First Passivhaus Schools in UK receive certification
Passivhaus Certifiers Warm: Low Energy Building Practice, today announced completion of the rigorous certification process, and issued 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, designedby 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
Designing and constructing the first Passivhaus schools in the UK has been a huge challenge for both design teams and both contractors and we couldnt agree more that a milestone has indeed been reached in the UK building industry.
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 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 ZeroCarbon Task Force grant. Both teams have agreed to share and publish data for the benefit of thebuilding industry, in order that the two different approaches to Passivhaus can be compared.
This week has definitely been exciting for Passivhaus in the UK, firstly the BRE announcing the results of its Passivhaus Design competition and now the news of all 3 Passivhaus schools recieving Passivhaus Certification. At the Passivhaus Trust we are delighted to see our members at the forefront of the progression of Passivhaus in the UK.
Read more about the certification announcement from Warm here.
Oakmeadow Primary School (image courtesy Architype)
1st February 2012
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