. 

The first thing most people notice when they walk into a Passivhaus or EnerPHit building is the serenity offered by the space. It’s peaceful and quiet inside, even if it’s noisy outside. You won’t disturb the neighbours and likewise they will not disturb you.

The robust high performance and well insulated walls, triple glazing and airtight construction, that are so key to the energy performance, permits a dramatic reduction in noise penetration compared to standard construction.

Passivhaus enables people to ventilate securely and comfortably. There are no noisy fans or noise entering homes through open windows and trickle vents that ultimately lead to people in conventional buildings to restrict ventilation. The ventilation systems also have to be super quiet so they don’t disturb your sleep.

Noise disturbance, especially at night when it disrupts sleep, is very damaging to mental and physical health. At the same time, the airtight envelope, and filters in the ventilation intake, provide occupants with a level of protection from outdoor pollutants.

Passivhaus & EnerPHit ventilation systems pull moisture and odours from kitchens and bathrooms and exhaust them to the outside, while continuously supplying filtered fresh air into living spaces.   

Unwanted moisture or smells generated inside are quickly eliminated. Meanwhile, Passivhaus & EnerPHit buildings’ airtight construction make-up reduce outside moisture / odours from entering the building.  

Having a robust airtight layer also significantly protects against the risk of interstitial condensation where the warm internal air meets a cold surface within the building fabric. In turn, this reduces the risk of unseen mould and rot.

For those of us who live or work in older, urban or rural buildings will have some level of understanding with this. 

Dust just seems to accumulate endlessly. 

Filtering through the walls and settling on any horizontal surface (and in your lungs too).   

Passivhaus & EnerPHit construction eliminates this problem. With a continuous air barrier it stops dust from infiltrating building assemblies, and the filters within the mechanical vent heat recovery system captures dust from incoming fresh air. The control of humidity and temperature also prevents the ideal conditions that facilitate the growth of dust mites and mould spores.

Thanks to their robust building envelopes and lack of condensation causing thermal bridges, Passivhaus & EnerPHit buildings are more durable and require less maintenance than conventional buildings. Careful workmanship often means that building components are more carefully installed and operate in optimal conditions – thus extending their durability.  

For example, sealed glazing units should last longer protected in deep reveals with no hidden areas of condensation. To achieve the required levels of thermal performance and airtightness, the individual components tend to be of a high quality.   

Whilst there is some cost as a result, these components usually last longer and will require fewer call-backs during use. This not only improves the occupant experience, but is also a significant benefit for developers and landlords.  

Those that deliver or have delivered a project to Passivhaus or EnerPHit will tell you that once you build to this standard, there’s no going back to the old way of doing things.

We live in a changing climate. 

With the constant fluctuation of our weather patterns, extreme conditions and energy grid failures we need our buildings to be resilient. The passive systems of Passivhaus & EnerPHit buildings allow them to take these challenges head on. 

 The thermal stability of a Passivhaus or EnerPHit building provides resilience in the face of temperature extremes.   

Should changes to the UK climate reach a point where active cooling is required, the amount of energy a either type requires will be significantly lower than for a typical building.   

The summer overheating criteria, high levels of insulation and high airtightness will already have greatly mitigated the impact, slowing the rate by which the outside temperature can affect the interior. 

Alongside stringent performance criteria, the Passivhaus & EnerPHit standard is renowned for a robust quality assurance process that helps to meet the targets in practice. All certified Passivhaus & EnerPHit buildings undergo this compliance process, and research proves that both building types consistently perform remarkably close to their design targets. 

The rigorous design and construction methods, along with post-completion testing and verification are key components in ensuring that energy targets are achieved. The strict controls in the construction phase are a form of warranty that the building will perform as designed.

The certification process also helps to ensure that the targeted high performance is achieved in the finished building. This quality assurance contrasts with most mainstream construction in the UK, where there is no comparable process, and ‘performance gaps’ in energy use in the finished buildings are commonplace.

Whether your goal is zero carbon building or any number of green building certifications both the Passivhaus & EnerPHit standards provide a predictable and cost-optimised pathway to achieve the levels of energy performance to get you there.  

The energy efficiency and operational carbon reductions of both Passivhaus & EnerPHit can be the perfect complement to building electrification, net zero energy and net zero carbon goals, and embodied carbon reduction.   

The standards as a whole are based on achieving an energy balance, using building physics as the core component to achieve this. 

The 2021 IPCC report brought - once again - into sharp focus that we now only have a few years left to reduce emissions enough to avoid a catastrophic rise in global temperatures.  

The energy we use in our buildings is responsible for 23% of the UK’s carbon emissions. The majority of that energy is used for heating. By improving the building fabric, there is significant scope to reduce the demand for heating and, in turn, meaningfully cut carbon emissions.  

The UK has now set targets to reduce total emissions by 78% of 1990 levels by 2035 and to net-zero by 2050. This is unattainable without de-carbonising our buildings.   

Passivhaus & EnerPHit offers the most robust, tried + tested, and cost-effective route to net zero for the building sector.