Tag: renewables

HPH380: What is Passivhaus Plus? – with Heather Johnson

Heather Johnson from AD Practice explains what Passivhaus Plus is, how it differs from Passivhaus Classic accreditation and what benefits achieving the standard will afford. She also reveals why most of her clients target ‘Plus’ and outlines the steps to achieve this on a project.

Interview with Heather Johnson

Heather Johnson has worked in architecture since the age of 16, starting with a summer job as a CAD assistant. She studied architecture for four years at the University of Bath, with placements and work in Suffolk, where she learnt about barn conversions and rural issues. She then did her Part 2 at the Centre for Alternative Technology as her focus shifted to sustainability. A three-month temporary role at AD Practice back in Wheathampstead, where she grew up, turned into seven years and is where she still works today. Heather is now a Passivhaus Designer and has worked on numerous Passivhaus Plus and EnerPHit Plus projects over the years.

The performance criteria for Passivhaus ‘Classic’ must be met for ‘Plus’ and ‘Premium’ as well

Most people have heard of the Passivhaus standard, also known as ‘Classic’ but perhaps less well known are the other certifications ‘Plus’ and ‘Premium’. Before looking at the differences between them, these additional classes must meet the same stringent performance criteria laid out in ‘Classic’. For example the airtightness targets, energy demand, overheating risk and so on.

In this episode we’re going to focus on Passivhaus Plus and find out about Heather’s own project, a barn conversion, which is aiming for the EnerPHit Plus standard.

Passivhaus Plus sets a target for on-site renewable generation

Passivhaus Plus brings renewable energy generation into the certification process, setting a target per metre square of treated floor area (renewable energy generation ≥ 60 kWh/m².a).

It is a step towards self sufficiency and energy security, and a ‘Plus’ project must cover the home energy usage needs over the course of a year. This does not mean it is off-grid, but that the generation exceeds what gets consumed over a year. So there is likely to more generation at certain times of year according to which renewable is being used.

Solar PV is the most commonly used on Passivhaus Plus projects

In the UK, more often than not, solar PV will be chosen as the renewable energy source. The main reason is that most houses are in our towns and cities, where space is a premium and roof space is generally available. The technology has also advanced a great deal over the years. It’s cheaper, more effective and can be integrated seemlessly.

However, any renewable could be used on a Passivhaus Plus project. For example, if you are beside a watercourse then a water turbine might be appropriate.

Passivhaus Plus encourages a compact building form

When it comes to solar PV some key considerations are the roof pitch, orientation and surface area of the roof. If renewable energy generation was the starting point for the design of the house, it might lead us to build a bungalow with lots of roof space. However the surface area to volume ratio would not be good, and therefore we may not reach the other Passivhaus targets.

“The take home point is you still want to make the building as efficient as possible and then add on the generation.”

The Primary Energy Renewable factors relect the whole picture

There’s another characteristic the building must meet.

Primary Energy Renewable (PER) demand* ≤ 45 kWh/m².a

According to Passipedia: Renewable primary energy (PER) is the unit of energy generated from renewable resources. PER-factors reflect the primary renewable resources needed to cover the final energy demand of a building, including distribution and storage losses. In the case of a PER-factor of 1.5, a surplus of 50% renewable primary energy is needed to be able to meet the final energy demand at the building. The higher the PER-factor, the higher the required resources and therefore the more important the implementation of efficiency measures in order to avoid compensation from non-renewable sources.

Permission is required to export electricity to the grid

Although smaller scale renewable schemes (typically under 3.68kW per phase) do not require permission to export to the grid, a Passivhaus Plus project will need approval from the District Network Operator. Depending on the infrastructure of the local area there may be limitations.

However, Heather says that she has never had a project turned down, but it is always a possibility.

Additional constraints make achieving EnerPHit Plus more challenging

Retrofits can also achieve the ‘Plus’ certification. The main difference between a new build and a retrofit is the additional opportunities that building from scratch affords.

With an existing building the orientation is set and without significant work so is the roof space, orientation and pitch.

Amongst Heather’s design process she is keen not to break up the long parts of the roof, which are best for energy generation, with rooflights or other roof forms.

There may be other challenges, as well, such as planning restrictions if a property is in a conservation area. This was the case with Harpenden EnerPHit Plus but a whole roof pitch of solar PV was eventually accepted.

Heather makes a comparison between the Harpenden EnerPHit Plus which spent £95 on electricity for a year, and her office which typically spends around £200 a month, so it is a huge saving!

On another retrofit project it made sense to rotate the roof by 90 degrees. This not only increased solar generation but created a mezzanine with a view of the surrounding countryside, which the client didn’t have before.

Solar PV has come a long way and can now look fantastic

There can be a double win from maximising generation because a whole roof pitch of solar PV can become the roof finish as well, saving money on tiles, etc.

Heather often uses the GB-Sol, Infinity system, which is completely seamless.

On a Passivhaus Plus project in Wheathampstead there is a more conventional in-roof solar array, which does not cover the whole roof. The solar panels are inset so they’re flush with the concrete tiles but it’s not a seamless finish. Interestingly, the clients wished they had put more solar PV on the roof.

Heather say the cost of solar PV has come down dramatically from when they were first being installed. Unfortunately, the feed-in tariffs for exporting have also gone down, but there is still a much shorter payback period.

There are also schemes around, such as Solar Together in Hertfordshire, that give discounts for solar installations. It’s becoming a much more attractive offering, especially with more people opting for electric cars.

Solar PV does not just have to be on south-facing roofs

South facing roofs tend to work best for solar PV but that doesn’t mean it ends there. When Heather speaks to the suppliers and specialists, they’re quite keen on southeast and southwest as well. This gives a longer period of time generating power, so can be better for the homeowner and takes pressure off the grid at peak export times. North facing won’t give as much generation, but a mixture of orientations will give more consistent energy generation throughout the day.

Use as much of the energy generated on site, before exporting

There’s normally a hierarchy of uses for the energy that is generated on site.

For example, it may be running a heat pump, topping up the hot water, charging a battery or an electric car. So exporting to the grid would be the last option.

Different suppliers also pay different rates for exported electricity and these rates will probably vary during the day. So if you have a home battery you can maximise your return by importing and exporting at specific times. For example, if you need to draw from the grid to charge your battery it makes sense to do it overnight when the tariffs are low.

Heather even wants to make her ‘long, thin barn’ an EnerPHit Plus

Heather and her husband fell in love with a barn in rural Hertfordshire, which was ripe for modernising. It’s a long thin brick building that is not really conducive to a Passivhaus project, but this has not deterred them!

The first air test achieved 0.7 air changes per hour at 50 Pascals so it’s well under what’s needed for the EnerPHit standard.

As they are targeting EnerPHit Plus, the large roof area makes it easy to achieve the required generation and they are looking to install around 50 solar PV panels.

Heather’s barn is being converted in two phases

Heather is converting the building in two phases. As it is long and thin (around 25 metres) the barn will have two MVHR units (to limit the length of duct runs). Phase one is the old traditional barn, the taller area, with a side utility room and shower room that’s run off one system. They plan to put up a temporary wall up at the end, so they can live in that part of the house, studio style, whilst they carry on fitting out the rest of the house.

A new timber structure is being built within the old barn

Heather is taking a similar approach to this barn conversion as they did at Stirley Farm. They are building a timber box within the old brick structure.

So there’s an insulated slab (the Isoquick system) and I-stud walls which are filled with cellulose insulation. The new extension will be finished with timber cladding, whilst the existing barn will be the existing brick, retaining the historic fabric.

The design does not add any loads to the original building as that would have required underpinning. The existing timber trusses have been retained and now function as tie beams within the new timber frame structure. Heather explains that because the building is essentially a long tube, it needs the beams to stop it just squishing and falling flat.

Dealing with ventilation and moisture across the old and new structures

Heather outlines that where they’ve built against the brick wall, they have a nominal 50 to 100mm cavity, which is much wider in places because the brick walls are not straight. With the new timber clad structure there is a rain screen system, which is battened and counter battened out before the cladding is put on. The timber frame is also wrapped in a membrane before the cladding goes on, so any moisture would hit the membrane and trickle out the bottom, as with many similar systems.

The bigger risk with phasing the work is that they don’t ventilate the uninhabited internal spaces correctly. As it is airtight and insulated, they need to make sure air is circulating by using fans and opening windows. Otherwise condensation could occur which would eventually lead to mould.

Find out more

AD Practice

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June 18, 2025
HPH321 : How do you make an existing home energy efficient? – with Paul Ciniglio
With price hikes being caused by the volatile energy sector, Paul Ciniglio from the National Energy Foundation explains what we can be doing to our homes to reduce our energy consumption and be better protected from rising bills.

Interview with Paul Ciniglio

Paul Ciniglio is refurbishment lead at the National Energy Foundation, where he spends much of his time being involved with their SuperHomes network. With a background in building surveying, he has over 30 years experience of working in the built environment sector, with a particular focus on sustainable development.

Renewable energy plays a key part in the UK energy mix

On some days England is able to produce over half its electricity needs from offshore wind turbines. As renewables are intermittent, however, an energy mix is necessary to keep the lights on. At a domestic level we could be making even more of a contribution with solar PV panels and heat pumps.

Energy bill rebates would be better spent on improving energy efficiency

Paul says that the UK government’s plans to issue rebates to households for their energy bills isn’t sustainable in the long term. The only way to bring our bills down to reasonable levels is to use that same money to improve the energy efficiency of our homes and cut out the waste. In order for us to achieve net zero carbon we are going to need to aspire to Passivhaus type approaches and super-insulating homes.

NEF is an independent charity

A common problem for people wanting to undertake a home retrofit is knowing where to start and who to trust. As an independent voice, NEF is able to bring that level of trust and support to those embarking on a retrofit.

Start with a whole house retrofit plan

NEF can arrange a whole house retrofit plan and this is carried out in accordance with the British Standard BS40104. It entails a survey of your property by a retrofit coordinator, who will then produce an options appraisal as to everything you could do to improve the energy efficiency of your home. It will show the benefits, so the predicted running costs and reduction in household emissions, as well as the estimated cost savings for each retrofit measure.

There are also risks involved in taking on a retrofit project but these will be flagged up in the retrofit plan at the start, so they can be managed.

By looking at the whole house view, it is possible to make decisions on what can be done now and what can be done in the future.

Fabric performance should be the first consideration

When using a whole house holistic view there is an energy design hierarchy, and the place to start is with the fabric performance of the home.
- Cut out the heat losses through the fabric of the building, so the doors, windows, insulation in the roof, walls and floors
- If making the house very airtight, it’s important to factor in the ventilation to prevent damp and poor indoor air quality
- Look at efficient heating systems – it is likely that we will move towards electrification in the UK which really implies heat pumps
- Then consider other renewables, such as solar pv to generate clean electricity
By using a phased plan such as this it means that work is carried out in a logical order, and also that you don’t unwittingly do something that prevents you from adding another measure in your plan later on.

The risks need to be managed

This is to ensure that retrofit maintains a good name, is worth doing, and is not going to cause lots of problems.

With the retrofit plan, each home is assigned a risk pathway, A, B or C (A being the lowest risk, and C perhaps being a historic building).

A suitable ventilation strategy is absolutely key, as condensation and damp can lead to mould issues. When insulating it’s important to consider moisture, so that it doesn’t get trapped in the fabric of the building and cause bigger problems.

To get rid of condensation you need three things:
- insulation
- heating
- ventilation
Without those you are likely to get black mould forming.

NEF run a best practice retrofit network

This paid membership is operated by SuperHomes, and gives you access to events and seminars around retrofit issues. You can also then be assigned a retrofit coordinator, who will be someone that is an accredited professional that has achieved a diploma through the Retrofit Academy. These typically are architects, surveyors, and energy managers who have all been through this training.

The SuperHomes initiative also has a rating scheme, which is a benchmark for retrofit achievement.

A lot of retrofit can be done with residents in situ

Sometimes retrofit can be done on a room-by-room basis if it’s carefully managed, but it can be very disruptive. Generally it’s only for the deepest, most challenging projects that residents might need to temporarily move out, although all projects can be carried out more efficiently and easily without the residents living there.

At House Planning Help, we have followed a deep retrofit in Oxford. Get access to our in-depth video case study in The Hub

Look out for TrustMark and MCS certification

Paul explains that there is a massive skills shortage to deliver the amount of retrofit that is needed. Traditional builders are already busy and the energy efficiency market needs to be made more appealing to them so they can upsell skills.

The government’s TrustMark scheme shows that contractors have been vetted, with the idea being to put the public’s faith in the contracting sector. And if you’re having a heat pump or solar PV installed, then make sure your contractor is accredited to the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS).

Paul is re-retrofitting his own SuperHome!

Paul lives in a 1989 mid-terrace cottage, which he retrofitted and became a SuperHome back in 2009. He upgraded the insulation, including putting it in cavity walls where builders were supposed to have put it when it was first built, but hadn’t. He also upgraded the loft insulation, installed an air source heat pump, solar pv, solar thermal, and new windows.

“My comfort has gone up and I’ve got my own energy security protecting me to a certain extent with these price increases.”

At the time there were some things he wasn’t able to do, so now he’s taking on a further retrofit, including putting in ground floor insulation. He has also stripped out the solar hot water panels. They worked okay for the first seven years, then only intermittently until eventually being decommissioned. A preferred option now is solar pv that diverts the solar electric into an immersion cylinder to provide the hot water.

The reason Paul’s solar thermal didn’t work very well he says was because it was too efficient for the size of cylinder he had. By 10am it would be up to temperature and if water wasn’t being drawn off or he was away on holiday, it would stagnate and get really hot, causing damage to the valves.

The Energy Performance Certificate isn’t up to scratch

In the wake of the energy crisis, it seems natural that when people are looking for a new home they will be asking how much it costs to run, and this is something the EPC isn’t very good at. NEF is doing some research working with a team of chartered valuation surveyors to carry out property valuations pre and post retrofit. It makes sense that a more energy-efficient home should command a higher price, and Paul says there is emerging evidence that this does seem to be the case.

Once a SuperHomes retrofit has been completed, they install monitoring equipment for 12 months to gather and evaluate data about household emissions to see how well the property is performing. It’s on that basis that they certify the SuperHome and what level it has achieved. The metrics they use for this are the space heating demands (which are a proxy for the fabric performance and tell you how well insulated your home is), temperature (including checking for overheating in the summer and making sure it doesn’t get too cold in the winter) and humidity and indoor air quality levels.

Know where you’re going to “get the biggest bang for your buck”

Having a whole house retrofit plan will mean that you know what improvements are going to make the biggest difference and save you the most amount of money. It’s important to note however that you don’t always get a payback with every retrofit measure, just as you wouldn’t with a new kitchen, car or conservatory.

Insulation is the most cost-effective way to retrofit, and is simple for lofts and cavity walls. It’s much more of a challenge for the 7 million homes which have solid walls.

But where funds are limited, Paul explains there are government grants to help private homeowners insulate their homes. There was a local authority delivery grant program administered through regional energy hubs that can help households with incomes of less than £30,000. There is also a new Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) which is another source of funding. Sometimes there are local grants available too.

Find out more

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August 31, 2022
HPH302 : A contemporary Passivhaus home in a rural context – with Martin McCrae and Mhairi Grant

Mhairi Grant and Martin McCrae share their self build journey. Their contemporary home seems to have it all, from striking design and great ecological credentials to high quality finish and value for money… but Martin and Mhairi had to work hard for it!

Interview with Martin McCrae and Mhairi Grant

Mhairi and Martin met back in 1997 when they both studied at the Mackintosh School of Architecture. Together they co-founded Paper Igloo, the architectural practice that they run from their home in Kippen, Scotland.

They increased their land budget to find a suitable plot

As speclialists in low energy design, and having lived in a beautiful but thermally uncomfortable flat in Glasgow, they made the decision to look for land and build a Passivhaus.

After a couple of years of searching they realised that the £100,000 budget they had originally set aside for land wasn’t going to get them the plot they wanted: they were either too small, too remote, or not a suitable orientation for a Passivhaus. By upping their budget to £135,000 they were able to find their picturesque, slightly sloping, semi-rural plot that afforded them views onto open fields.

The plot already had planning consent for a traditional house, but they submitted new plans for their contemporary cube which were approved following a little bit of resistance.

View of the plot

With a budget of £250,000, they knew sweat equity would be needed!

Mhairi admits that they probably weren’t aware quite how much sweat equity would be involved, but she considers the learning from it to be all part of the journey and not something they regret!

“Building a Passivhaus isn’t as daunting as some people make it out to be. I think it’s just a matter of doing things correctly in the correct order and rigorously looking at the detailing.”
– Martin

Initially, Martin took 12 weeks off from their business in order to get the build underway, working with two joiners to erect the timber frame. As it’s just the two of them in their practice, this did mean a drop in income for a time, and one of the reasons the project took so long was because they had to balance their finances by earning money as they went in order to finance the build.

What they originally thought might take two or three years, actually took six! And this was at the expense of their social life over that period as much of their free time was spent working on the house.

They had strategies for managing the challenge

At the halfway point they were thinking it was starting to drag, so keeping their energy up was challenging. Taking the cladding as an example of one particularly wearing period, they did it themselves over the space of four years, with each elevation taking an entire summer to complete.

Mhairi says it was important to keep reminding themselves of what it was they were trying to achieve, and that it would be worth it in the end. In the same way they would approach any dauntingly large task, they broke it down into smaller tasks, tackling each one before moving on to the next.

Martin adds that it is a technique they use for coping with stress at work too, and it helped get them through the long build process. He also says that being in it together made a difference.

Supplier issues and design decisions were interlinked

Their plan was to create a simple and clean design that would allow them to easily meet the Passivhaus standard, but also sustainability gold and technical standards in Scotland. That incorporated a further set of criteria to do with water-saving and acoustic performance.

They knew that they wanted to use a timber frame, but struggled to find a supplier who could provide a Passivhaus-ready or kit solution. That was why they ended up stick building the frame, and why Martin says that decisions like that can lead you to design decisions.

The pace of building slowed once the frame had been completed

They employed someone to do the groundworks but installed the Isoquick EPS raft foundations themselves, with the help of friends over a weekend.

After the concrete was poured they were able to start on the stick frame.

Once the joiners had finished the frame, Mhairi and Martin took over the workload. They spent the next four months taking as many days off work as they could, plus evenings and weekends, working on the wall installation, hand-cutting, and fitting the wood fibre batts.

They tried to be resourceful, not wasteful

Martin and Mhairi were careful to minimise the amount of waste that left the site. They were able to relocate the excavated earth to other areas of the garden, and in doing so were able to create a flatter garden with drop-down terrace towards the barn.

They were also very diligent about buying materials with as little packaging as possible. Plastic was recycled where possible, pallets were broken up into firewood for Mhairi’s dad, and off-cuts of wood fibre insulation were stacked rather than having to use new pieces. They were rigorous too about how to cut and use the plasterboard in order to minimise waste, and were left with only four A3 sized off-cuts from the whole build. With such little waste, they were able to just take it to the tip, rather than needing a skip. This also had cost savings, though they do agree that it did mean it all took a bit longer.

MVHR Ducts

Living in a caravan was incentive to keep the project moving!

Having sold their flat, they rented a couple of different places in the village before finally moving into a caravan for the final nine months. Living in a two-berth van, with the water freezing over the winter and an electric bar heater on permanently to try and stay warm and dry, in what was also their office, did focus their minds to crack on and get moved in as soon as possible! They managed to get one room ready first where they could sleep and work while they finished the rest of the house. At the point when they moved in, they had their electrical completion and were plaster boarded in most of the house, but were using a sheet of OSB as a kitchen worktop. They didn’t have their linoleum or timber flooring down upstairs either and were just at the acoustic flooring stage.

The double-height space adds impact

Right from the beginning, they wanted to incorporate a large, double-height space into the design, and this meant a change to the wall construction at the double-height area compared to the single-height area. With Passivhaus, most things are ratified against the floor area, so the decision to have a double-height space can impact on your insulation and window specification for example.

Rainwater has a visual journey through the garden

Part of the sustainability gold section in the technical standards in Scotland is about water-saving measures. To meet this criteria, they have used low-flow fixtures and fittings on all their taps and showers. They attenuate about 40% of the rainwater from their sedum roof, and only have one rainwater pipe for the whole of the flat roof area.

That takes the water on a journey down off the building and into a catch-pit of stones, along a trough and into a rain garden – an elevated planter in the garden with plants that are suited to being saturated or very dry. The overflow from that goes to the barn at the bottom of the garden.

Renewables have been incorporated

The 1.5kW array of PVs on the roof is enough to run the dishwasher and washing machine, and pays for itself. A solar thermal array makes a massive contribution to their hot water needs, and almost more than they need in the summer.

Infrared panels are on the ceilings of the living room, kitchen and one bedroom, and also at the top of the double-height void. They radiate heat down onto surfaces like the concrete slab, which then themselves release heat.

Passivhaus comfort levels have exceeded their expectations

In fact, Mhairi and Martin say it is so amazing to live in that they have spoiled themselves, because they really don’t want to live in anything else now that they have done this!

They also find it very easy to live with too, with very little interaction with the technology.

Being a Passivhaus they had been very careful about how much window they designed on each elevation. They knew they had a higher risk of overheating in their bedroom, which has a fixed, large, west-facing window and then a smaller opening window. As they were going to be the end users they decided they were happy to interact with the building in order to keep the design they wanted and prevent overheating. During the summer they do purge heating at night by opening the shower-room roof light, open the bedroom window on tilt and leave the en-suite door open. They also have opening windows in the upstairs and downstairs halls for cross-ventilation during the day.

Their experience of building and living in their own Passivhaus has led to them making a commitment in 2020 that Paper Igloo will only design their new builds to the Passivhaus Classic standard as a minimum.

Make sensible decisions at every turn

Maintaining a spreadsheet was helpful for Mhairi to keep control of the budget. Every week she would take the bank statement and rigorously check what things had cost against what they had predicted they would cost, and then adjusting how much they had left to spend.

Martin’s tip for anyone doing some of the building themselves, or if the budget is limited, is to get someone else to make the shell wind and watertight as quickly as possible. This will mean the building won’t start to deteriorate from the weather, and you’re free to take your time with the rest.

And finally, do as much research as you can. This applies in terms of funding, materials, construction options, etc. There are generally lots of options out there so there is no need to go for the first thing you come across. Then make sensible decisions at every turn, as even the small amounts add up.

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May 5, 2021
HPH279 : A beginner’s guide to building terminology – with Lee Fordham from Architype
Lee Fordham from Architype simplifies some of the terminology you might come across if you’re thinking about doing a sustainable self build.

Interview with Lee Fordham

Shortly after qualifying as an architect in 2004, Lee spent time travelling and working for architecture practices in New Zealand and Australia. When he returned to the UK he decided to pursue his passion for sustainable design and started working at Architype, one of the UK’s leading sustainable architects, where he is now an Associate Director.

A beginner’s guide to terminology

For those that are just setting out in their self build journey there can be an overwhelming array of technical terminology used that can be baffling to anyone outside of the industry. Lee takes us through some of the common terms that you might come across in a sustainable self build.

Passivhaus / Passive House

Passivhaus (Passive House in the United States) is a building standard that was developed in Germany around 30 years ago. Using physics, the aim is to reduce the performance gap between how the building is designed to perform, and how it actually performs.

The aim is to make the building more comfortable for the occupants and reduce how much energy the building uses, which is done with a better quality of build.

Liz and Mike Hill’s Passivhaus – designed by Architype

The experts will use the Passivhaus Planning Package (which you’ll hear referred to as PHPP), which essentially is a very complicated spreadsheet of data that allows them to design a building that will meet the Passivhaus criteria. The contractor will use that information to construct the building, and a certifier will guarantee the work and certify it if it meets the required standard.

Passivhaus plaque

MVHR

You’ll commonly hear a Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery system referred to as an MVHR. They’re most likely to be used in Passivhaus buildings, but not exclusively. It is a ventilation system which extracts the used air from inside a building. It takes the heat from that air and mixes it with fresh air which is being brought into the building from outside, to provide every room with fresh, pre-warmed air.

The air is filtered coming into the building, and different filters can be used according to whatever is in the external air in that area.

A key benefit over natural ventilation is the element of control over any given space, ie removing moisture from bathrooms etc.

An MVHR for a domestic dwelling is roughly the size of a combi-boiler and will need to be incorporated into the building’s design.

MVHR unit at Landsdowne Drive Passivhaus – Green Building Store

Foundations / Footings

These will usually be designed by a structural engineer and are what sit under the building to evenly transfer the weight of the building to the earth. The type you use might be dependent on what your ground conditions are like, but some examples are pile foundations, deep strip foundations and raft foundations.

U-value

A complicated one to explain, but essentially it’s a way of measuring how thermally conductive a component or a series of components (like a piece of glass, wall or roof) is. It is the rate at which heat travels through. The lower the U-value, the better it is.

The aim is to have fairly consistent U-values across all the components in a building. Having just one element that isn’t consistent could act as a magnet for moisture and potentially damage the structure. This can partly be achieved by better insulation, triple-glazed windows etc.

The U-values form part of the data that feeds into the PHPP system.

Airtightness

At a very basic level, this is about eliminating drafts in a building. It’s relatively easy to achieve but needs to be thought about at the design stage. At Architype they denote the airtightness layer on their detailed drawings using a red line, which shows the contractors where to take particular care in the construction so as not to damage it.

To meet building regulations, when the building is finished an air test will be carried out. The building has a giant fan attached to it and is either positively pressured, ie blowing air in, or negatively pressured, ie extracting air. The rate at which the air leaks gives you your air test result. It is a measure in pascals of the pressure of an internal area. Building regs require you to get a result of 10 or less.

The method in a Passivhaus building is slightly different. This takes an average reading from the building being both positively and negatively pressured, to give an n50 value which is how many volumes of air changes there are in an hour. The Passivhaus requirement is that it should be less than 0.6, so significantly better than building regulations.

Build system / construction method

This is a way of describing what method you are going to use to construct your building. Examples include timber frame, masonry, brick and block, insulated concrete formwork (ICF), pre-cast concrete, in-situ concrete, and cross-laminated timber.

Pre-fabrication

Pre-fabrication is where components, or indeed whole buildings, are made off-site. This could be from wall panels, to timber frames, to bathrooms that are fully plumbed and tiled, to entire houses.

MAKAR production facility

You can even go to the factories and choose your handles, paint finishes, floor finishes etc. When they reach the site they are connected together. The advantages of building the elements off-site is it can be quicker, they’re not subject to delays or damage from the weather, and often it can result in better quality and working better when brought to site.

Huf Haus

Zero carbon

Lee says that this is a difficult one to explain as there are many different interpretations of what it means.

Generally it refers to off-setting the energy use in a building. So the better your building is, ie a Passivhaus, the less carbon you have to off-set because you’re not using as much energy.

Looking deeper into it, some people will be referring to zero carbon in use, which is the energy that is used starting from the point of when it’s been built, through to its end of life.

But there’s also embodied or sequestered carbon, which takes into account everything to do with the design and construction of the building, together with the in-use energy and sometimes through to the demolition. This is more complicated to account for, although there are tools which can help explain for instance, how much energy is used in getting a tree from Germany to the UK to use in a timber frame.

Custom build

Whereas self build has many decisions for you to make, whether or not you’re doing it in the purest sense of building it yourself, or whether you’re commissioning someone to carry that out for you, custom build can take some of those decisions away from you. There will be an offering from the custom build company, but with options for you to customise it. That could be in terms of the style of the house, the layout or the finishes. It might not be as individual as you would get with a self build, but it can take away a lot of the headaches!

Potton Homes design

Solar shading / brise soleil

Effectively the same thing, brise soleil or solar shading would be used on the south facing side of a building to limit the sun coming in during the summer months when you don’t want the building to overheat, but allowing it to come in during the winter when the heat is required. Generally it would be a horizontal component that sits over the south facing glazing, whether that be a roof overhang, external canopy or series of louvres.

External louvres – Charlie Luxton Design

Wimbish Passivhaus Scheme – Parsons & Whittley

Ditchingham Passivhaus Scheme – Parsons & Whittley

On an east or west elevation you would usually have a vertical component, and that’s just to do with the angle of the sun at certain times of day and certain times of year. Windows on the east and west elevation can be harder for dealing with glare and overheating issues.

Lee says the ideal situation is to have the building facing south where the solar gains can be controlled more easily.

Design team

The core members of a design team are likely to include: an architect, structural engineer, civil engineer, mechanical and electrical (M&E) engineer, and possibly a project manager.

Beyond that, depending on your site and your level of involvement and interests, you might also have: landscape architect, ecologist, arboriculturist, quantity surveyor, Passivhaus designer etc.

Renewables

Renewables refers to technology that generates energy. This could be photovoltaics, wind turbines, hydro power etc.

Air source and ground source heat pumps

An air source heat pump takes energy from the temperature in the air. Any air above zero degrees has energy in it and this can be taken and transferred into heat or hot water for your house. Similar in size to a washing machine, they’re put on the outside of a building.

The ground source heat pump works in much the same way but will take the energy from the ground. They have pipes which can either be spread horizontally in the ground which will require a lot of space, or as a vertical spread of pipes, which need less space but are a lot more expensive.

Plans, elevations, sections and details

These are examples of the different types of design drawings, created by Parsons and Whittley for Ben Adam-Smith’s house:

Plan – This is an aerial view, looking down onto the building. You can have different plans to show each floor of the building, but they can show the roof, doors, walls and windows, together with the internal layout.

Elevation – An elevation is a drawing of what the outsides of the building look like from where you’re standing. A south elevation for example would be the side of the building that is facing towards the south.

Section – This is like slicing down through a building to show what’s inside. It will show the components of the walls, floors, roof etc.

Details – By taking a section drawing and zooming in you will create a detail. They can be various scales, such as 1:2 or 1:10, and are an in-depth analysis and instruction for the contractor showing how to construct that part of the building. It would show them where the airtightness line is, where the insulation is, and how wide cavities would need to be.

Soft landings and performance monitoring

A soft landing is about making sure that once the building has been constructed, that the operator of that building knows how to use it. Obviously if you’ve built it yourself then this wouldn’t be necessary, but if you’ve largely commissioned other people to complete the project then you should have someone tell you how it all works.

Performance monitoring can take place throughout the build process but in particular Lee refers to monitoring once the building is complete. This uses sensors to check on things like the internal temperature, humidity and CO₂ levels, to make sure the building is performing as it was designed to do.

Tender

The way you tender will depend on what kind of contract you will have, but essentially a tender is a set of information that is put out to someone for a response. They will price up the aspects on the tender and return it with their figure and requested documentation. It can be a tender for a design team or for a contractor. The returned tender documents are then scored and weighted according to whatever your priorities might be. For some that might be 80% of the marks will be based on how competitive the price is, but for others they might weight it more heavily in favour of quality and not necessarily who is the cheapest.

A key thing is to make sure the information and drawings you are sending out are as comprehensive as possible. That way it can be priced accurately for what you will be needing. Without that detail they will be adding an element of price risk to their response which will invariably make it much more expensive.

Window parts
- Sill – The ledge at the bottom of the frame.
- Head – The top of a window where it meets the wall. It can be internal or external.
- Jamb – The side of the window
- Reveal – The part next to the jamb. Can be internal (usually plasterboard) or external (usually timber or brick). If the reveals are set very deep into the thickness of a wall they can provide some shading to the window
- Mullions and transoms – Found on traditional Victorian style windows, the mullions are the vertical bar in the middle of the window, and the transoms are the horizontal bar.
Roof parts
- Trusses – The pieces, usually made of wood, that actually make the roof structure
- Joists – A horizontal structural element that supports the floor and/or ceiling
- Eaves – The part of the roof that overhangs the wall. Usually if it’s a sloping roof it would be the part which overhangs the gutter
- Soffits – Underneath the eaves, the soffits are the horizontal section that you can see
- Ridge – The point right at the top of the roof, usually where two pitches come together
- Verge – The part at the side of the house. Usually there would be a bargeboard or piece of wood that goes down the side
- Parapet – Usually a piece of wall that protrudes up above a flat roof
Roof trusses

Roof joists

Find out more

Visit the website of Architype

Follow Architype on Twitter

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Lee Fordham.

The Hub

If you’re new to self build and looking for more information, then be sure to check out The Hub. It’s full of great resources, video diaries and support from a community of like-minded self-builders.

Please connect with me

Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes

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February 26, 2020
HPH150 : Where is the balance between renewables and a fabric first approach? – with Alex Baines
Despite his background in renewables, Alex Baines explains why he embraced a fabric first approach on his self build project.

Interview with Alex Baines

We’ve been following the progress of Alex Baines’ Long Barrow Passivhaus self build in episodes 74 and 100. This time we’ve brought him back to the podcast to draw on his background working in renewable energy. He first became interested in the idea back in 2008 and went on to do a Masters in Renewable Energy at the Centre for Alternative Technology, before getting a job advising a mechanical and engineering company about renewables installations.

Renewables were heavily incentivised to encourage meeting carbon emissions reduction targets

Until fairly recently it seemed to many that renewables were being hailed as the solution, and the industry was heavily incentivised with feed-in tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive to encourage take-up. The successful promotion of the industry meant there was, and still remains, a perception that by using renewables you create a ‘green’ or ‘eco’ house.

It wasn’t long before Alex came to the conclusion that while renewables were a great part of the solution, they should only be the final part of the solution: “because technically you can get to zero carbon by building a pretty bad building and whacking in a massive amount of renewables.”

Renewables should be “the final part to get you to the bit that you can’t avoid”

For Alex it became important to look at fabric first in the initial instance, and then consider renewables for the parts that can’t be avoided, such as electricity. Whereas with Passivhaus you can avoid the need for the majority of heating, you can’t avoid the need for electricity around the house, which is where renewables can still play their part.

Reducing the energy demand of a building means fewer renewables are needed

It was quickly apparent to Alex that Passivhaus was where his focus needed to go, because he cared about reducing the energy demand in the first instance.

“So you look at a building, the building is the demand and the renewables are something that meets that demand. So if you can reduce the demand then you reduce the size of your generator.”

Alex points out that renewables will eventually fail, and at that point the building will no longer for example be zero carbon, or running at an improved efficiency.

A change in public perception may need to be driven by government

Alex explains that if/when the Building Regulations become more stringent, then people’s understanding may change too, as currently there is a general lack of knowledge and promotion around it. He uses the example of Brussels – where Passivhaus standard has been adopted – which has resulted in manufacturers coming to the city because that’s where the demand is (rather than sourcing products from overseas).

Passivhaus is really a ‘human comfort’ standard

According to Alex, the current Building Regulations don’t focus on a holistic approach of what is best for the occupants. Instead they are made of separate parts looking at individual elements, for example, ventilation requirements having no link to acoustic requirements, and having no link to energy demands.

“I would much rather we just said right, let’s go for a human element design and actually funnily enough, you focus on the human element you end up with Passivhaus because that’s where Passivhaus came from.”

Long Barrow Passivhaus progress – know when you can take a pause!

Alex had opted not to take a mortgage for his self build until they got to the airtight / watertight shell stage, so when his employment situation changed nearly a year ago, they decided to pause the project. Because they are using Insulated Concrete Formwork (ICF) as a construction method they were able to pause before getting the windows in and the waterproofing on. With other building methodologies it wouldn’t be possible to pause until they are airtight and watertight, but Alex suggests you work out at what stages you would be able to take a break if circumstances unexpectedly arose that might make it necessary.

Work is due to recommence shortly with the insulation waterproofing going on the roof, before putting the windows in and waterproofing the rest of the building. Once the services have been connected up Alex can start on the internal layout. The internal space has been designed to be flexible, which has the benefit that Alex can work on one part while still being able to live in the other spaces. If the budget allows at the end, he will be installing photovoltaics for generating electricity and solar thermal panels to provide the hot water.

Find out more

Follow Alex Baines on Twitter

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Alex Baines.

The Hub update

We’re just getting ready for our next progress call, where we bring people together within the community and try and resolve any issues. It’s always interesting to see the hurdles that people are facing at the various stages of their projects.

Our new module is about VAT refunds, explaining how the process works and what you can and can’t claim for.

The new module also ties in with the latest video project we’re following – Buckinghamshire Passivhaus – which started out as a renovation project. After doing all their research they realised it just didn’t make sense – either financially or in terms of risk and complexity. Combined with various other reasons they decided to opt for a new build instead. If you’re a Hub member you can check out the video now, and we have the next instalment coming very soon.

Please connect with me
- Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes
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October 12, 2016
Google+ Hangout Schedule for 2014
Our debate sessions are back for 2014 and we want YOU to be part of them.

We experimented with Google+ Hangouts last year and it turned out to be a great way to discuss some of the issues surrounding building a house or renovating an existing property. It was also an opportunity to see how approaches vary around the world and to share the best information.

Here’s an example of what it looks like (in case you’re not familiar with the concept of Google+ Hangouts):

Topics for 2014

1. What makes an aesthetically beautiful house? (Saturday, February 22 at 12.30pm GMT)

2. Why are more people not retrofitting (or weatherizing) their homes? (Friday, March 14 at 8.00pm GMT)

3. Getting value for money when buying land (Wednesday, April 2 at 8.00pm GMT+1)

4. Should my house be off-grid? (Saturday, April 26 at 5.00pm GMT+1)

5. Passivhaus principles or Passivhaus standard? (Friday, May 23 at 8.00pm GMT+1)

6. Getting a house through planning (Monday, June 30 at 8.00pm GMT+1)

7. Is the cohousing movement significant to self-builders? (Saturday, July 26 at 1.00pm GMT+1)

8. How is the internet changing house building? (Wednesday, August 20 at 8.00pm GMT+1)

9. How can you stick to your budget? (Sunday, September 28 at 7.00pm GMT+1)

10. Uniting the team on your build (Monday, October 20 at 8.30pm GMT+1)

11. Do I need renewables on my project? (Saturday, November 15 at 12.30pm GMT)

12. Self build advice from those that have been there done it (Friday, December 5 at 8.00pm GMT)

Although we’re booking some of the guests for each Google+ Hangout, we will leave the other half open to any of the House Planning Help community. On the whole we’ll also aim to have an even mix of a couple of self-builders and a couple of construction industry professionals.

You Need
- A computer with a webcam and access to the internet (preferably a high speed or fibre connection).
- To have a Google+ account (but this only takes a few minutes to set up if you don’t have one).
- Opinions! You don’t have to be an expert but you do have to be passionate about building a house (even if you are just beginning your journey).
Ideally you will also have an external mic to plug into your computer so the sound quality is as good as possible. We recommend the ATR2100 but the price does really vary according to which country you’re in.

Get Involved

If you would like to take part, please email us stating which event you would like to attend.

While we can’t guarantee that we can include you on a specific hangout, hopefully we can accommodate you in a future event.
February 6, 2014
HPH012 : Should You Invest in Renewable Energy? – with Dr Derek Taylor from Altechnica
Dr Derek Taylor from Altechnica weighs up the pros and cons of various renewable energy sources and shares his thoughts on whether you should be generating at home. He also talks about his role in creating one of the UK’s most energy-efficient homes.

Interview with Dr Derek Taylor

Dr Taylor trained at the Architectural Association but got interested in renewable energy and low energy building design in 1972. From then he started to pursue more of a renewables orientated career and did a masters in designing wind turbines and renewables, and came to the Open University. He is particularly interested in bringing together renewable energy and architecture to try and make it much more effective.

There are still Fossil Fuels Available But CO₂ Emissions are the Problem

A lot of people believe we have reached peak oil and that we are now at the point of depletion. There’s still a lot of coal in the ground and a fair amount of gas available but their CO₂ emissions are a big concern for climate change. It’s clear we need to make a step change. The scientists say we need to cut CO₂emissions by 80% in the next few decades.

UK’s Best Renewable Energy Source is Wind

In terms of renewable energy Dr Taylor believes wind energy and offshore wind energy offers the most promise to the UK. He explains that 40% of the potential wind energy resource in Europe is actually in the UK. That figure is looking at land based resources, with even more potential offshore.

Phenomenal Increase in Wind Power

Dr Taylor has recently been updating the wind energy section of the Open University renewable energy course. He noted that in the year 2000 there was about 30,000 MW of wind energy globally whereas in 2010, there was 38,000 MW installed in just one year. Now globally there is over 200 GW. Dr Taylor is impressed with the progress. The UK currently has the largest offshore wind farm in the world, which is off the coast of Thanet (installed by Swedish company Vattenfall), and they’re currently building a third offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary, called the London Array, which will produce a fair proportion of London’s electricity needs.

Floating Wind Energy Technology Has a Huge Potential

Tapping into floating wind energy technology, the wind energy resources in UK waters would be equivalent to the Gulf Oil reserves but every year.

Renewable Energy Solutions Fit into Different Scales

Generally there are three types of solution: building scale, an intermediate scale – which Dr Taylor calls neighbourhood or community scale – and large scale.

Solar Makes The Most Sense For Buildings

In terms of buildings, solar energy often makes the most sense for electricity generation, hot water and also for reducing space heating loads. In the summertime it can be used for cooling.

Heat Pumps

The temperature of the ground below a certain depth is constant throughout the year, so this provides another ambient source of energy.

Wind Energy Isn’t Normally a Good Solution for Urban Areas

The usability of renewables depends on the location as to whether they will perform effectively. Wind energy can make sense but in most cases it doesn’t in urban areas. Wind energy technology usually starts to make sense at community scale upwards, for example, a medium scale turbine might be appropriate for a village or a town. Costs can then be spread amongst householders.

Former Watermill Sites Could Have Potential for Hydro Power

The best sites for hydro tend to be in mountainous areas, but Dr Taylor suggests that former watermill sites could be good places to generate. It’s important to note that when watermills were in use there was less water extraction so there was more water running through the system. Dr Taylor did a renewable energy study for Merton Council which found that a short stretch (19km) of the River Wandle once had about 90 watermills in operation.

Biofuels Make Most Sense When it’s a Waste Product

Growing energy fuels is very difficult to justify when you haven’t got much land. A forested area can obviously provide wood as a fuel. Dr Taylor believes the situation with biofuels probably makes sense if you can use it as waste, such as food waste and oil waste. You can then process that with biology to produce gases and fuels. In Denmark there are community digesters where manure, food waste and sewage combine to produce methane – the process mimics a cow’s stomach and produces gas that can run small power stations.

Tidal Barrages Expensive to Build and Maintain

The main problem with tidal energy is that it’s been exploited using tidal barrages, like a big dam across an estuary. These are very expensive to build and can impact on the rich eco systems. In France, there is an example of a successful barrage called La Rance.

Tidal Stream Technology Shows Promise

Essentially they are underwater wind turbines which capture the currents as they flow around the coasts. One of the big advantages is that because water is 800 times denser than air for a given size of rotor diameter you get a lot more power out compared to wind turbines because air is very low density. This means much smaller devices can give more power output. The downside is that these devices are situated in difficult locations and have to be able to cope with the water reliably. They’re still in the early stages of development.

Devices Built to Harness Wave Energy Have to Survive The Stormiest Seas

Dr Taylor reckons that wave energy is an even more difficult one to achieve. The energy resources from the waves are substantial but you have to build devices which can survive 24/7 in the most stormy seas.

Failures Important to Progressing the Technologies

Very few of the wave energy projects actually go through the iterative stages that are needed to develop a technology. Lots of funding goes into building one device and that fails and there’s no money to carry on. Those failures are vital to progressing the technology.

We Can Use Fossil Fuel Reserves Much More Effectively

While fossil fuels might still be available, Dr Taylor believes that the price will be the main constraint to using them. He stresses how in other countries they’re actually much further on with many aspects of design, performance of houses and also the use of wind energy.

Combined Heat and Power Makes Use of Waste Heat

One approach for district heating is to use the waste heat from power stations to heat houses. Dr Taylor calculated that if you add up all the energy being lost from the cooling towers around Britain, it amounts to more energy than is used to heat all the houses in Britain. Currently this energy is just allowed to go into the atmosphere or into the sea at coastal locations. In Denmark 65% of houses are heated this way or from large scale boilers. To achieve this heat mains are laid under roads or gardens and each house is then connected up. Part of the difficulty is that electricity networks are privatised and they would rather do what they’ve always done.

Heat Stores Play an Important Part

Dr Taylor explains that Battersea Power Station was a combined heat and power station when it was operating. There was a pipe under the Thames which provided heat for 4000 houses in Pimlico. They’ve subsequently re-installed a small combined heat and power station at Pimlico which delivers the same thing. Part of that scale of development enables very large heat stores to be built in, so that heat can be stored when you’re generating electricity for use later. Heat from other sources such as solar or wind energy can also be used to charge up the heat stores.

Nuclear Energy is Expensive and Funding Must Be Offset to Look After The Waste

In France about 80% of their electricity comes from nuclear, but this doesn’t mean its future is clear. Not only is it expensive but disposing of nuclear waste is still a big problem. How much money will be needed in the future to look after nuclear waste from the past? There are also discussions about what’s going to be the most useful type of fuel after uranium.

Low Energy Buildings Fall into Two Strands

Historically there are two strands of developing low energy buildings. One is known as the super insulated approach that tends to be a lightweight construction with lots of insulation. The other approach is known as passive solar, which is reliant on lots of solar orientation, lots of glazing and high thermal mass. The solar gains are trapped in the thermal mass so that it acts like a storage heater.

Super Passive Solar

In the UK passive solar hasn’t worked well in the spring or autumn times when there tends to be quite high cloud cover. There is also not much benefit in the winter time whereas super insulation then works well. So a super passive solar approach combines the two so you have a high level of thermal mass but it’s inside a super insulated envelope. Dr Taylor worked on a house in Herefordshire which might be one of the UK’s most energy efficient homes.

Super Passive Solar Goes a Step Further Than Passivhaus

Dr Taylor really likes the Passivhaus standard although he finds it unfortunate that they chose the name Passivhaus as it’s easily confused with passive solar. It is really an ultra super insulation approach. The Passivhaus design system doesn’t really take into account the thermal gains from thermal mass, so you can’t get that extra point further of actually optimising the design to get to zero space heating, although a lot of Passivhaus buildings are getting pretty close to that.

With New Builds, Push the Envelope as far as You Can

For new buildings Dr Taylor thinks you have to push the building’s envelope as far as you can because it’s much more difficult to upgrade. If you can design as much insulation as possible and get to Passivhaus standards then it will be well worth doing and shouldn’t cost you a great deal more on top of the building.

If You Have The Money, a Passivhaus Retrofit Can be a Good Investment

Upgrading an existing building to Passivhaus is not a cheap option. However it’s probably better using that money to go into the building’s fabric rather than getting an expensive new kitchen!

Internal Insulation Must be Done Correctly or You Risk Damaging the Building

External insulation is a much easier solution but risks affecting the aesthetics. The problem with internally insulating walls is that there will be a reduction of floor area. Also, with solid walls, for instance, prior to that wall being internally insulated, it’s been kept warm by the space heating of the house but once the insulation is between it and the heating then it’s obviously a cold object and it’s a cold surface. So, unless the internal insulation is done correctly, if any vapour gets into that structure it will hit the cold wall and condense. This can cause rotting problems.

Combined Heat and Power Could Buy us Some Time to Retrofit

Dr Taylor refers back to how we might reduce the CO₂ emissions from buildings. Investing in combined heat and power, and district heating would enable the existing buildings to start to use heating which is actually low carbon. It would also buy some time to upgrade the performance of the existing housing stock.

We Only Have One Chance to Make our Homes Energy Efficient

In order to reach 80% reductions in CO₂ Dr Taylor believes that we must go beyond a little cavity wall insulation. He thinks we only get one shot at this and it should be done properly. The challenge will be funding it. If there were a scheme where everyone was connected to a heat network then there’s a potential revenue stream for the sale of that heat to people which could be used to fund insulation of buildings down the road.

Incremental Improvements Should Have a Long Term Plan

Try and have a plan or a strategy so you’re not going to foreclose on the options. Do the thinking upfront so that improvements compliment each other. If you have a loft that can be insulated then certainly the more upgrades you can do to that the better.

Dr Derek Taylor’s company
- Altechnica
Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Dr Derek Taylor.

Goals for House Planning Help in 2013

Ben Adam-Smith outlines his objectives for making House Planning Help an even better resource. This includes:
- Getting more detail into each podcast episode
- Creating more videos for the House Planning Help YouTube channel
- Hand-picking more industry experts as guest bloggers
- Hosting Google+ Hangouts to debate key issues
Regen Media Wants to Help Your Business

Regen Media produces the House Planning Help Podcast. Ben Adam-Smith explains how if you are in the UK and you need video or audio for your business, then Regen Media wants to help you. It is very important to have a presence on multiple platforms in the age of the Internet so that your company can be heard above the noise! Regen Media can create media that will do this and market your business in a much more dynamic way than advertising. Contact us today to find out more.

Ask Your Questions or Share Your Feedback
- Email feedback@houseplanninghelp.com
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January 2, 2013