Our Company Director and Senior Architect, Paul Barnett is a certified Passive House Designer with the Passivhaus Institute based in Germany.
By combining Solar Passive principles (site, sun and environment) with Passiv Haus (building technologies) and sustainable materials, we create energy-efficient, temperature consistent, watertight, healthy air environments: including homes, schools, offices and additional government buildings.
High-performance Buildings Require the Following Performance Criteria:
- Airtightness to achieve consistent temperature: Current building standards allow 12 – 15 airchanges /Hr, whereas High Performance Buildings only allow <0.6 airchanges /Hr
- Highly insulated building envelope: Improved insulation levels in walls, roof and underslab
- High quality windows: Thermally broken double or triple glazed windows with correct profiles, mechanisms
- and install
- Eliminate thermal bridging: We design out any elements that conduct heat and cold from outside to inside
- HRV: Heat Recovery Ventilation systems allow consistent fresh air while keeping stable indoor temperatures
PASSIVE HOUSE
Passivhaus is a registered and certifiable system of building construction with particular defined performance criteria as follows:
THE GERMAN PASSIVHAUS STANDARD
The building must be designed to have an annual heating and cooling demand as calculated with the Passiv Haus Planning Package of not more than 15 kWh/m2 per year in heating or cooling energy OR be designed with a peak heat load of 10 W/m2.
AIRTIGHTNESS
0.60 ACH50 (air changes per hour at 50 pascals) based on the building’s volume.
ADVANCED WINDOW TECHNOLOGY
High-performance triple-glazed windows with argon gas and energy-efficient coatings.
SPACE HEATING
Space heating and cooling energy demand of 15 kWh/year/m² of treated floor area and 10 W/m² peak demand.
Total Energy to be used in the building operations including heating, cooling, lighting, equipment, hot water, plug loads limited to 120 kWh/year/m² of the floor area.
TOTAL PRIMARY ENERGY
Source energy for electricity etc consumption (primary energy for heating, hot water and electricity) must not be more than 60 kWh/m2 per year.
HIGH INSULATION LEVELS
R Values in floors of 1 to 2. Walls R4 and above, Ceilings R6 and above
ELIMINATING THERMAL BRIDGES
Design and construct to element heat transfer through the building envelope by paying careful attention to construction detailing and construction work
HEAT (OR ENERGY) RECOVERY VENTILATION SYSTEMS
Natural filtered ventilation as part of the Heat Exchange (or Energy Exchange in Tropical Climates) Ventilation system
Case Study: Carwoola House
