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Delivering Cost-Effective Commercial and Residential Passivhaus Projects at Scale
P
assivhaus at scale is the panacea for achieving game-changing cuts in carbon emissions in our built environment, and making commercial and residential buildings resilient against future economic and climate-based shocks. While achieving such projects is challenging in terms of build quality and performance, misconceptions exist around excessive cost, design diffi culty and aesthetic ramifi cation, and the reality could be far more achievable than people think.
That was the number one takeaway of a recent round table held to share views, insights and experience around delivering large-scale Passivhaus projects. Held in London and sponsored by Ubbink, Aeroseal UK and Technal (representing the MVHR, air-tightness and facade sides of the debate respectively), ‘Delivering Cost-Effective Passivhaus Projects at Scale in the Commercial and Residential Sectors’ produced a multi-faceted, and fascinating discussion which busted a few myths.
Being staged in one of the hottest weeks on record the helped discussion around physical ramifi cations of better performing lower carbon buildings resonate even more strongly. The round table looked at key areas such as whether the Government should mandate Passivhaus, whether ‘designing to Passivhaus principles’ was enough, and most revealingly, how Passivhaus at scale could be delivered at competitive build costs.
The varied group we assembled included major housebuilders
(Willmott Dixon and Barratt London), who were embracing certifi ed Passivhaus approaches, and gave valuable learnings from their work to date delivering schemes. We also welcomed SME builders (London- based Kind & Co, Sheffi eld-based Milestone, and Hastings fi rm Serenity Projects), who shared their experience of pivoting to focus on Passivhaus. Several architects, the Passivhaus Trust, academics, and consultants including Certifi ers, completed a really informed mix able to give a breadth of insight bolstered by questions from our sponsors. The debate also took in fi ndings from ADF’s 2025 audience survey, which included positive fi ndings such as that the current “resistance to a perceived Passivhaus look” of buildings will decrease over time as we approach net zero, and that architects roles can be strengthened by projects which bring the painstaking rigour which Passivhaus demands. However, while clients remained the key driver of uptake, respondents said they had misconceptions on what Passivhaus actually constitutes. The largest design challenges for architects were
confi rmed as eliminating cold bridges, achieving airtightness, and including MVHR in schemes, although our round table confi rmed all as being essential to Passivhaus.
The takeup problem It is well-established that Passivhaus buildings save up to 90% of the typical energy consumed for heating and cooling, and some buildings don’t even require additional space heating at all, however only 1% of homes currently built are certifi ed. While the debate touched on reasons for the relatively low takeup in the UK, it also celebrated the great at-scale examples, from St Sidwells Leisure Centre in Exeter, to the Stirling Prize-winning social housing scheme Goldsmith Street in Norwich, and Agar Grove affordable housing in London. The fi rst phase of the latter was on a par with average build cost per square
ROUND TABLE ATTENDEES • Mark Slater, Managing Director, WWA Studios • Michael Brett, Founder, By Milestone • Jean Dib, Senior Building Physics Consultant, SRE • Ann-Marie Fallon, Co-Director, Passivhaus Trust and Associate Director, Architype
• Dr Joel Callow, Founder Director, Beyond Carbon • Attzaz Rashid, Head of Design, Barratt London • Mike Roe, Passivhaus Certifi er and Director, WARM • Hannah Dixon, Passivhaus Designer, Progress In Practice Architects
• Daniel Levey, Director, Serenity Projects • Lorna Taverner, Head of Architecture and Technical Design, Willmott Dixon
• Aaron McCarthy, Director - Sustainability Lead, Hive Group
• Evette Prout, Business Development Manager, Kind & Co Builders
• Dr Sara Mohamed, Assistant Professor in Building Physics, University of Nottingham
SPONSORS’ ATTENDEES • Craig Cundey, Ventilation Product Lead, Ubbink • Hugh Franklin, Head of Operations, Aeroseal UK • Craig Simms, National Specifi cation Manager, TECHNAL
WWW.HBDONLINE.CO.UK
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