Passivhaus Design Consultancy

Since the Passivhaus concept was established in the early 1990s this concept has been consistently refined and has become the world leading standard in energy efficient design and construction. Today more than 20,000 buildings including dwellings, schools, offices and sport halls have been built to the Passivhaus standard.

Gale & Snowden is registered with the Passivhaus Institute in Germany as a Certified Designer, as well as being a member of the Passivhaus Trust in the UK.

Detailed research and scientific monitoring on these projects have proven that using the Passivhaus methodology will reduce the energy demand of a building by up to 90% of that of a standard UK building (if built to current Building Regulation requirements). In other words a Passivhaus could be heated by the equivalent of 1.5 litres of heating oil, i.e. 15 kWh of thermal energy per m2 per year, or 60p per m2 per year (based on a price for heating oil of 40p a litre) without compromising on comfort or indoor air quality.

This is typically achieved through high levels of insulation, exceptional air tightness, high performance windows and doors and highly efficient mechanical ventilation heat recovery.

To achieve the Passivhaus Standard the actual performance in terms of comfortable levels and energy efficiency needs to be calculated during the design process, prior to construction. The performance includes thermal comfort (during Winter and during Summer), indoor air quality and energy consumption.

To support designers, the Passivhaus Institute in Germany has developed a design methodology and a calculation tool to assess the energy consumption of a Passivhaus, the Passivhaus Planning Package (PHPP).

Gale & Snowden Architects provide a full Passivhaus design service as well as a consultancy service to support their clients with the Passivhaus aspects of their projects including:

• Individual design consultancy to meet the stringent criteria required by the Passivhaus standard for developers, contractors and designers
• Advice on economic design strategies to reduce the energy demand
• PHPP calculations
• Thermal bridging analysis
• Air tightness consultancy and detailing
• Full Passivhaus compliant MVHR design service
• Assessment against EnerPHit (Passivhaus retrofit standard) for existing buildings
• CPD seminars covering Passivhaus design principles, achieving the air tightness and using the PHPP
• Individually organized guided Passivhaus tours to exemplar projects in Germany and the UK

Gale & Snowden Architects’ team of certified Passivhaus designers have more than 3 years experience in designing to this standard in the UK context and have been involved with all work stages of the design, detailing and delivery of some of the first Passivhaus Houses in the UK through to practical completion.