At the end of 2023 one of our Architects, Ellie Betham, enrolled on a Passive House designer course. Over three weeks of intense webinars, Ellie learnt the details of how to design a Passive House as well as a whole host of new formulas and equations!
The course culminated in a three-hour exam that included calculations on the energy balance of windows, heat loss through air infiltration and the economics of a Passive House. Earlier this week Ellie received her results and we are very happy to announce that she passed the exam and is now a Certified Passive House Designer.
Passive House is a building energy standard that delivers comfortable and healthy indoor environments. This is achieved through focusing on five main principles:
Providing a continuous wrap of Insulation
Achieving excellent air tightness
Reducing thermal bridges
Using high performance windows and doors
Installing Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery
A certified passive house will eliminate draughts and minimise the risk of condensation whilst the thermally efficient building envelope will provide lower running costs by limiting heat loss.
The brilliance of Passive House is that all aspects required to evaluate the energy balance of a building are accurately calculated during the design stage. The installation of these measures is then monitored during the construction process and the all important air tightness test is carried out on site. This attention to detail ensures that there is minimal performance gap between what is designed and how the building operates once completed.
Ellie thoroughly enjoyed the three-week course that was run by the knowledgeable Tomas O’Leary of Mosart.
We look forward to implementing these new skills on exciting future projects.
