Passivhaus

Projects certified to a Passive House (also known as Passivhaus) standard represent the gold standard in energy efficient design and build. With around 1,700 buildings in the UK certified as of December 2023, it should no longer be seen as a prerogative of self-builds or arcane planning policy. The Passive House standard can be applied to a variety of project types, ranging from single homes to large apartment blocks, and commercial buildings to retrofits.

Certified buildings demonstrate exemplary air tightness as well as impressively low energy demands, ensuring buildings which meet this standard are cost-effective to run. Certification is achieved by submitting an assessment using Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) and accompanying evidence to a Passive House certifier for review, therefore ensuring assessments undergo third party quality assurance.

It would be unfair to characterise Passive House as solely an indicator of energy efficiency, however. Designing to this verifiable standard can be a barometer of wider building quality, placing greater focus on design themes such as junction detailing and form factor, and site themes such as air tightness integrity and ventilation installation. Even where certification is not pursued, there are an increasing number of planning authorities and funding schemes which require passive house principles to be followed. We can help deliver projects which wish to be both compliant with the standard and those which want to select elements that fit in with their requirements.

Our qualified Passive House Consultants at Hodkinson Consultancy are fully adept at using Passive House Planning Package (PHPP). Consultants have at least 5 years of experience as energy consultants prior to their Passive House qualifications which means they are first and foremost experienced consultants in the construction energy industry. This is incredibly important as it allows them to understand the practical implications of passive house design, with decision-making always backed by project experience and end-user considerations. We also utilise the incredible resource within the wider company to accommodate expertise in building physics, heat networks, overheating, and whole life cycle carbon, to ensure projects adopt best in class strategies across the whole suite of sustainability services.