Passivhaus Trust Activities

To meet our main aims, the Trust runs a core programme of activities:

Education and training

The Trust runs several educational events throughout the year, from beginners' seminars to extensive training for Passivhaus professionals and everything in between. Regularly visit our events listing and sign up to our mailing list to get the latest on upcoming activities.

Our events offer an opportunity to expand your knowledge, network and discover Passivhaus products and services. Catch us exhibiting at a trade show, celebrating the best at an awards ceremony, or sharing the latest knowledge at a Masterclass. The UK Passivhaus Conference is our largest event cumulating at the end of the year, and the International Passivhaus Conference is a unique opportunity to connect with Passivhaus practitioners worldwide.

The Trust also continues to strengthen connections between practice & academia, nurturing the next generation of young designers to tackle the climate emergency head-on through our Student Engagement activities. Our new online training hub is coming soon, which will aid the development of Passivhaus beginners through to advanced practioners.

Core Annual Programme

SPRING

Ecobuild: The Trust exhibits & delivers seminars at Futurebuild, the giant sustainable design and construction trade show in Excel, London.
Certified Passivhaus Training Events: Become a Certified Passivhaus Designer/Consultant, or complete your Passivhaus Contractor Training by taking part in training courses held throughout the year.

SUMMER

UK Passivhaus Awards: The only awards dedicated to celebrating exemplar UK Passivhaus schemes. Biennial event with a unique awards ceremony focused on knowledge exchange as finalists vie for the delegates' vote.
Passivhaus Masterclass: Aimed at experienced Passivhaus practitioners with in-depth training materials and exercises.

AUTUMN

UK Passivhaus Conference: The Conference is aimed at intermediate to advanced level Passivhaus knowledge. The Expo that runs alongside it offers something for beginners.
International Passivhaus Conference: Passivhaus is a global standard. Advanced lessons from what others are accomplishing worldwide.

WINTER

UK Passivhaus Open Days: Part of the International Passive House Open Days, this three-day event offers the opportunity to visit Passivhaus projects nationwide.
PHT New Year Debate: A light-hearted (belated Christmas) event with a topical Passivhaus theme.
Technical Panel: Passivhaus experts and Patron members decide on future working group topics.

PHT members receive discounted attendance rates for all our events and many of our partners’ events. The Trust run networking opportunities such as seminars, site visits and informal gatherings throughout the year.

Research and guidance

The Passivhaus Trust runs a number of technical working groups to investigate detailed aspects of applying Passivhaus in the UK. The findings from these working groups result in a series of technical & introductory guidance notes, aiming to ensure the integrity and success of Passivhaus buildings in the UK. Several introductory guides are available for Passivhaus beginners as a free download. Technical information can be found in our guidance and knowledge base sections.

Working groups

Current technical working group topics include:

Costs and Benefits: PHT will be setting up a steering group for the new ‘Costs and Benefits’ guide which has been sponsored by Hastoe Housing Association, Saint-Gobain, Ecology Building Society, Econekt and Ashden. The steering group will also include Aecom and independent experts.

The ‘Costs and Benefits’ guide will form two main sections. The first section will demonstrate the value to health, the local economy and wider zero carbon policies for one-off and mid-large developments, with the second section focusing on the benefits to operational and ongoing maintenance costs, whole life costing and procurement approaches and associated risks
Certification: The Certification group which is now part of the PHT Working Group programme includes Etude, MEAD, WARM and a member of the PHI certification team. The aim of this group is to discuss arising issues and inform the PHT board and other working groups on potential research opportunities.

Guidance documents and protocols

Via the Technical Panel meeting in January and through our internal technical team and advisers, PHT identifies areas that need further research and technical guidance documents. We have developed a suite of good practice technical guides which include:

Air-tightness – Sarah Price, Alex Baines and Paul Jennings

Passivhaus Quality Assurance: Large and Complex Buildings – Mark Siddall

For an extensive list please visit our guidance library. All guides are peer reviewed by the PHT technical group.

Campaigns and policy

As well as providing the advice and support described above, the Passivhaus Trust works to promote uptake of Passivhaus in the UK. This may be based on informal engagement with Government organisations and their consultation processes, but also involves more active promotion of the Passivhaus standard, particularly:

Investigating integration of the Passivhaus standard with UK national and local policy
Producing guidance and tools tailored for different Passivhaus audiences
Ensuring quality of buildings claiming Passivhaus standards in the UK

The Trust has produced a series of guides and videos outlining how Passivhaus fits within the broad policy context, including:

In addition, the Trust works with partners to promote Passivhaus more generally, including to planners, clients, local authorities, architects, engineers, housing associations and others:

Passivhaus goes Personal is an ongoing campaign aimed at the custom & self-build market
Passivhaus Social is targeted towards encouraging housing providers to discover the benefits of building to the Passivhaus Standard and the challenges to embrace for future social housing.
Passivhaus Educational Buildings provides support and guidance to school and university clients