![]() ![]() ![]() “It’s very helpful but it’s not money for saving or doing something fun with because everything else is more expensive.” Self-buildingĪs awareness of the climate emergency has grown, Passivhaus designs have become more popular with self-builders. Unfortunately, inflation and the increased cost of living means spending the money she has saved on her energy bills now goes on essentials such as food. “My rent has gone up a little bit – not much – but it’s worth it,” she says. Now, she doesn’t pay anything for gas, as heating and hot water are incorporated into her rent, and pays £70 a month for her electricity. She has been a social-housing tenant for 15 years and used to pay £100 a week for gas and electricity but never felt warm enough. “It is a two-storey, four-bedroom house but we have just two radiators – one downstairs and one upstairs. Consisting of 216 council homes it is the largest Passivhaus scheme in the country and the council says residents have seen a reduction in their energy bills of up to 70% over their old homes.įlora Irani, 60, recently moved into one of the council homes with her husband and three children. Last year, Camden council in London won an award for its Agar Grove development. Photograph: Jim Stephenson Architectural Photography & Films There are 1,500 Passivhaus buildings in the UK. If the energy demand of a home is small, then you only need to invest in a small amount of renewables in order to balance that usage out. “If you’re trying to deliver net zero, new-build social housing, one of the best ways to do that is to build a Passivhaus and then have some renewable energy provision locally, possibly on the site.” Interest in Passivhaus buildings exploded, Bootland says, when local authorities started declaring climate emergencies and setting targets to become carbon neutral – or net zero – in their activities. “A lot of people will say a house has ‘Passivhaus principles’, which actually has no meaning really.” A true Passivhaus will always have a certificate to prove its status and your solicitor should be sent the paperwork during the conveyancing process. The owners receive a certificate and a plaque, which they can incorporate into the building.Īlthough there are no official statistics, Bootland says that based on anecdotal evidence, he would expect a Passivhaus to sell for between 5% and 10% more than a similar property built to normal energy efficiency standards.īecause of the desirability of these homes, Bootland warns anyone looking to buy a Passivhaus to be wary of unclear marketing claims. “They check the drawings, they check what’s built on site and they check the end result – and then that gets certified, at that point.” It is much more rigorous than the typical building regulations inspections that always occur during the construction of a house, he says. “The certifier supervises the process from the beginning,” Bootland says. To qualify as a Passivhaus in the UK, a building must meet the standards required by the trust and undergo a strict compliance process with an expert consultant who is an accredited certifier. The owners receive a certificate and a plaque, which they can incorporate into the building “At the last count, there were over 7,000 homes in development – some only at the planning stage, others in construction and nearly complete.” Membership of the trust has also doubled, from around 250 members in August 2020 to 500 today, suggesting there are now twice as many companies providing specialist design and construction services. ![]() The trust is a non-profit organisation that supervises the awarding of the Passivhaus standard in the UK.īootland says over the past 18 months the number of Passivhaus projects in the pipeline has soared. “It’s a way of ensuring that your building or home is very energy efficient, by reducing the energy demand – particularly for heating – down to very low levels while, at the same time, making sure the building is comfortable inside and has high levels of good indoor air quality,” says Jon Bootland, the chief executive of the Passivhaus Trust. ![]()
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