UK Passivhaus Conference 2013 shows Passivhaus gaining momentum in the UK
The UK Passivhaus conference 2013 took place at the Jury’s Inn in Milton Keynes on 15 October 2013. More than 250 delegates from all over the country attended the oversubscribed 1 day conference which had sold out two weeks earlier. The conference featured 30 speakers, an extensive exhibition on high performing Passivhaus components and systems plus site visits to Milton Keynes Low Energy Park and Howe Park Passivhaus.
The theme of this year’s conference, now in its 4th year, was ‘scaling up’ Passivhaus. Exciting large scale upcoming Passivhaus schemes to look out for are the 150 homes scheme in Kingstone by Archihaus, and the 250 homes scheme by Broadland Housing in Norfolk. Passivhaus refurbishments are also scaling up, with the Parkview Hub retrofit of a housing block at Thamesmead by sustainableBYdesign and another similar project in Portsmouth by ECD.
‘Warts-and-all’ presentations on the award winning Lancaster Cohousing scheme (40 homes) and Chester Balmore (55 homes) shared valuable insights of what goes into delivering larger Passivhaus developments. Both schemes found that is essential to factor in Passivhaus right from the beginning of the design process and ensure that you have a reliable and robust programme before construction to avoid project disruptions and time delays.
Jon Sear, project manager and resident of the award winning Lancaster Cohousing scheme, found it easier to sell the 41 homes directly to people through their website than through estate agents, as the latter “just didn’t get Passivhaus.” The valuation of Passivhaus homes is a pressing issue which has been identified in pervious conferences as well.
Dieter Herz from Herz+Lang shared a number of valuable lessons from his experience on Passivhaus projects in Bavaria. Passivhaus has been the regulatory building standard in Bavaria since 2011. The Art museum Ravensburg- the first certified Passivhaus museum in the world has also won the German prize for architecture in 2012. Other notable projects in their portfolio include a Prison Korneuberg and the Airoptima office building showcasing the versatility of projects that Passivhaus can be applied to.
For the first time this year, the conference featured two hands-on taster training sessions for the Passivhaus Tradesperson and CEPH Designer courses and these proved to be very popular. Tomas O’Leary’s presentation on the practical hands-on Tradesperson training that the Passive House Academy delivers in Ireland and the US, and the Passivhaus Training Lab with live testing demonstration kits in New York, was especially inspiring. The Trust is keen to bring the training over to the UK in 2014.
The key messages from the 2013 conference:
- Keep it simple
- Have a robust programme
- Motivate the construction industry to gear up for practical Passivhaus Tradesperson training
- Talk to local planners about Passivhaus in more detail
- As far as possible, always go for certification
This year’s conference was a great testament to the openness and knowledge sharing culture of the Passivhaus community and evidence of great progress in the UK Passivhaus movement. The variety of projects presented the conference and the success stories of performance and high occupant satisfaction show that the movement really appears to have come of age.
The next big challenge will be to ensure the big new schemes continue to deliver to the quality standards needed, particularly in terms of construction/ site quality management. The UK movement can learn a lot from continental Europe on this, including the change of culture needed. There are already over 250 certified units, including 15 non-residential buildings in the UK; given the scale of the new schemes planned, it is likely that there will be almost 1000 Passivhaus units completed by the end of 2014.
With the rising number of large scale Passivhaus schemes either in planning or on site, it is truly an exciting time for Passivhaus in the UK. The most thoughtful quote of the day came from Paul Jennings and aptly sums up the softer side of Passivhaus:
“We don’t realise how special Passivhaus is, till we see the joy of the people who have moved into them.”
Download presentations from the conference here.
More reviews of the conference:
Passivhaus is gaining ground- The Architects’ Journal
Passivhaus: The dos and don’ts- The Architects’ Journal
21st October 2013
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