Review of the UK Passivhaus Conference 2014
Multiple housing, non-domestic, & retrofit presentations
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The UK Passivhaus Conference took place on the 16th October at the Stevenage Arts & Leisure Centre in Hertfordshire. It was the biggest yet, with almost 350 attendees, 30 exhibitors and 38 speakers.
The jam packed programme can be viewed here and presentation slides (where available) can be accessed by clicking on the Speaker names.
There was a number of particularly interesting presentations:
- International speaker Jessica Grove-Smith, gave an update on the Passivhaus Institiut’s activities, discussed the imminent release of the new Passivhaus categories and Near Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB’s).
- Sebastian Moreno-Vacca, A2M sc sprl, discussed the impact of legislation on the Passivhaus Standard in Brussels. With responsibility for its own Building Regulations Standards, the Brussels local region has adopted Passivhaus as the regulatory standard from 2015. Coupled with small grants, this has prompted a huge movement to train up the design and construction industry, with a plethora of major developments already being built to Passivhaus standards.
- Well renowned Passivhaus clients such as Hastoe Housing Association and Exeter City Council declared their main selling points for Passivhaus homes are occupant benefits such as comfort, health, and reduced energy bills, rather than achieving carbon savings.
- John LeFever of Hastoe HA said that valuation for some homes under Passivhaus construction were £10,000 above the usual value of a similar property in the area purely based upon meeting the Passivhaus Standard.
Draft Policy Statement:
The Trust has developed a Draft Policy Statement, in collaboration with delegates attending the 2014 UK Passivhaus Conference, that can be taken to political parties to include in their manifesto and therefore influence the next Government’s policies.
There was lots of sharing and interaction happening via social media. This year’s twitter walls encouraged delegates to comment on the proposed policy paper, presentations and activities. Catch up on all the happenings from the 2014 UK Passivhaus Conference with the #UKPHC14 Tweets.
3 Detailed Case Studies:
This year saw 3 case studies explored in depth:
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Non-domestic new build Valuable insights were shared of what goes into delivering large Passivhaus development and the difficulties they have had to overcome in this commercial building in Norwich due to be completed 2015.
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Residential new build Exemplary, truly affordable housing, built to Passivhaus standard with the aim to successfully target fuel poverty and combat climate change at the same time. Exeter City Council revealed that the Passivhaus Standard is being adopted as the norm locally.
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Large scale retrofit Large scale EnerPHit refurbishment of 2 tower blocks in Manchester that aimed to avoid decanting residents.
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Student Competition:
The Trust launched a pilot Passivhaus student competition titled: Developing a Passivhaus Masterplan for a UK town centre.
The main purpose of this competition is to give architecture and planning students a creative vehicle to learn about transforming an existing town centre and its buildings into a low energy sustainable place, using the Passivhaus standard and principles. We are currently working with three Universities to explore transformation of three town centre sites on the pilot: University of Hertfordshire in Stevenage, University of Nottingham in Beeston, and University of the West of England in Bristol.
Key Messages from the conference:
- Passivhaus buildings are inherently NZEB’s, but NZEB’s are not always Passivhaus… but we would like them to be! Jessica Grove-Smith, PHI.
- The new Passivhaus categories from PHI are due out at the end of the year.
- The value of Passivhaus needs to be sold on occupant benefits, not just energy efficiency.
- More needs to be done in educating and enabling the UK construction industry to deliver high quality builds that can achieve the Passivhaus Standard.
For those that attended we would greatly appreciate your feedback on the event. Tell us what you think via our short 10 question survey.
Further Information:
Passivhaus Plus Conference review
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