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, and the International Passivhaus Conference is a unique opportunity to connect with the worldwide Passivhaus community.

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

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.

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.
Passivhaus Masterclass: Aimed at experienced Passivhaus practitioners with in-depth training materials and exercises.

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.

UK Passivhaus Open Days: Part of the International Passive House Open Days, this three-day event offers the opportunity to visit Passivhaus projects nationwide.
Futurebuild: The Trust exhibits & delivers seminars at Futurebuild and other trade show throughout the year.
Technical Panel: Passivhaus experts and Patron members decide on future working group topics.

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 section.

Working groups

Current technical working group topics include:

Certification: The Certification group includes includes UK Passivhaus Certifiers 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.
RIBA Plan of Work Overlay: RIBA, in conjunction with the Passivhaus Trust, commissioned the Passivhaus Overlay for the RIBA Plan of Work to help clients and project teams, avoid risk and make informed intelligent decisions at the right time. Join a masterclass on the 2nd of November.
Steel Frame Research Papers: Passivhaus is now routinely being applied to larger and more complex buildings - This is resulting in the emergence of more steel frame elements, or entire steel frames, being included in Passivhaus buildings. The design of a steel frame for Passivhaus brings unique challenges, which design teams may not have encountered when aiming for less ambitious fabric performance standards. In February 2022 the Passivhaus Trust released a technical briefing note to guide the modelling assumptions required for steel frame projects. An additional technical position paper is due to be published December 2022, with a supporting Masterclass on the 7th December 2022.
EnerPHit & PAS 2035-38: A briefing note, developed by the Trust and QODA, is due for publication in Autumn 2022.
UK PHT Retrofit Cost Research: The Trust is leading a working group on researching domestic costs of retrofitting to the EnerPHit standard. The research is split into two parts: Part 1 - Cost Gathering, & Part 2 - Value approach analysis (due 2023.)
Retrofit Moisture Risk Analysis: A working group is developing research and guidance is due to be published in 2023.

Guidance documents and protocols

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

Latest Passivhaus Guidance published 2022:

Research Report - Passivhaus retrofit in the UK (v2 published Jan 2022)
Technical Guidance - Modelling assumptions for steel projects (published Feb 2022)
Research Report - Passivhaus and embodied carbon (published April 2022)
Passivhaus Primers - Net Zero, Retrofit, Embodied Carbon (published May/June 2022)
Technical briefing document - Claiming the Passivhaus Standard (2022 Update)

Campaigns & 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 several client focused campaigns that provide curated resources, case studies, and events: