We gathered together housing associations and representatives from the HCA to share affordable PassivHaus construction principles at a dedicated event in Birmingham City Centre on 21st February.
“PassivHaus requires meticulous attention to detail…. but its basic premise is to get a few simple principles right in order to improve the rudimentary fabric of a building.”
Rob Annable
Representatives from a total of 17 housing associations were given presentations from the design team which expanded on the project. By bringing housing associations together with the design team, we created the opportunity to share ideas and give feedback for further development of the project.
Nick Devlin of Brooks Devlin Environmental Consultants presented an outline of PassivHaus principles and helped to dispel some of the myths surrounding the technicalities of design.
“PassivHaus’ are designed to their local climate so the solution in Manchester may be different from Exeter.”
Nick Devlin
Rob Annable from Axis Design shared a more detailed breakdown of the design of the housetype that has been developed by the team which achieves 2016 Building Regulations standards and a performance higher than Code Level 4.
“I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on the architectural impact of the sorts of projects we could achieve and straightaway I could see that there would be an impact on appearance because of the airtightness required for the PassivHaus standard.”
Rob Annable
The design of the housetype for this project observes spaces standards that have been highlighted in RIBA’s Case for Space research.
The presentations were followed by an exhibition from innovative suppliers and manufacturers whose products have helped the team achieve the challenging demands of the PassivHaus standard. Delegates were given the opportunity to speak to exhibitors about their products and also see a practical demonstration of a wall being constructed using the methods proposed by the design team.
Responses to the presentations from our audience addressed important questions about lifecycle costings, ongoing maintenance, simplification of mechanical and electrical engineering in early design stages, how to educate residents/tenants about functionality and alternative heating /ventilation systems.
Presentations from the event will be made available for delegates who attended on the day.
