Scotland: Encouraging signs but big decisions still to come

The Passivhaus Trust responds to the Scottish Government’s Scottish Passivhaus Equivalent announcement

The Scottish Government has today (Thursday 12 December 2024) laid amendments to the Building (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations to enable the implementation of the Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard. This meets the commitment made by Ministers in December 2022 to give effect to Alex Rowley MSP’s final proposal for a proposed ‘Domestic Building Environmental Standards (Scotland) Bill’. Scottish Building Standards has issued an accompanying statement, outlining the next steps for the implementation of the Scottish Passivhaus Equivalent policy. 

The Passivhaus Trust welcomes the following:

• Amendments enabling better reporting of evidence to monitor compliance with relevant standards
• Passivhaus certification being considered as an alternative ‘means of compliance’.
• The proposed implementation timeframe, with the revised standards being published in early 2026 and becoming mandatory in early 2028

The Passivhaus Trust notes that the legislative amendments announced today are quite minimal in scope,  as many of the changes needed to implement a Scottish Passivhaus equivalent policy are already possible within existing building standards and do not require substantial legislative changes. Scottish Building Standards has explained this further: “...our current regulations and mandatory standard which address energy and environmental performance already provided the means to deliver the improvements which are currently sought. However, changes were needed to The Building (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 to enable more effective reporting of evidence that compliance with relevant standards is achieved”.

The Passivhaus Trust understands that the fine details of the policy are still to be revealed over the next few months. The outcome of the 2024 consultation process has yet to be announced and a further consultation in 2025 will determine the specific changes to performance targets and supporting compliance processes. The Scottish Building Standards team has stated that its consultation analysis report and Scottish Government response will be published shortly on the consultation webpage.

In the next stage of proposals the Passivhaus Trust would like to see :

• Absolute energy targets close to Passivhaus levels
• A modelling tool with accuracy equivalent to PHPP (Passivhaus Planning Package) 
• Details of training provision to upskill the industry as needed

 

Today’s announcement by the Scottish Government is an important first legislative step but we are still awaiting the fine details of what that policy will look like. We are hopeful that the recommendations we put forward in our consultation response will have been taken on board so that Scottish building standards have the accurate tools and absolute energy targets that would be essential for any standard aiming to be a Passivhaus equivalent.

Sarah Lewis, Research & Policy Director, Passivhaus Trust

Further information

The Building (Procedure) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2024

Building Standards Update on the review to introduce a Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard - Building Standards  

Scottish Passivhaus Equivalent: FAQs

Proposed Domestic Building Environmental Standards (Scotland) Bill

Previous PHT story: Help keep the Scottish Passivhaus Equivalent on track - 14 September 2024

Previous PHT story: Delivering the Scottish Passivhaus Equivalent  - 20 March 2024

Previous PHT story: Scotland mandates Passivhaus equivalent legislation - 11 January 2023

Previous PHT story: Success for Passivhaus equivalent Scottish Bill - 19 December 2022

Previous PHT story: Scotland the brave! - 25 November 2022

12th December 2024

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