Cardiff Passifhaus Social provides food for thought

Earlier this month the Trust were in Cardiff, delivering another sell-out event aimed at social housing providers.

Lisa Dobbins from the Welsh Government set the policy scene, informing delegates that decarbonisation of the housing stock in Wales was a key priority for the Welsh Government and that they saw this both as a necessity and an opportunity to provide employment. Over the next 30 years a target of decarbonising 1.4 million welsh homes has been set.

John Palmer from the Trust then put Passivhaus into context, sharing some recent work on low and near-zero standards which shows that we need to build new homes to Passivhaus standards if we have any chance of achieving net zero carbon by 2030.

 

A good range of Passivhaus social housing case studies were shared by several speakers, highlighting what can be done, and what is being achieved already across the UK already.  Social housing residents are delighted to be living in such high quality comfortable homes and Housing Associations are delighted to have happy residents.

Exeter City council are Passivhaus champions, completing several multi-unit homes and now developing commercial developments such as extra care homes & leisure centres. Emma Osmundsen shared some excellent tips on Passivhaus procurement:

• Engage early
• Encourage open days for prospective contractors to look at previous projects
• Use a contractor framework to avoid those with a lack of Passivhaus familiarity and who may add risk premiums.
• Full design/spec – pre-certified at design stage prior to tender
• Adopt a 60/40 quality to cost weighting in tender
• Allow for long tender process & allow tenderers full access to the design team

 

NEW Guidance

The Trust has launched newly developed guidance for social housing providers, laying out the business case of Passivhaus, as well as including tips to ensure successful implementation & a whole host of useful links to further information.

 

Final Panel

• John Palmer, Passivhaus Trust, says we need in-use performance certificates

• Gary Newman, Woodknowledge Wales, says we also need to win hearts & minds!

• Emma Osmundsen, Exeter City Council, recommends setting up a collective Passivhaus procurement framework for social hosing providers in Wales.

 

All presentations can be viewed here.

 

Further Information

Passivhaus Social Campaign

Passivhaus Social Cardiff 2019

 

 

 

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28th May 2019

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