A guide to Passive Housing

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As we seek ways to reduce energy usage and environmental impact in buildings, Passive Housing offers a solution. With achievable standards and long-term gains for building owners, we explore how they work, their certification standards and their costs. 


What is a Passive House? 

Passive House, or Passivhaus, is a standard of energy efficiency developed in Germany in 1988. It aims to develop buildings that use little to no energy, relying instead on passive solutions. The technique offers substantial energy savings to the owner and reduces the long-term carbon footprint.


How do Passive Houses work?

The technique works by bringing together multiple energy-saving solutions to deliver buildings with measurable results. 

Extremely effective insulation is installed within the roof, walls and floors, making sure there are no thermal bridges for heat loss through the building structure. Triple-glazed windows and airflow control maximise the airtightness of the building. This is partnered with a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery (MVHR) that transfers heat from outgoing air to incoming fresh air. Solar orientation is also considered to maximise heat gains from the sun in addition to capturing integral sources such as waste heat from lighting, electrical appliances and body heat.

While any one of these techniques can improve the energy efficiency of a building, when used together they form a highly effective system that can be incorporated into the architectural design of a building.


Certification and standards

A building must pass four key standards to meet the passive house criteria.  

  • The energy demand for heating the space must not exceed 15 kWh/m2 of living space per year.

  • The total energy needed for primary energy (for heating, hot water and electricity) must not exceed 60 kWh/m2 of living space per year.

  • The building should be airtight with no more than 0.6 air changes per hour at 50 pascals of pressure.

  • It should maintain a comfortable temperature by not exceeding 25°C more than 10% of hours per year.

There is a secondary, lightly lower standard used when assessing a building that has been refurbished.


Cost and investments

Due to the high-quality materials required in construction, Passive Houses currently cost more to build than standard housing. However, Passive Houses offer a multitude of benefits such as good indoor air quality, reduced external noise pollution and comfort all year round. The technique also offers a 70-80% reduction in carbon emissions as well as long-term energy savings of over 75% compared to standard new builds. 


Passive house examples and success stories

The Passive House Institute (PHI) was established in 1996 by Dr Wolfgang Feist and has played an especially crucial role in the development of the Passive House standard and  concept.  It is the only internationally recognised, performance-based energy standard in construction and continues to research, develop and provide expertise on numerous innovative projects to extend passive house building to more commercial use such as in factories and office buildings. 

The Passive House concept is one we’re particularly passionate about at Attain Construction. As environmental considerations and building efficiency gain greater importance within construction, Passive Housing offers a solution to improve new builds as well as retrofitting existing buildings.

We have a number of completed projects in our portfolio that highlight how these concepts have been used in practice.  Our new build in the Lake District and our retrofit and refurbishment of a Lakeland bungalow both achieved results that far exceeded the standard required to achieve Passive House status. 

We’re currently constructing another new build Passive House for clients in the Lake District, again using traditional materials so the property will complement the landscape it inhabits.  We’ve had our first preliminary test and again are achieving results that are well above the standard required. 

If you’re planning a new build or major refurbishment of your existing property and considering or interested in using Passive House techniques get in touch with us or read more on our our dedicated webpage.

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