Passive House: building for energy efficiency, comfort and affordability

Two of our partners, Johnny Winter and Lara Michael are now Certified Passive House Designers. Passive House (or Passivhaus) buildings provide a high level of occupant comfort while using very little energy for heating and cooling.

Passive Houses are built with meticulous attention to detail, rigorous design and construction, and are certified through an exacting quality assurance process.

On completing her Passive House training, Lara Michael said:

“There’s a climate emergency, and whilst I thought I knew about airtight construction, and improving the fabric, I felt unsure on how best to guide clients through their projects to ensure they could reduce carbon emissions enough to meet net zero carbon. The LETI guide affirms many of the Passivhaus targets, and is a proven way to achieve these targets, so I signed up. The Passivhaus course is like a baptism of fire, and the WARM tutors demonstrated the science behind the principles so well that I can honestly say I’m completely indoctrinated - I can’t wait to apply them to a project, and play my part in tackling the climate crisis.”

Passive Houses allow for space heating and cooling related energy savings of up to 90% compared with typical building stock and over 75% compared to average new builds. The Passive House standard gives a robust method to help the industry achieve the 80% carbon reductions that are set as a legislative target for the UK government. Passive House also applies to retrofit projects

There are five Passive House principals: thermal bridge free design, superior windows, ventilation with heat recovery, quality insulation and airtight construction. They make efficient use of the sun, internal heat sources and heat recovery, rendering conventional heating systems unnecessary throughout even the coldest of winters. During warmer months, Passive Houses make use of passive cooling techniques such as strategic shading to keep comfortably cool.

Cullinan Studio is also a member of the Passivhaus Trust - an independent, non-profit organisation that provides leadership in the UK for the adoption of the Passive House standard and methodology.