INSULATION | AIRTIGHTNESS | BUILDING SCIENCE | VENTILATION | GREEN MATERIALS

S U S TA I N A B L E B U I L D I N G

SEA CHANGE
Zero energy passive houses
on Devon coast

AIRBORNE
COVID THREAT
Will poor ventilation risk
a second wave?
Issue 34 £5.95
UK EDITION
2009597010-08.eps NBW=80 B=20

Deep retrofit
 “We can launch a

The stimulus measure new eco Renaissance”
of the moment? UN director lays out low energy case
SAME HOUSE, DIFFERENT HOME.
 PA S S I V E H O U S E + EDITOR’S LETTER

Publishers
Temple Media Ltd
PO Box 9688, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland
t +353 (0)1 210 7513 | t +353 (0)1 210 7512
e info@passivehouseplus.ie
www.passivehouseplus.co.uk
editor’s letter ISSUE 34

T
he past few months have been an in this issue, and to the companies who
Editor
extraordinarily trying time. Still, have backed us on our online Marketplace+
Jeff Colley
jeff@passivehouseplus.ie I have to remember to check my portal recently.
privileges, put my exceptionalism in my While we would never begrudge the
pocket and remember that many people companies who couldn’t justify advertising
Deputy Editor
have had it far worse than the team at since Covid-19 struck — we understand the
Lenny Antonelli
lenny@passivehouseplus.ie Passive House Plus. hard decisions that many companies have had
With that perspective in mind, our to take — we have been humbled by the loyalty
struggles at this magazine, as they are, so many organisations have shown us. Many
Reporter
aren’t worth divulging. But some readers of these companies made a point of backing us
John Hearne
john@passivehouseplus.ie may have noticed a delay in this magazine because they see that Passive House Plus has
arriving, so I feel duty bound. When the a role to play to help show the industry how to
lockdown began in March, just after our build and retrofit better. The feeling is mutual:
Reporter
last issue was finished, it posed immediate we try to be as picky as possible about the kinds
Kate de Selincourt
kate@passivehouseplus.ie problems for our business, as it did for of advertisers we promote.
countless others around the world. If we are to have any chance of delivering
At first advertising, which provides the the low energy, healthy, low environmental
Reporter
overwhelming majority of funding for a impact buildings the world so badly needs,
John Cradden
cradden@passivehouseplus.ie magazine such as this, fell off a cliff. This we cannot afford to lose the hard-won
was not something we could afford to expertise and capacity that has developed
happen – we’ve never been a profit-oriented in this sustainable corner of the industry.
Reader Reponse / IT
company, and when we’ve turned a profit The accumulated knowledge and skills
Dudley Colley
dudley@passivehouseplus.ie we’ve always invested it into the magazine, will not be easily replaced. Rather we need
to reach as many readers as possible, and to these kinds of companies to grow, so that
provide the best service we can. proven sustainable solutions are applied on
Accounts So we have focused our efforts on finding all new build and retrofit projects.
Oisin Hart
new ways to help our clients, including So, I implore you: while I hope you find
oisin@passivehouseplus.ie
hastily arranging to post magazines to inspiration and detailed learning in the
readers at home to help see them through articles published in this issue, please also
Art Director the lockdown, and dropping the paywall on reach out to the advertisers in these pages
Lauren Colley
the digital edition in an effort to substan- and the Marketplace+ portal on our website
lauren@passivehouseplus.ie
tially increase our readership. Thankfully, — either directly or collectively via our
our readers have responded in droves. online enquiry form at www.passivehouse-
Design If you value this magazine, and the work plus.co.uk/enquiries — and see what role
Aoife O’Hara we do to inform and educate on the detail of they can play to help you build better.
aoife@evekudesign.com | evekudesign.com
how to build and retrofit to high standards
of sustainability, I’d strongly urge you to Regards,
Contributors
Toby Cambray Greengauge Building
show your appreciation to the advertisers The editor
Energy Consultants
Marc Ó Riain doctor of architecture
Peter Rickaby energy & sustainability
consultant
Fionn Stevenson professor of sustainable
design
David W Smith journalist

Print
GPS Colour Graphics
www.gpscolour.co.uk | +44 (0) 28 9070 2020

Cover
Seaton Beach passive house apartments
Photo by Dug Wilders / Norrsken

Publisher’s circulation statement: Passive House Plus (UK

edition) has a print run of 11,000 copies, posted to architects,
clients, contractors & engineers. This includes the members
of the Passivhaus Trust, the AECB & the Green Register of About
Construction Professionals, as well as thousands of key
Passive House Plus is an
specifiers involved in current & forthcoming sustainable
building projects. official partner magazine of
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in Passive House Plus are The Association for
those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Environment Conscious
the publishers. Building, The International
Passive House Assocation
ABC Certified Average Net Circulation of and The Passivhaus Trust.
8,971 for the period 01/07/18 to 30/06/19

ph+ | editor’s letter | 3

CONTENTS PA S S I V E H O U S E +
CONTENTS
06 22
INTERNATIONAL
06
This issue features the passive house ‘plus’ certified
headquarters of Métropole Rouen Normandie,
located on the banks of the Seine in Rouen, France,
and designed by Jacques Ferrier Architecture.
NEWS
12
A new report questions long-held assumptions about
heat recovery ventilation, UK climate committee says
deep retrofit should be central to a green economic
recovery, and Passive House Plus sees a big spike in
digital readership.
COMMENT
16
Dr Marc Ó Riain takes a look at the relationship
between collapsing ecosystems and the emergence
of new infectious diseases; Professor Fionn Stevenson
calls for better ways to measure the environmental
impact of buildings; and Dr Peter Rickaby says that
Covid-19 has inadvertently given us a glimpse of what
sustainable living patterns might look like.
4 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
COVER
STORY
30
22 CASE STUDIES
Good stock
Stylish Stockport retrofit achieves radical
energy savings
This inspiring project may be exactly what the deep
retrofit sector needs: an example of how to turn a bog
standard, cold suburban home of little architectural
merit into a climate champion delivering outstanding
levels of energy performance, comfort and health, all
while transforming the building architecturally.
Sea change
30 Luxury zero-energy passive apartments
rise on the Devon coast
Built mostly with clay blocks and sited above the
sandy shores of Seaton, on the Devon coast, this new
development of eight high-end apartments not only
meets the passive house ‘plus’ standard — meaning
it pairs the requisite ultra-low energy fabric with a
substantial amount of renewable energy generation
— but it also boasts serious attention to the use of
ecological and healthy materials.
Northern exposure
42 Deep energy retrofit transforms north-
facing Dublin seaside semi
Even though its stunning views lay directly northward,
simple design, good detailing and lots of insulation
have turned this 1960s semi on the edge of Dublin
Bay into a warm and light-filled low energy home.
 PA S S I V E H O U S E + CONTENTS

42 50 62

Pilot light
50 Pioneering Donegal deep retrofit a
roaring success
A rundown 1970s scheme of one-bedroom, single-
storey social housing units in Ballyshannon, Co
Donegal, has been transformed into a pioneering
development of cosy, A-rated, NZEB-busting homes.
The pioneering project – the first completed under
Ireland’s deep retrofit pilot scheme – also breathed
new life into an unloved green area and is expected
to help fuel a regeneration project in the town.
Dead air
62 Airborne Covid-19 and poorly
ventilated buildings
In the early stages of the Covid-19 crisis, there was
INSIGHT little official recognition that airborne transmission
56 was a risk. Has that view changed, and what role will
building ventilation play when winter approaches?
Deep retrofit & stimulus
Is an upgrade revolution the economic
tonic to tackle Covid?
With governments across Europe looking for ways to MARKETPLACE
jump start their economies following the early impact 65
of Covid-19, attention is increasingly turning to deep Keep up with the latest developments from some
retrofit. But while there is strong evidence that deep of the leading companies in sustainable building,
retrofit could play a major role, the devil will be in the including new product innovations, project updates
detail – and the challenge of dramatically upscaling a and more.
nascent industry shouldn’t be underestimated.
The science of filters
We can launch a new eco Renaissance 70 How do ventilation filters work, and can they help
60 The UN’s Scott Foster says deep retrofit of our
building stock, and a sustainable built environment,
to protect us against Covid-19? Toby Cambray, co-
founder of Greengauge Building Energy Consultants,
should be at the heart of our recovery from the weighs in on the physics of a subject that is more
Covid-19 pandemic. complex and interesting than you might expect.

ph+ ph+
| contents
| contents
| 5 | 5
 INTERNATIONAL
PASS I V E & EC O B UIL D S F R O M A R O UND THE WO RL D

IN BRIEF
Building: 8,300 m2 public building
Architect: Jacques Ferrier Architecture
Method: Double-skin glazed façade with concrete elements
Standard: Passive house ‘plus’ certified

6

Photos: Luc Boegly / Myr Muratet / Ferrier Marchetti Studio
MÉTROPOLE ROUEN NORMANDIE HEADQUARTERS, FRANCE
B
etween 1892 and 1894, Claude
Monet obsessively painted the
façade of Rouen Cathedral,
capturing how the ever-changing light
and weather altered the mood, colour and
texture of the cathedral’s gothic façade in
a series of more than 30 paintings.
These artworks inspired architect
Jacques Ferrier in his design of a new
metropolitan headquarters for the town,
situated on the banks of the river Seine,
which he clad in colour-shifting glass
‘scales’ to create an iridescent façade
that reflects the ever-changing light and
weather. Even more remarkable than the
chromatic façade is that the building is
certified to the passive house standard.
Indeed, experienced passive house
designers might baulk at the extent of
glazing here — glass covers more than
60% of the building’s façades. Meanwhile an atrium slices the building
So-called ‘sensible glazing ratios’ are
typically at the heart of good passive
house design — the idea being that
you put the right amount of glass, in the
right places, to capture heat and natural
light from the sun, but avoid the summer
overheating and winter heat loss that is
often associated with excessive glazing.
Ferrier may have shunned these norms
but has also created a rather remarkable
building. Rouen’s new town headquarters
not only meets the passive house standard
but the passive house ‘plus’ benchmark,
which means it must generate about as
much energy on site (from renewables) as
the building consumes.
Because covering the roof in solar PV
panels would not have been enough
to achieve this on its own, the project
I N T E R N AT I O N A L FRANCE
decided to create a double-skin façade,
with solar photovoltaic panels — coated
with dichroic films that reflect different
colours — forming the outer skin on much
of the south face.
On the north façade, which overlooks
the river, the outer skin is comprised of
glass scales coated with metal oxides,
again to reflect different colours.
This double-skin is also designed to
provide insulation and prevent overheating
in summer but allow more sunlight in
during winter (the panels are angled to
limit high-angle summer sun, but to receive
more low-angle winter light). The building
also has 35 geothermal probes connected
to two heat pumps that provide heating
and cooling, but demand is minimal, and
within the passive house standard of 15
kWh/m2/yr for each.
in half, bringing daylight deep into the
heart of the plan, and also creating a series
of internal terraces for staff and members
of the public. The roof also boasts a large
terrace with views over the city and River
Seine.
The building’s oblique shape is designed
to mimic the silhouettes of cranes on the
dockside, and the bows of passing ships.
It may not be a traditional interpretation
of passive design — and we will be
curious to see how comfortable indoor
temperatures remain as the climate warms
— but it is nonetheless a spectacular piece
of architecture.
“The building’s appearance transforms
throughout the day,” say the architects.
“With the light shining through, it appears
to float on the quay.”
ph+ | france international | 7
 WANT TO
KNOW MORE?

The digital version of this magazine

includes access to exclusive
galleries of architectural drawings.

The digital magazine is

available to subscribers on
www.passive.ie

8
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10 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
Eco-friendly
refrigerant R32
NEWS PA S S I V E H O U S E +

NEWS
Passive House Plus launches
new UK website
P
assive House Plus has launched a new version of our website
specifically for UK readers. The new site, at www.passive-
houseplus.co.uk, contains a focus on UK news and stories.
It also has a UK-specific version of our Marketplace+ sustainable
building directory.
All of our main project case studies, in-depth guides and feature
reporting appear across both our UK and Irish sites, but news, blogs
and comment are now tailored to each country’s audience.
“We believe that having a dedicated UK site, as well a UK-specific
version of our Marketplace+ directory, will provide much more relevant
content for our UK readers, as well as a more tailored platform for UK
brands in the sustainable building sector to get their message across,”
said Passive House Plus editor and publisher Jeff Colley.
Passive House Plus was launched in 2012 following the
rebranding of Construct Ireland magazine, with separate editions
for the UK and Ireland printed from the second edition onwards. •

New report questions long-held

MVHR assumptions
above 3 m3/m2/hour MVHR becomes
inefficient due to increased electrical
load or less efficient heat recovery.
“This analysis has shown that MVHR
systems result in improved ventila-
tion and lower carbon emissions for all
levels of airtightness,” it says. “There is
a compelling case for MVHR systems to
be fitted in all new dwellings and to be
strongly encouraged in retrofits where
significant reductions in energy demand
are being targeted.”
There is growing relevance to ques-
tioning the 3 m3/m2/hour rule given
questions over whether SARS-CoV-2,
the virus that causes Covid-19, can
spread more easily in poorly venti-
lated spaces. REHVA, the Federation of
European Heating, Ventilation and Air
Conditioning Associations, has advised
that all ventilation systems that recir-
culate air should be switched off, and
replaced with as much fresh air ventila-
tion as possible. MVHR systems provide
100% fresh air by default.
The Passivhaus Trust stated: “MVHR

A
new report by the Passivhaus
Trust has questioned the common
assumption that mechanical venti-
lation with heat recovery (MVHR) is inap-
propriate in dwellings with air permeability
worse than 3 m3/m2/hour.
It is common practice not to recommend
the installation of MVHR systems in such
homes, but the new report, titled ‘The case
for MVHR’, says there is “no clear up-to-
date evidence” behind this rule. It said this
benchmark is based on “outdated infor-
mation and flawed assumptions”.
Written by Passivhaus Trust policy
director John Palmer, with input from a
range of other leading experts, the analysis
critiques some of the common assump-
tions behind the rule, such as the view that
systems extract warm but potentially
stale, dirty, and humid air from bath-
rooms, kitchens and utility rooms before
passing it over a heat exchanger which
transfers the heat to fresh, filtered air
from outside the building. Extract and
supply air streams are fully separated,
eliminating contamination risk.”
The full report is free to download at
www.passivhaustrust.org.uk. •

12 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
 PA S S I V E H O U S E + NEWS

Deep retrofit crucial to green

recovery, climate committee says
Advice also calls for upskilling for retrofit & low carbon heating

M
inisters must seize the opportunity
to turn the Covid-19 crisis into a
defining moment in the fight against
climate change, the Committee on Climate
Change (CCC) has said, as it called for a major
drive to retrofit the UK’s building stock.
In its annual report to parliament, the CCC
provided comprehensive new advice on
delivering an economic recovery that acceler-
ates the transition to a “net-zero emissions”
society and strengthens resilience to the
impacts of climate change.
“The UK is facing its biggest economic
shock for a generation," said CCC chairperson
Lord Deben. “Meanwhile, the global crisis
of climate change is accelerating. We have
a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to address
these urgent challenges together; it’s there
for the taking. The steps that the UK takes
to rebuild from the Covid-19 pandemic
can accelerate the transition to a successful
and low-carbon economy and improve
our climate resilience. Choices that lock in
emissions or climate risks are unacceptable.”
The committee assessed a wide set of
measures and gathered evidence on the role
of climate policies in the economic recovery.
Its report highlighted five “clear investment
priorities”:
industries, while fast-tracked electric
vehicle charging points will hasten the
move towards a full phase out of petrol and
diesel cars and vans by 2032 or earlier,” the
report added.
•  Infrastructure to make it easy for people
to walk, cycle, and work remotely.
“Dedicated safe spaces for walking and
cycling, more bike parking and support for
shared bikes and e-scooters can help the
nation get back to work in a more sustain-
able way,” the committee said. “For home
working to be truly a widespread option,
resilient digital technology (5G and fibre
broadband) will be needed.”
•  Moving towards a circular economy. The
CCC stated: “Within the next five years,
we can not only increase recycling rates
rapidly but stop sending biodegrad-
able wastes to landfill. Local authorities
need support to invest strategically in a
good-quality, low-carbon services for
waste collection and disposal and to create
new regional jobs.”
The CCC said that there are also opportuni-
ties to support the transition and recovery
•  Targeted science and innovation funding.
The CCC said: “Kick-starting research
and innovation now in low-carbon and
adaptation technologies will facilitate the
changes needed in the decades ahead and
build UK competitive advantage.”
“Covid-19 has shown that planning for
systemic risks is unavoidable,” said chair of
the CCC’s adaptation committee, Baroness
Brown of Cambridge. “We have warned
repeatedly that the UK is poorly prepared for
the very serious impacts of climate change,
including flooding, overheating and water
shortages.
“Now is the moment to get our house in
order, coordinate national planning, and
prepare for the inevitable changes ahead. The
UK’s domestic ambition can be the basis for
strong international climate leadership, but
the delivery of effective new policies must
accelerate dramatically if we’re to seize this
chance.”
The full report is available to read at
www.theccc.org.uk. •

Photo: Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament (CC BY 3.0)

•  L
 ow-carbon retrofits and building.
The CCC said that there are “vital new
employment and reskilling opportuni-
ties across the country if governments
support a national plan to renovate
buildings and construct new housing to
the highest standards of energy and water
efficiency, to begin the shift to low-carbon
heating systems, and to protect against
overheating”. It also called for the rollout
of “green passports” for buildings, and of
local area energy plans.
•  T
 ree planting, peatland restoration,
and green infrastructure. “Investing in
nature, including in our towns and cities,
offers another quick route to opportuni-
ties for highly-skilled employment, and
outcomes that improve people’s lives,” the
committee said.
•  E
 nergy networks must be strengthened
to support electrification of transport and
heating, the CCC said. “New hydrogen
and carbon capture and storage (CCS)
infrastructure will provide a route to
establishing new low-carbon British
by investing in the UK’s workforce, and in
lower-carbon behaviour and innovation,
such as through:
•  Reskilling and retraining programmes.
The CCC said: “The net-zero economy will
require a net-zero workforce, able to install
smart low-carbon heating systems and
to make homes comfortable; to design,
manufacture and use low-carbon products
and materials; and to put carbon back,
rather than taking carbon out, from under
the North Sea. Now is the time to build that
workforce and to equip UK workers with
vital skills for the future.”
•  Leading a move towards positive
behaviours. “There is a window for govern-
ment to reinforce the ‘climate-positive’
behaviours that have emerged during the
lockdown, including increased remote
working, cycling and walking. The public
sector must lead by example by encour-
aging remote working. It also needs to
innovate in order that customer service (above) Baroness Brown, chair of the CCC’s
can be provided effectively remotely,” the adaptation committee, said that the delivery
committee said. of new policies on climate change “must
accelerate dramatically”.

ph+ | news | 13
NEWS PA S S I V E H O U S E +

14 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34

New drive to Passive House
cut VAT on Plus sees digital
MVHR systems spike during Covid
A new campaign is aiming to encourage more sustainable
property refurbishment through tax incentives for people to
adopt passive, or near passive, building standards.
The petition proposes that mechanical ventilation with heat
recovery (MVHR) be treated as an energy saving measure, and thus
be eligible for a reduced rate of VAT. If it achieves enough signatures,
the petition will be debated by parliament.
Petition founder Eliot Warrington of Solarcrest said: “Anyone keen
on passive house comfort, health and environmental benefits knows
that achieving airtightness is key, and that makes MVHR mandatory
rather than optional. The problem is, unless yours is a new build
you’re looking at a hefty VAT bill on the MVHR for your trouble, often
over £1,000.
“Penalising people who ‘go green’ voluntarily is both unfair
and illogical when you’re trying to reduce carbon emissions. For
some strange reason heat recovery is not deemed an energy saving
measure so is not eligible for the reduced rate of VAT. We think it’s
about time that position changed, hence the petition.”
He continued: “A reduction in the VAT payable on MVHR would
remove a barrier that currently deters some people from making
their property airtight and therefore low energy. Instead it would
encourage people to adopt a technology that improves health by
removing damp and pollution from the home.”
Passive House Plus has lent its support to the campaign, with
magazine publisher and editor Jeff Colley stating: “MVHR works
by recovering waste heat from outgoing air, and using it to pre-heat
fresh incoming air, so it is an obvious candidate to be classed as an
energy saving technology.
“Clearly, people may be reluctant to make their homes airtight
if they find ventilation systems, which go hand in hand with
airtightness, too expensive. Reducing the VAT on MVHR is an
obvious way to encourage the move towards low energy, airtight
properties with quality mechanical ventilation systems providing
fresh air. Such homes will have smaller energy bills, a smaller
carbon footprint and be healthier and more comfortable for
occupants.”
To lend your support, please visit:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300597. •
PA S S I V E H O U S E + NEWS
T he digital edition of Passive House Plus has seen a significant
increase in readership during the Covid-19 crisis, in addition
to the magazine’s market-leading print circulation.
The standing total for digital reads of the Spring 2020 UK edition
of Passive House Plus is 4,402 reads, compared to a standing total
of 747 reads for the previous issue. Back issues of Passive House
Plus tend to accumulate digital reads slowly over time, typically
averaging circa 3,000 reads after a year or two. The magazine’s
ABC audited average circulation for the print version of the UK
edition averages 8,971 copies, with an average of 1.99 readers
per copy (based on the 2019 Passive House Plus reader survey)
indicating a print readership approaching 18,000 people.
The spike in digital readership resulted from a decision to drop
the paywall on the digital edition, as part of a strategy to increase
readership and boost exposure for advertisers feeling the effect
of the Covid-19 lockdown, while providing readers with access
to the magazine at a time when they may have scope to catch up
on reading. In order to enable readers to receive the magazine
at home during the lockdown, a form was setup on the Passive
House Plus website for readers to request a free copy to be sent to
their home address.
“We’ve elected to keep the paywall down for this issue too,”
said editor Jeff Colley. “If our print and digital edition readership
is combined, the total would be over 22,000 readers (assuming no
duplication between print and digital reads). We’re delighted to be
able to reach such a large and loyal readership, and to inform as
many people as possible about the detail on how to build or retrofit
to the highest standards of comfort, energy efficiency and indoor
air quality.”
The spike in performance was also evident with the Irish
digital edition of Passive House Plus. The standing total for
digital reads of the Spring 2020 Irish edition of Passive House
Plus is 5,847 reads, compared to a standing total of 819 reads
for the previous issue. The magazine’s ABC audited average
circulation for the print version of the Irish edition averages
6,424 copies, which stands as the 2nd largest circulation of any
B2B magazine in Ireland. With an average of 2.08 readers per
copy (based on the 2019 Passive House Plus reader survey),
the Irish edition has an estimated print readership in excess of
13,000 people. •
ph+ | news | 15
DR PETER RICKABY COLUMN

Will we ever return

to normal?
Covid-19 has inadvertently given us a glimpse of what sustainable living patterns might look like, and we must
seize this opportunity for long-lasting positive change, says Dr Peter Rickaby.

I
n one of my early columns here I recalled
asking my students to imagine hovering
above a city for a day, and to describe
what they would see. They described tides
of commuters on bicycles, in cars, on buses
and metros, and on trains, flowing to work
in the morning and flowing home again to
suburbs, hinterland towns and beyond, in
the evening.
They remarked on the numbers of people
and the distances involved – commutes of
fifty miles each way being common. Some
also described cross-commutes between
sub-centres, and local commutes into
sub-centres and hinterland towns, to work
and school. Overlaid were inter-city journeys
to attend meetings, conferences or exhibi-
We have been given a glimpse of a
strong, and even in London we have spent
ten years building apartments and raising
densities as fast as we can.
Nevertheless, it is still the case almost
everywhere that as households become
more affluent they vote with their wheels to
live at the edge of the city or beyond, where
densities, air pollution and crime rates are
lower, schools are often perceived to be
better, and open space is more accessible.
This was the settlement trend of the
twentieth century, facilitated by cheap fuel,
carelessness about emissions and compla-
cent attitudes to the environment, and it has
only recently begun to change.
Now we suddenly find ourselves in
different circumstances. A global pandemic
migrants were under-valued, homeless
people slept on our streets and our environ-
ment was being destroyed.
However, I predict that many will resist.
Encouraged by David Attenborough, Greta
Thunberg, and Extinction Rebellion, we will
have the opportunity go further towards
a sustainable way of living and working.
Employers will trust their staff to work
from home, facilitating team cohesion by
events like morning and evening online
meetings. Employees (especially parents)
will value the flexibility associated with
working from home. Homes will slowly be
modified to make home-working easier.
Cars will become intermittently-used
public services, and with no ‘peaks’ public
transport will become cheaper, more
flexible and more comfortable.
How sustainable will the outcome be?

sustainable future. That remains to be seen, but I suspect that

things will never be quite the same again.
Going back is not a sustainable option. n

tions, and journeys to deliver materials and
distribute goods.
My assignment question associated with
this exercise was, “do you think what you
have described is a sensible pattern of settle-
ment?” Most students responded that it
was not, some that it was clearly unsustain-
able, one (emphatically) that it was insane.
Subsequently, we talked about the trade-off
between energy use in buildings and in
transport, the advantages of higher or lower
densities (the jury is still out on that), the
integration of agriculture with urban activi-
ties, and what a sustainable pattern of settle-
ment might look like.
In a recent column, I pointed out the
nonsense of referring to the Bloomberg
building in London as ‘sustainable’ when
it has a huge carbon footprint associated
with those who work there commuting to
and from their distant homes. My point in
both these examples is that the physical
separation of our urban places of work from
suburban and hinterland homes is at the
heart of the problem of sustainability.
This applies particularly to cities in the
UK and USA, and perhaps elsewhere, but
many cities in Europe and Asia have higher
residential densities and smaller commuter
catchments, so the tides there are smaller,
although still significant. In European cities
the tradition of urban apartment living is
and public health emergency left many of us
locked down at home. We are now working,
meeting, teaching, learning and shopping
online, and getting many of the things we
need delivered. Commuter trains are much
less crowded, bus services have been cut and
roads are no longer congested.
Almost nobody is flying anywhere. Energy
use in transport and commercial buildings
is down (though up slightly in domestic
buildings), carbon dioxide emissions are
down, urban air quality is much improved.
It is not all great of course – we are not
visiting family and friends, taking holidays
or weekends away, watching or playing
sport, drinking in pubs and bars, or eating
out at restaurants. Notwithstanding these
inconveniences, we have been given a
glimpse of what a sustainable future could
look like. We are learning which activities
need to be centralised and which can be
networked, that working or studying from
home are good options for many, and that
online media can provide social cohesion Dr Peter Rickaby is an independent
for everyone, not just for teenagers. energy and sustainability consultant.
He helps to run the UK Centre for
When the emergency is over (if it ever is),
Moisture in Buildings (UKCMB) at
conservative, populist politicians, bankers University College London, chairs the
and big business will want to return BSI Retrofit Standards Task Group,
everything to the way it was before – to and is active in training building
restore their profits and our former ‘way of professionals in retrofit coordination
life’, even if it was wasteful and unsustain- and risk management.
able. Even if healthcare was under-funded,

16 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
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FIONN STEVENSON COLUMN
We need better building
performance metrics
The way we currently do post-occupancy evaluation of buildings is inadequate, says Professor Fionn Stevenson — we
need new ways to measure the environmental impact of buildings, and how resilient they are to climate change.
T
here is an increasing expectation
that a robust performance evaluation
is carried out on the buildings we
design, once they are completed and again
after they have been occupied for some
time. These results are regularly reported
in this magazine. Post-occupancy evalua-
tion (POE) methods are well known, and in
the European Union there is a requirement
to publicly display energy use and carbon
emissions for public buildings under the
Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.
However, there is a serious concern about
whether the right metrics are being used to
make this evaluation. Is kWh/m2/yr really
good enough? What about total energy
use? What about adaptive comfort consid-
Four-and-a-half million homes are already
overheating in the UK each summer.
erations? Is climate change future-proofing
even considered in POE?
In my recent book on housing perfor-
mance, I address the issue of ‘sufficiency’ –
the need to take account not of just how well
our homes perform, but what their overall
impact is in terms of resource use.
In Passive House Plus issue 33, we had a
couple of new homes illustrated at around
150 m2 floor area, with primary energy
demands predicted to be 44 and 96 kWh/
m2/yr, and another home at around 276 m2
with a demand of 39 kWh/m2/yr. The inter-
esting thing here is not just the difference in
energy demand – it is the huge difference in
18 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
floor area.
When you multiply the energy demand per
m2 by the floor area, you get the total energy
in use demand, which is the more useful
figure for understanding the overall impact
of the building. The floor area significantly
influences embodied energy and carbon
emissions too. Looking at total demand
forces us to answer difficult questions such
as: do I really need all this space? Am I occu-
pying this home efficiently?
These questions matter, because it is the
overall impact of our buildings that ulti-
mately affects climate change, not the rate
of energy use on its own. A new manda-
tory metric in performance evaluation that
addresses total energy and carbon emissions
in use is needed to address this gap.
Another major issue remains unad-
dressed in current POE metrics: how many
people actually live in the home. Why does
this matter? If a home designed for a family
of five with three bedrooms only has two
people living in it, then it is underutilised
and causing profligate resource use. While
passive house and other useful environ-
mental performance standards address the
performance of a home, they do not address
how people use it.
Another new POE metric is needed, to
compare the number of people living in
a home with the number it was originally
designed for. This can work both ways, of
course, and reveal when a home is over-oc-
cupied too, with more people living in it than
sensibly designed for. This can be particu-
larly useful in rented housing, when rogue
landlords are overfilling homes. It can also
provide realistic figures of occupancy for
understanding what is really going on in
housing in terms of the amount of energy
used to house people.
Then there is the burning question of
whether homes are resilient in relation to
climate change. Four-and-a-half million
homes are already overheating in the UK
each summer. This is partly related to poor
design which prevents natural cross venti-
lation at night or creates inadequate MVHR
[mechanical ventilation with heat recovery]
systems.
While some building performance evalu-
ation tools, such as the passive house soft-
ware PHPP, factor in overheating for design
purposes, there is currently no requirement
to future-proof the performance of our
homes in relation to global temperature
increases, increased rainfall and other storm
factors. An additional performance metric is
needed at the design stage to ensure that all
essential factors related to climate change
have been taken into consideration.
In summary, we need better metrics for
housing performance evaluation, related
to the reality of space use, occupancy and
future-proofing. Fortunately, there is good
work going on in the UK Building Perfor-
mance Network to develop better perfor-
mance evaluation methods, and there is also
a chance to influence the forthcoming new
British standard that is being developed for
POE in relation to retrofit. n
A fully referenced version of this article is
online at www.passivehouseplus.ie
Fionn Stevenson holds a Chair in
Sustainable Design at the University
of Sheffield. She is a founder member
of the Building Performance Network,
and an advisor to the Royal Institute of
British Architects on POE policy. She
is author of ‘Housing Fit for Purpose:
Performance, Feedback and Learning,’
published in 2019 by the RIBA.
Twitter: @fionnstevenson
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MARC Ó RIAIN COLUMN
Are we the virus?
Taking a temporary detour from his series of columns on the history of sustainable building and renewable
energy, Dr Marc Ó Riain takes a look at Covid-19 from the perspective of Gaia theory, and at the relationship
between collapsing ecosystems and the emergence of new infectious diseases.
D
iverting from my usual column I have
taken the opportunity of solitude to
review some academic papers and
books relating to the development of Covid-19
in an environmental context.
James Lovelock’s Gaia theory (1972 &
2009) proposes that the planet is a complex
interacting system much like a single organism.
In this vision, humans are the virus making the
organism unstable, and thus Gaia’s immune
system will find ways of fighting the virus... in our
case with a virus, and it is not the first example.
The Spanish flu, Covid’s most appropriate
antecedent, lasted three years, and was caused
by the conflagration of war, mixing of French
soil, multinational armies, poor quality living
conditions, stress, fear and the use of chemical
gases, with its virulence aggravated by the repatri-
ation of soldiers, creating a true global pandemic .
Although in a different context, our
increasing travel, trade, industry, population,
pollution and expansionist agriculture has
placed an ever-increasing pressure on the
fringes of regional biodiversity. This is scientif-
ically linked to a “a rise in disease emergence
and the potential for pandemics” according to
researchers .
The rate of detection of these novel and
We disrupt
ecosystems, and
we shake viruses
loose.
epidemic-prone diseases, like Covid-19, is
increasing in frequency, and they are increas-
ingly difficult to manage; H1N1, SARS, MERS,
Ebola, Zika, Yellow Fever... Between 2011 and
2018, WHO tracked 1,483 epidemic events in
172 countries.
The increase in novel diseases is emer-
ging from the fringes of our societies along
the edges of biodiversity “hotspots” such as
tropical rainforests and bushmeat markets
in Brazil, Africa and Asia, but driven by the
northern hemisphere’s demand for meat,
minerals and materials.
According to the Centre for Disease Control
in the US, approximately 75% of emerging
infectious diseases and 60% of all pathogens
that infect humans have originated in animals.
David Quammen (2012) prophetically warned
20 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
Newly emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases (National Institute for Allergies & Infectious Diseases, USA)
us: “we cut the trees; we kill the animals or
cage them and send them to markets. We
disrupt ecosystems, and we shake viruses
loose. A parasitic microbe, thus jostled, evicted,
deprived of its habitual host, has two options—
to find a new host or a new kind of host... and
often, we are it.”
In 1997, epidemiologist Donald S Burke at
the University of Pittsburgh identified that the
coronavirus (CoV) has a proven ability to cause
epidemics in animal populations and intrinsic
evolvability to recombine to cause pandemics
in the human populations. Burke argued that
world governments and NGOs needed to be
actively monitoring remote places to identify
local spill-overs of CoV, with field capabilities
to suppress the disease before it becomes a
regional outbreak.
An interesting example of such monitoring
is the research carried out by the Global Viral
Forecasting Initiative (GVFI), which blot tested
bush meat in high risk areas for emerging
viruses, in a systematic effort to stop the next
pandemic before it begins to spread. This is
exactly the type of research that needs to be
funded and broadened to arrest pathogens
in small clusters, thus eliminating the virus
in human populations before they get a more
widespread foothold.
The development of these novel viruses
is part of a larger pattern, one which we are
responsible for, one where Gaia is defending
herself against us. Perhaps we need to flatten
the curve of population growth, sooner rather
than later, as the force of population expansion
is pressuring environments, creating the
opportunity for viruses to jump species.
Although world population is projected to
stop growing by the end of the century, per
capita energy consumption and CO2 emissions
have steadily increased over the past 50 years,
thus the pressure on habitat may still exist.
We need to start protecting our naturally
biodiverse regions, retaining them as the lungs
of the planet but also to contain the potential
pathogens that may bring us to our knees again.
The northern hemisphere also needs to take
responsibility in returning biodiversity to parts
of our farmlands, and by financially supporting
the protection of tropical ecosystems.
We reap what we sow, in terms of the terrible
consequences of lives lost and economies shut
down. We need to wake up and start to antici-
pate the next environmental shock, change
our behaviours and our laws before the planet
works out how to live without us. n
A fully referenced version of this article is
online at www.passivehouseplus.ie
Dr Marc Ó Riain is a lecturer at the
Department of Architecture at Cork
Institute of Technology, one of the
founding editors of Iterations design
research journal and practice review,
a former president of the Institute
of Designers in Ireland, and has
completed a PhD in low energy
building retrofit, realising Ireland’s first
commercial NZEB retrofit in 2013.
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CHURWELL CASE STUDY

ENERGY BILLS

£28
PER MONTH FOR GAS BILL
(estimate, see ‘In detail’ for more)

Building: Deep retrofit & extension

of 1960s brick house into 150 m2
near-passive home
Location: Stockport, Greater
Manchester
Standard: AECB Standard

22 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
 CASE STUDY CHURWELL

GOOD
STOCK
STYLISH STOCKPORT RETROFIT
ACHIEVES RADICAL ENERGY SAVINGS

This inspiring project may be exactly what the

deep retrofit sector needs: an example of how
to turn a bog standard, cold suburban home of
little architectural merit into a climate champion
delivering outstanding levels of energy
performance, comfort and health, all while
transforming the building architecturally.

Words by David W Smith

ph+ | churwell case study | 23

CHURWELL CASE STUDY

CONSTRUCTION IN PROGRESS

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

1 The derelict 1961 suburban house was bought in a sealed bid in March 2016; 2 & 3 floor to wall junction, with 150 mm Dow Styrofoam and
damp proof course at underside of external wall insulation; 4 airtightness detailing around windows, with windows to sit within the external
insulation layer; 5 roof to wall junction, showing Rockwool insulation meeting the external insulation, and airtightness taping; 6 close-up of the
280 mm Graphite EPS external wall insulation, bonded to existing brickwork with min 10 mm continuous adhesive to form airtight layer; 7 &
8 airtightness detailing and insulation to Lindab ductwork, for the mechanical ventilation with heat recovery system; 9 Tescon Vana breather
membrane lapped out under the roof with tiles, with external insulation being installed.

T
wo architects relocating from
London with a young family took
on the challenge of converting a
derelict 1961 suburban house in Stockport,
Greater Manchester into a passive house.
Russel and Anna Hayden were excited about
imposing their modern vision on what was
then an ordinary property with brick and
block cavity walls, in the hope of creating a
replicable example that could be copied up
and down the length of the country.
The house they created has bright and
spacious modern interiors that belie its
relatively ordinary facade. And although
the couple narrowly missed achieving the
Enerphit standard for passive retrofits, their
house performs superbly well and meets the
slightly less demanding AECB Standard.
“It was disappointing not to achieve
passive house as I’m a great supporter of the
thoroughness of the process, but we only
just missed it. We achieved 1.18 air changes
instead of the target of 1.0 and it doesn’t
change the fact that the house is comfortable
and pleasant to live in,” says Russel, who
self-managed the project from his parents-
in-law’s house across the road. “We also
love the timeless Scandi simple look, and
we’ve reused lots of things from the original
house. We turned the rails on the stairs into
door handles, and we sandblasted the cedar
cladding from the dining room and put it in
the hall.”
The thermal performance of the retrofitted
property has also easily surpassed that of
the couple’s previous house in London – in
both winter and summer. Two years ago,
when temperatures rose into the mid thirties
outside, the inside of their new house was no
more than 25 or 26 degrees. “The roof light
at the top of the stairs makes a huge differ-
ence as it creates a stack effect, so we only
need one or two windows open downstairs
to keep it cool,” Russel says. “Even when
it’s less than five degrees outside, the one
radiator downstairs is enough, and it barely
comes on. Upstairs, the radiators are never
needed.”

24 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34

The clean indoor air has improved the
sleep of Anna, who had bouts of insomnia
in London. “It was noticeable as soon as we
switched on the MVHR and felt the trickle of
cool, filtered air that we both enjoyed deeper
sleeps and vivid dreams. I’ve read scientific
research suggesting the effect is caused by
lower CO2 levels,” Russel says. Without dust,
he adds, there are no spiders and even their
dog’s hairs don’t settle and are easily sucked
into the vacuum cleaner. Meanwhile, the
triple glazing makes it so soundproof that the
couple barely notice planes going overhead,
and even slept right through a police car
chase that ended in the garden of their
next-door neighbour.
The Haydens bought the derelict property
for £310,000 in a sealed bid back in March
2016. It was in the popular Heatons area of
Stockport, in Greater Manchester, which
Russel says, “ticked a lot of millennial
boxes”. “It’s green and leafy, with a good
sense of community, but it’s a bit more
suburban than nearby Didsbury. It was also
opposite Anna’s parents’ house and they
kindly allowed us to move in there while we
got everything sorted,” he says.
The couple hired a local builder who began
ripping out the insides in April 2016. After he
To make the project
affordable, Russel
project-managed it from
over the road.
Photography: The Modern House
had demolished all the internal walls and
stripped out all the fittings, it left an empty
shell. In the summer of 2016, the family
left London, where Russel had worked for
Nicholas Hare Architects, and Anna for
Stanton Williams. They moved into the house
of Anna’s parents, with their two children,
Dexter, now eight, and Zoey, now five.
To make the project affordable, Russel
project-managed the retrofit from over the
road. Meanwhile, Anna took a job as project
director for the special exhibitions gallery
at Manchester’s Science and Industry
Museum, and the couple rented out their
London property. The cost of converting the
house came in at £170,000, but it would have
been far more without Russel’s DIY skills.
He had acquired a theoretical knowledge
of techniques from the AECB CarbonLite
Passivhaus Designer course and had shown
a keen interest in sustainable design at his
practice in London.
“I procured all the materials and agreed
with the builder what to do each day. I did all
the taping as the sequencing is so critical and
later on I did all the finishing off. The local
builder was a fantastic help, spending many
evenings on YouTube researching passive
house techniques. That was a real bonus
CASE STUDY CHURWELL
for us as it’s hard to describe accurately
what’s required when builders haven’t done
passive houses before. It’s one of the biggest
challenges in the industry,” he says.
Russel developed the design closely with
environmental consultancy Enhabit, who
provided passive house design services,
airtightness testing, the MVHR system and
the windows, and who have subsequently
merged with fellow passive house specialist
suppliers Green Building Store. “Russel
didn’t need as much guidance as most of our
clients because he was already knowledge-
able,” says Akta Raja, director of Enhabit.
“But one course doesn’t teach everything
you need to know about the building
physics of passive houses and getting all the
detailing right. We helped Russel to build the
PHPP model.”
Even with the help of Enhabit and a
design plan in place before they moved to
Stockport, the practicalities of self-man-
aging the project were far from straightfor-
ward. “I didn’t realise at the time just how
passive house workmanship has to be a level
above what the average builder is used to
achieving. The course gave a flavour of how
to do taping, for example, but it’s not the
same as working on a whole house. You can
ph+ | churwell case study | 25
CHURWELL CASE STUDY

have drawn every detail before you arrive CONSTRUCTION IN PROGRESS

on site, but lots of things crop up unexpect-
edly,” says Russel.
Russel spent a lot of time over the
Christmas period of 2016 laying industrial
parquet flooring throughout the house
while it was still empty, spending late nights
sanding and re-sanding. “The floor is a
key element as it provides a sense of unity
throughout the house. The spaces all meld
into one, which is lovely,” he says. As soon
as he had finished installing the floor, the
family moved into their new property in 1 2
February 2017. Although it felt quite cold
during that winter, the installation of 280
mm of thick expanded polystyrene to the
exterior transformed the feel.
The house has not been significantly
altered structurally, which helped to keep
costs down. The couple removed both
kitchen walls and a chimney breast in
order to create a large, open-plan space
downstairs, with living room, dining area
and kitchen. Upstairs they rebuilt partition
walls in order to create three better-propor-
tioned bedrooms, a bathroom and an en 3 4
suite. Part of the large garage was converted
into a shower room and utility space as part
of a new timber-framed studio extension
downstairs, which doubles up as an extra
bedroom for guests. The extension is clad
with cedar square-edge boards that Russel
collected from a sawmill in Hereford and
then air-dried naturally in the back garden.
The same boards were used to clad the
replaced tumbledown porch.
On the roof, the old 1960s tiles were
stripped off. New Larsen-truss type beams
were fixed to the side of the existing rafters 5 6
to make up the depth for almost 400 mm
mineral wool insulation, before installing
the new concrete tiles. On the ground floor, 1 & 2 Construction of the new roof with 325 mm deep OSB ribs creating cavities for the
Russel and Anna opted to keep the existing installation of new Rockwool insulation; 3 insulation and airtightness work around the opening
slab and apply the insulation and screed on for a new triple-glazed Fakro rooflight; 4 construction of the new timber-frame extension with
top, then the oak parquet flooring, which 150mm studs waiting for insulation; 5 Insula structural thermal break under steel column;
reduced some of the head space. 6 Lindab spiral galvanised ducting for the Paul MVHR system.
To gain back some head space, they left the
plasterboard off the ceiling joists, which also
provided a more rustic feel. “It raised a few
eyebrows, but we like it as it’s gnarly and a bit
rough,” Russel says. “We also had to jet-blast
the joists and underside of the floorboards
[above ground floor] and paint them with
intumescent paint to satisfy fire regulations.”
Having not quite reached the Enerphit
target for airtightness, Russel spent a
day looking for small holes. But he soon
realised that fixing the issues would require
unpicking a lot of the structural work and
cost a fortune. The primary air barrier for the
original walls was the layer of continuous 10
mm thick adhesive that joined the external
insulation to the brickwork (for the new
extension walls it was 18 mm SMARTPLY
OSB 3 board taped at junctions).
“Our weak point was where the garage and
the extension joined onto the rectangle of the
house. There were quite a few areas where
we didn’t have the parge coat. Next time, I
would pay more attention to the continuity
of the outer later, especially where you have
the roof [of the extension] coming into the

26 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34

cavity wall,” he says. “Once the air gets in
there, there’s nothing you can do. When we
dry lined the interiors, we could also have
made them even more airtight as a second
line of defence in case the outer one wasn’t
working perfectly.”
Enhabit’s Akta Raja sees the project as a
great success. “It’s tricky when you’ve never
done it before and you’re project managing,
to achieve passive house, especially with
an existing building. But it’s a great way
of setting a target and there’s no reason
to feel a failure if you don’t quite reach it.
The energy consumption is still 90 per cent
better than it would have been otherwise
and all that carbon annually will be saved for
the rest of a lifetime. Russel and Anna have
created a genuinely brilliant house which is
comfortable to live in and has great indoor
air quality,” she says.
She believes the AECB Standard is an
excellent alternative to passive house. The
AECB, of which the Passivhaus Trust is a
subsidiary – was instrumental in bringing
the passive house standard to the UK. Based
on the same methodology but recognising
that meeting the passive house standard can
prove too challenging in some situations, the
AECB Standard specifies good low energy
performance via a fabric-first approach,
utilising the passive house methodology and
design software, PHPP.
“Not only is it easier to meet, but members
of the AECB are able to self-certify, which
saves them the extra costs of passive house
accreditation,” she says. “The project was a
good learning experience and [Russel] has
brought his deeper understanding of energy
performance to his new work.” The AECB
told Passive House Plus it is now poised,
however, to allow only certified passive
house designers and other suitably qualified
individuals to self-certify projects to improve
on quality assurance. Others will be able to
hire qualified individuals for certification.
Russel Hayden now works as an architect
out of the house’s studio extension. The
project was a good learning experience and
he has brought his deeper understanding
of energy performance to his new work.
“Typically, I’ve been designing kitchen-diner
extensions on the back of leaky Victorian
semis. Clients like the juxtaposition of
contemporary designs with the older house.
I’ve also been involved in retrofitting older
houses to make them more energy efficient.
To date, I’ve not been commissioned to do a
passive house, but I have the understanding
now and I’d jump at the chance,” he says.
Passive house
workmanship has to be
a level above what the
average builder is used to.
CASE STUDY CHURWELL
SELECTED PROJECT DETAILS
Client: Anna & Russel Hayden
Architects: Hesketh Hayden
Passive house designer, M&E
engineer, windows & doors: Enhabit
Main contractor: Beswick & Son
Electrical contractor:
McDermott’s Electrical Services UK
Airtightness testing:
Peak Acoustics & Enhabit
Mechanical contractor:
David Holden Plumbing & Heating
EWI installer: Pegasus Externals
External wall insulation:
S and B EPS Ltd
External insulation system:
JUB Systems UK
Wall & roof insulation: Rockwool
Floor insulation: Kingspan
Sub-DPC insulation: Dow
Thermal breaks: Insula
Roof windows: Fakro
Cedar cladding: HW Morgan and Sons
Screeds: Foggs Floors WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Flooring: UK Wood Floors
The digital version of this magazine
Radiators: Stelrad
MVHR: Paul includes access to exclusive
Ventilation ductwork: Lindab galleries of architectural drawings.
Sanitaryware: Duravit
Roofing materials: Burton Roofing The digital magazine is available to
OSB: MEDITE SMARTPLY subscribers on www.passive.co.uk
A VERY MODERN HOUSE
L ast year, Anna and Russel’s house was
featured on the online journal of lead-
ing estate agency The Modern House,
ing market. “Sustainability and energy
efficiency are becoming increasingly im-
portant factors in a buyer’s decision to
who kindly provided us with the main set purchase a home as awareness of envi-
of images that accompany this article, ronmental issues are raised and buyers
and who are effusive in their praise of the become more mindful of their carbon
property. The Modern House has been footprint,” says the company’s commercial
credited by Esquire magazine as “rewrit- operations director, Rosie Falconer.
ing the rulebook on estate agency,” and And while she says that the nature of a
the agency says it “helps people to live in property and its location are still the most
more thoughtful and beautiful ways”. important factors for buyers, environmen-
“We profiled Anna and Russel at their tal concerns are gaining more weight.
home in Stockport as part of a series look- “The environment is becoming more
ing at wellbeing in the home,” The Mod- prevalent in the social consciousness and
ern House’s senior content editor Charlie design is always a response to society’s
Monaghan told Passive House Plus. “What collective concerns. As such, we are no-
we found was that, for Anna and Russel, ticing an increased focus on energy effi-
building to passive house standards not ciency particularly in new builds, which we
only contributed to their feeling of physi- only see as strengthening over the com-
cal wellness but came with immeasurable ing decade.”
mental benefits too.” You can read The Modern House’s in-
The agency also sees sustainability terview with Russel and Anna at tinyurl.
as growing considerations in the hous- com/russelandanna.
ph+ | churwell case study | 27
 CHURWELL CASE STUDY

Passivhaus
Passivhaus Certified
PassivhausCertified MVHR
CertifiedMVHR Systems
MVHRSystems
Systems
PRE HEATER
PRE
PREHEATER
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THE ADVANTAGES AT A GLANCE CVC offers free detailed 3D plans and specifications for all its projects.
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28 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34

Building type: Deep retrofit to link-detached
two-storey house built 1961, plus new
single-storey timber frame extension to rear.
Finished floor area 150 m2.
Location: Heaton Moor, Stockport
Budget: £170,000 project cost
Completion date: November 2017
Space heating demand (PHPP):
Before: 423 kWh/m2/yr
After: 25 kWh/m2/yr
Heat load (PHPP):
Before: 143 W/m2
After: 13 W/m2
Heat loss form factor (PHPP): 3.6
Overheating: 0% of year above 25C
Number of occupants: 4 + dog
Primary energy demand (PHPP)
Before: 578: kWh/m2/yr
After: 92 kWh/m2/yr
Environmental assessment method: N/A
Energy performance certificate (EPC)
Before: G
After: N/A
Measured energy consumption:
Before: N/A
After: 69 kWh/m2/yr (Jan-Dec 2019, based on
meter readings for electricity use)
Energy bills
Before: N/A
After: £338 on gas annually (Oct 2018 - Oct
2019); £628 on electricity annually (Oct 2018 -
Oct 2019)
Airtightness (at 50 Pascals)
Before: 14 air changes per hour (ACH, estimated)
After: n50: 1.18 ACH. Air permeability: 1.123 m3/
hr/m2. Both at 50 Pascals.
IN DETAIL
Ground floor:
Before: Uninsulated concrete slab with
embedded underfloor heating.
After: Existing concrete slab (underfloor heating
no longer used) followed above by 100 mm
Kooltherm K3 insulation, 80 mm Retanol Xtreme
screed, 25 mm industrial oak parquet finish.
U-value: 0.187 W/m2K.
Existing walls
Before: Existing brick/concrete block walls
with empty 70 mm cavity. U-value average:
2.03 W/m2K
After: 280 mm Graphite EPS external wall
insulation with JUB silicone render finish to
existing walls. Insulation installed in one layer;
bonded to brick with min 10 mm continuous (not
dabs) adhesive to form airtight line. Mechanical
fixings are 335 mm EJOT STRU 2G countersunk
screws with insulation cover at 7/m2. U-value:
0.120 W/m2K. Below ground: 150 mm Dow
Styrofoam from damp proof course (DPC, at
underside of EWI) down to footings.
Existing roof
Before: Concrete tiles on battens on felt, no
insulation
After: Concrete tiles, battens and c/battens
followed underneath by Pro Clima Solitex
underlay (wind-tight line), continuous 60 mm
Rockwool Hardrock DD slabs; roof structure
built up with 325 mm deep OSB3 ribs fixed to
side of rafters; 330 mm Rockwool Flexi between
ribs, 18 mm SMARTPLY OSB3 boarding to
underside of rafters, joints taped with Tescon
Vana (airtight line). U-value: 0.111 W/m2K
Extension floor: New 125 mm concrete slab
with 200 mm Kooltherm K3 insulation, 80 mm
Retanol Xtreme screed: U-value: 0.097 W/m2K.
Extension walls: Vertical cedar cladding
on battens and counter battens externally,
followed inside by Solitex Fronta Quattro
breather membrane, 140 mm Rockwool DD
slabs, 150 mm timber stud frame with 150 mm
Rockwool Flexi between, 18 mm SMARTPLY
OSB3 boarding (airtight line), battens and
plasterboard as service void. U-value: 0.119
W/m2K.
CASE STUDY CHURWELL
Extension flat roof: GRP waterproofing system
on OSB3 tongue & groove decking externally,
followed underneath by firring battens forming
vented zone, Solitex Plus membrane with
Tescon Naidec taped joints (wind-tight and
waterproof line), 60 mm Rockwool Hardrock
DD slabs, 300 mm deep OSB3 ribs with
310 mm Rockwool Flexi between, 18 mm
SMARTPLY OSB3 boarding (airtight line),
battens and plasterboard as service void.
U-value: 0.179 W/m2K
Windows & doors
Before: Single glazed, timber windows and
doors. Overall approximate U-value: 2.48W/m2K
New windows & doors: Enhabit Scandinavian
Slimline windows. Timber with aluminium
cladding. Average U-value of glazing: 0.54 W/
m2K. Average U-value of frame: 1.29 W/m2K.
Average g-value: 0.52
Roof window: Fakro FTT U6 triple glazed roof
windows with thermally broken timber frames.
U-value: 0.81 W/m2K
Heating system
Before: Underfloor heating to ground slab and
open fireplace. Upstairs unknown.
After: Viessmann 200-W 19kW system boiler
with Vitotronic 300-K weather compensator;
radiators with thermostatic valves. 250L Stelflow
S250T twin coil cylinder with cylinder stat and
backup 3kW electric immersion heater.
Ventilation
Before: No ventilation system. Reliant on
infiltration, chimney and opening of windows for
air changes.
After: Paul Novus 300 heat recovery ventilation
system, with Lindab spiral galvanised ducting.
Passive house certified heat recovery efficiency
of 94-94%.
Green materials: Cedar cladding from
Hereford, timber frame to extension, parquet
flooring. Items re-used from original house
include internal cedar cladding, balustrades as
door handles, steel storage shelves as fence
panels, old brick walling as hardcore.
ph+ | churwell case study | 29
DEVON CASE STUDY

SEA
CHANGE
L U X U R Y Z E R O - E N E R G Y PA S S I V E A PA R T M E N T S
RISE ON THE DEVON COAST

Built mostly with clay blocks and sited above the sandy shores of Seaton, on
the Devon coast, this new development of eight high-end apartments not only
meets the passive house ‘plus’ standard — meaning it pairs the requisite ultra-low
energy fabric with a substantial amount of renewable energy generation — but it
also boasts serious attention to the use of ecological and healthy materials.

Words by David W Smith

30 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
 CASE STUDY DEVON

ENERGY BILLS

£0.91
PER DAY FOR ALL ENERGY USE*
*One apartment, based on 10 months
monitored data

Building: Five-storey block of eight

luxury apartments, 101 m2 to 138 m2 each
Location: Seaton, Devon
Standard: Passive house plus certified

ph+ | devon case study | 31

DEVON CASE STUDY
T
he county of Devon has been a hotspot
for passive house development for
more than a decade. Exeter City
Council, in particular, has backed numerous
schemes, including affordable housing
schemes and a leisure centre with a swimming
pool. Recently, the £3 million Seaton Beach
development on Devon’s coast became the
first multi-unit residential building in Britain
to achieve passive house ‘plus’ certification.
The project also won awards for best sustain-
able residential development in the UK and
best apartment in Devon (for its top-floor
penthouse) from the International Property
Awards. friends in Devon in May 2015 and happened
The presence in Exeter of passive house
architects, Gale & Snowden, has helped to
accelerate the trend for large scale passive
32 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
house development in the area, and the
five-storey Seaton Beach was no exception.
Although the original design was produced
by a different architect, Gale & Snowden later
worked on the passive house elements.
At the outset, however, Mike Webb,
managing director of Seaton Beach Develop-
ments Ltd (SBD), had not intended to build
to the passive house standard. Webb simply
wanted to develop a block of eight luxury
apartments with sea views in this small coastal
town, near Lyme Regis.
“Seaton Beach was a rare chance find for
a speculative development. We were visiting
to walk past a large Victorian property for sale
on the sea front. We quickly formed a develop-
ment company with a friend who backed the
venture, and bought it for £515,000 two weeks
later,” says Webb, who lives in Tenbury Wells,
in Worcestershire, where he and his wife own
rented properties and a solar installations
company.
The rather downtrodden and unremarkable
old building was knocked without issue, and
Webb’s co-directors, Mike and Anne Dowling,
selected Exeter architects Clifton Emery
Design to produce plans for the new tower.
Webb was happy with Clifton Emery’s
design, describing it as “beautiful, curved
and artistic”, but the local planning officer
was less enthusiastic and, consequently, the
planning committee denied permission by
one vote in July 2016. Their concerns centered
on the height and depth of the building and
its relationship to the properties adjoining the

narrow site. But Webb believes they “failed to
see the regenerative potential”.
The battle for planning permission went on
for several months. In the end, SBD turned to
the local design review panel for support. The
panel endorsed the scheme and, finally, East
Devon District Council approved planning in
November 2016.
At this point it became clear that the
south-facing orientation and form factor
made it possible to build to the passive
house standard. “Over the years I’ve
become passionate about passive houses
and it seemed a great way to leave a legacy
to the earth,” Webb says. “I realised this
development was the best chance I would
ever get to do that.”
Photography: Norrsken / Dug Wilders
CASE STUDY DEVON
It’s an attempt to look at
the living environment
more holistically.
To be confident of achieving the standard,
Webb needed a practical specialist in passive
house design to complete the work started by
Clifton Emery. In February 2017, when Webb
met architect Tomas Gaertner – the man he
dubs “the German genius” – he knew he had
found the right man.
Gaertner was at that time a director at Gale
& Snowden. He had trained and worked as
an architect in Germany, the birthplace of
passive house. But he had only designed a
handful of residential passive houses there
before moving to the UK in 2007. Gartner’s
arrival in Exeter proved timely, as his skills in
energy efficient design were in great demand.
The influential Emma Osmundsen,
managing director at Exeter City Living
ph+ | devon case study | 33
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34 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
www.norrsken.co.uk

group — the local authority’s development
arm — provided the political clout that made
a lot of passive house development possible.
Gaertner’s first passive house scheme in
Exeter was the influential Knights Place
affordable housing scheme, in 2010. Now
working for SE3Design, he has continued
to collaborate with Osmundsen, mainly on
larger commercial developments (Gaertner
left Gale & Snowden part way through this
project and Lawrence Millyard took over as
project architect).
Gaertner did not need to make major
structural changes to Clifton Emery’s design
for Seaton Beach. His main role was to take
charge of the passive house detailing. “There
were no drastic changes, although the final
design was a bit higher to allow for [more]
insulation in the penthouse, and to make
space for the roof terrace,” he says. Clifton
Emery’s plan, however, had proposed using
a concrete frame for the entire structure, but
Gaertner says this would have been more
expensive and made the detailing of airtight-
ness junctions more difficult.
Instead, Gaertner proposed building the
ground floor in concrete, using poroton clay
blocks from the first to the third floors, then
installing a timber frame for the penthouse on
the fourth floor.
He explains that with a concrete frame,
structural elements such as columns and
floors are separated from the space-en-
closing elements (i.e., the external walls) by
movement joints and gaps between infill wall
panels and ceilings, to allow for deflection.
For airtightness, this would require flexible
junction details using membranes and tapes.
“Tape details — especially in a wet, dusty
CASE STUDY DEVON
construction — are higher risk as substrates
are often not adequate and tapes are prone
to delaminate and fail,” Gaertner says. “The
block construction allowed for a simple
plaster detail for airtightness without any
junction tapes.”
The poroton blocks are also aerated and
thus provide insulation, which appealed to
Gaertner as it meant he could avoid the use of
plastic insulation for most of the building.
The top floor steps back from the rest of
the building below, so to reduce its weight
and allow it to be built without additional
steel beams or lintels, it was built with a
timber frame.
Gaertner’s approach to passive houses
has been influenced by building biology, the
construction philosophy that emerged in
Germany in the 1960s. “It’s an attempt to look
at the living environment more holistically.
We consider the impact of the materials on
both the living environment and the ecolog-
ical environment. We try to be energy efficient
and use renewables, but at the same time not
compromise on materials. It’s about avoiding
poor air quality and mould. We also follow the
World Health Organisation’s standards for
healthy indoor environments,” he says.
At Seaton Beach, for example, the use of
monolithic clay block follows the principles
of building biology. “It’s highly hygroscopic
[meaning it can absorb and release moisture]
and moves moisture around in the building,
which will help to regulate internal humidity,”
Gaertner says. We try to be energy
Another feature of Seaton Beach in keeping
with building biology was the use of AURO
efficient, but not
natural mineral paints. “They contain no compromise on materials.
additives, such as fungicides. The higher lime
ph+ | devon case study | 35
DEVON CASE STUDY

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36 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34

200310_Anz_IK_XT Typ K_190x135_GB_rz.indd 1 08.06.20 16:14


content means the paint acts as an anti-fungal
and doesn’t create a chemical problem.
In contrast, when you use non-permeable
emulsion paints, the moisture cannot move
into the walls quickly enough. The only way
to get rid of it then is with ventilation. It’s
especially important in winter to have the
buffering potential in the walls.”
Following building biology principles is
easier in the south west of England than
in some other parts of the UK because the
region has a mild climate, Gaertner says. This
means it’s possible to reach the passive house
standard with less insulation.
“It’s inevitable when you push for higher
insulation levels, especially on commercial
developments, that you end up using some
petrochemical materials because the projects
otherwise become too expensive,” he says.
“With the milder climate, we can get away
with much less insulation… [the poroton walls
here for example have a U-value of 0.26).”
Rather than install a lot of insulation at
Seaton Beach, Gaertner maximised the free
energy savers from the block’s good orienta-
tion and form. It was especially critical to pay
attention to the window detailing. The original
design had curved triple glazed windows,
which had to be replaced with straight-edged
ones. The biggest problem with the original
design was a three-metre-high, three-sided
glass window in the penthouse. It provided
beautiful sea views but would have acted like
a greenhouse. Gaertner designed a lot of solar
shading to prevent overheating, reducing the
glazing to a more sensible proportion while
retaining the views.
That solar shading was provided by
the defining aesthetic feature at Seaton
CASE STUDY DEVON
Beach – the building’s generous curved
sea-facing balconies from Surrey-based SELECTED PROJECT DETAILS
specialists Balconette – including curved
Client: Seaton Beach Developments
glass balustrades and marine grade chrome Architect: Gale & Snowden
handrails to make the most of the sea views. Initial/planning architect:
This feature serves as a striking counterar- Clifton Emery Design
gument to the notion that the passive house M&E engineer: Gale & Snowden
standard, which is easier to achieve with Passive house & building biology
consultants: Gale & Snowden
simpler, box-like forms, leads to prosaic
M&E contractors: Total Home
buildings, even where the envelope remains Environment & Fords of Sidmouth
box-like, as in Seaton Beach. Good architec- Civil & structural engineer:
ture embraces restrictions. With a little design StructureHaus
ingenuity, and the use of Schoeck Isokorb Main contractor:
thermally broken balcony connectors, a Classic Builders (SW) Ltd
Quantity surveyors: Randall Simmonds
box-like building is wrapped in beautiful yet Mechanical & electrical contractor:
functional curves, while enhancing rather Fords of Sidmouth
than compromising the building’s energy Airtightness tester:
performance. New Barton Contracts
A mechanical ventilation system further Heating & ventilation system:
enhanced energy saving. “All these various Total Home Environment
Passive house certifier: WARM
measures meant we were able to compro- Timber frame: Allwoods
mise on the U-values and use materials Cellulose insulation:
with benefits for the environment, ecology Warmcel, via Smart Construction SW
and health,” he says. Each apartment has a External wall insulation:
Genvex Combi 185 BP combined ventilation McCarthys Contractors Ltd
Poroton blocks: Wienerberger
and air-to-air heat pump, which can heat
Thermal break: Schoeck
up 185 litres of stored water. To back it up, Balcony systems: Balconette
there are three electric towel rails and two Floor insulation: Dow
wall-mounted electric radiators in case of Airtightness products:
extreme weather. Green Building Store
On the roof, there are 49 solar PV panels Airtight OSB: MEDITE SMARTPLY
Windows & doors: Norrsken
with a maximum output of 16kW and an Roof windows: Velux
annual yield of 14,234 kWh. The addition of Shading: RSL Roller Shutters
the solar panels along with the Genvex heat Zinc cladding: Pace Roofing & Cladding
pump took the PHPP calculations into the Carpets: Axminster Carpets
“plus” category. Roofing: Bauder
Webb attributes the success of the Seaton Solar PV: Wind & Sun Ltd
Lighting: Fords of Sidmouth
Beach project to what he calls “education and
collaboration”. The “collaborative” element
ph+ | devon case study | 37
DEVON CASE STUDY

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38 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34

CONSTRUCTION IN PROGRESS
1 2
4 5
7 8
Detail showing Isokorb thermal
breaks where the balconies meet
the Porotherm clay block walls
CASE STUDY DEVON
3
6
9
1 Work begins on the project with the
knocking of the existing structure, a large,
unremarkable Victorian property on the
seafront; 2 & 3 construction under way of
the ground floor structure, which features
300 mm Dow XPS insulation; 4 the bulk of
the structure was built using poroton clay
blocks, which are aerated and thus provide
insulation; 5 plastering of this blockwork
internally provided a straightforward way
to make the walls airtight; 6 windows are
Norrsken composite timber and marine
grade aluminium triple glazed units, with
solar shading provided by the defining
aesthetic feature at Seaton Beach – the
building’s generous curved sea-facing
balconies; 7 the fourth floor penthouse
apartment was built with a timber frame,
and steps back from the rest of the building
below to reduce its weight; 8 ductwork for
the Genvex combined ventilation and air-to-
air heat pump, installed in each apartment;
9 the roof of the building, five floors up, is
insulated with Warmcel cellulose insulation
and finished with a Bauder membrane; also
seen are the openings for two Velux triple-
glazed rooflights.
ph+ | devon case study | 39
DEVON CASE STUDY
came from the close cooperation of all parties,
many of whom had already worked together
on other passive houses. Meanwhile, the
“education” of the on-site workers in how to
build passive houses was important because
the building contractor Classic Builders SW
was not an experienced specialist in the field.
At the start, Webb took a team of 30 building
workers for a day’s training with the passive
house specialist Peter Warm, in Plymouth. “It
taught them everything they needed to know
about building passive houses, which put
everyone’s minds at rest as they were under
a lot of pressure to deliver,” he says. Addition-
ally, Robin Pike, the Classic site manager,
took on the role of airtight champion and
delivered some exceptional airtightness
results. Webb also engaged quantity surveyors
Randall Simmonds and structural engineers
StructureHaus, who had previously worked
with Tomas Gaertner in Exeter.
Despite the well-informed team, the project
overran by six months. It was completed
after 18 months in October 2019. Some of the
delays were down to the strong, squally winds
that blew in from the sea. “One example was
when five articulated lorries arrived from
Bristol in March last year carrying concrete
planks, but we had to send them back as it was
too windy to lift anything,” Webb says. “Using
40 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
higher quality products drove up the price and
led to time overruns, but we wanted to use the
best materials, such as the zinc shingles that
clad the penthouse.”
Webb already had several years’ experience With the milder climate,
of working with renewable technologies and we can get away with
qualified as a passive house consultant during
the build. He acted as clerk of works, travel-
less insulation.
ling regularly from Worcestershire to Devon.
In July 2019, one of the apartments became a
show home and in August, the first permanent
resident moved in.
Webb also decided in January 2020 to turn
the penthouse apartment into an art gallery,
partly to showcase local artists, but also
to attract potential buyers. To date, Webb
has sold five of the eight units, and another
potential sale is on hold because of the fallout
from Covid-19. The penthouse was put on the
market in time for summer, but again it had to
be postponed due to Covid-19.
Once the Covid-19 crisis is over, Webb will
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
resume his plans for more passive house
developments near his home in Worcester- The digital version of this magazine
shire. He also acts as a consultant for potential includes access to exclusive
passive-house builders. “With everything I’ve galleries of architectural drawings.
learned on the Seaton Beach project, I could
save people a fortune on architects’ fees and The digital magazine is available to
help them work closely with the designers of subscribers on www.passive.co.uk
their homes,” he says.

Building type: Five-storey new build
apartment block of 8 units with 870.7 m2 total
floor area. Apartments ranging in size from
101 m2 to 138 m2.
Location: Seafront site in Seaton, Devon
Completion date: November 2019
Budget:
£3.5 million (inc. site purchase of £515,000)
Passive house certification:
Passive house plus certified
Space heating demand (PHPP):
12 kWh/m2/yr
Heat load (PHPP): 11.2 W/m2
Primary energy demand (PHPP):
100 kWh/m2/yr
Primary energy renewable (PHPP):
54 kWh/m2/yr
Overheating (PHPP): 1% of year above 25C
Number of occupants: PHPP based on 20.1.
Actual to date 6-10 as some are second
homes.
Airtightness (at 50 Pascals): 0.5 ACH
Energy performance certificate (EPC):
All units A-rated (97-99)
Measured energy consumption: Unit X
is occupied full time by a single person
and from 4 August 2019 to 4 June 2020
(10 months) total electricity imported was
2,009 kWh. A further 744 kWh was used
direct from the 2 kWp solar PV array. When
PV production exceeded the apartment’s
demand, a further 1,184 kWh of PV produced
electricity was exported. The other
apartments & the communal areas can use
this first, before being exported to the grid.
From the 10 months actual consumption (and
IN DETAIL
applying May data for June and July), an
annual use of 2,753 kWh can be forecast. The
Genvex Combi MVHR & heat pump unit in
Unit X uses 1,457 kWh/yr (121 kWh per month
avg). The remaining 1,295 kWh includes 3 x
towel rails which are designed to meet 50%
of heat demand. See below for solar PV
electricity production.
Energy bills: For Unit X above, the total
annual energy costs are £333.
Thermal bridging: All thermal bridges
were numerically modelled to demonstrate
compliance with the passive house standard.
Ground floor: 250 mm compacted base
followed above by 25 mm sand blinding,
1 mm DPM, 300 mm Dow XPS insulation,
separating layer, 200 mm reinforced
concrete slab, 10 mm acoustic mat & 65 mm
screed. U-value: 0.141 W/m2K
Walls
Ground floor: 16 mm Alsecco render
externally followed inside by 200 mm
Neopor EWI, 215 mm concrete block, 15 mm
plaster. U-value: 0.194 W/m2K
First to third floors: 16 mm Alsecco render
externally followed inside by 365 mm
Poroton T10 block by Wienerberger, 15 mm
Plaster. U-value: 0.259 W/m2K
Fourth floor: Factory-built timber frame by
Allwoods with marine grade zinc cladding
externally on 22 mm ply, followed inside
by 50 x 50 mm treated battens and
counter-battens, pro clima Solitex Plus
membrane, 12 mm OSB board, 180 mm
Warmcel-filled TJI stud, 15 mm taped and
sealed Smartply Propassiv, 50 mm service
cavity and 15 mm plasterboard & wet plaster
skim internally. U-value: 0.141 W/m2K
Roof: Factory-built timber frame by Allwoods
with Bauder membrane externally on 22 mm
ply, followed inside by 50 x 50 mm treated
battens, 22 mm ply, 310 mm Warmcel-filled
TJI stud, 15 mm taped and sealed Smartply
Propassiv, 50 mm service cavity and 15 mm
CASE STUDY DEVON
plasterboard & wet plaster skim internally.
U-value: 0.081 W/m2K
Windows & external doors: Norrsken
composite timber and marine grade
aluminium triple glazing, with argon filling and
an overall U-value of 0.82 W/m2K average.
Roof windows: 3 x Velux GGU triple glazed
roof windows. U-value: 1.01 W/m2K
Heating & MVHR combined system:
Genvex Combi 185 BP MVHR unit combined
with micro air source heat pump (330W) with
2 x 71W fans provides 50% of heat demand.
This is topped up by 3 x 150W direct electric
towel rails & then for extreme weather 2
x Dimplex wall-mounted radiators. The
Genvex Combi unit also heats 185L of stored
hot water & also has a 1 kW immersion for
faster recovery. The Genvex Combi 185 is
Passive House Institute certified to have heat
recovery efficiency of 71.2%.
Water: Above ground rainwater harvesting
tanks, low flow fixtures in all areas.
Electricity: 49 panel REC 320W solar
photovoltaic panels (covering 80.2 m2) with
maximum output of 16 kW & annual yield of
14,234 kWh. The array feeds the 8 x 2 kWp
inverters, one for each apartment. Sample unit:
Based on the first 10 months data – again with
May data applied to June and July - Unit X is
projected to produce 2,034 kWh of electricity,
of which 1,184 kWh is exported to other units/
communal facilities before any excess is
exported to the grid. The full building receives
a £1,000 feed-in tariff each year which is used
to subsidise residents’ service fees.
Green materials: Recycled wood from
demolished house used for pergola, stone
from demolition used for boundary wall,
Warmcel cellulose (recycled newspaper)
insulation, Auro natural paints, 100% wool
carpets locally sourced from Axminster
carpets, all timber from PEFC certified
sources, clay blocks recyclable at end of life.
ph+ | devon case study | 41
COUNTY DUBLIN CASE STUDY

ENERGY BILLS

€125
PER MONTH FOR ALL ENERGY
(estimate, see ‘In detail’ for more)

Building: Deep retrofit & extension of

1960s cavity wall house
Location: Blackrock, Co Dublin
Standard: A3

42 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
 CASE STUDY COUNTY DUBLIN

NORTHERN
EXPOSURE
Deep energy retrofit transforms north-facing Dublin seaside semi

Even though its stunning views lay directly northward, simple design, good
detailing and lots of insulation have turned this 1960s semi on the edge of
Dublin Bay into a warm and light-filled low energy home.

Words by John Cradden

ph+ | county dublin case study | 43

COUNTY DUBLIN CASE STUDY

I
f you’re an experienced architect who has
taken the opportunity in recent years to
learn about building performance and
energy efficiency, the chances are it will have
a seismic impact on the way you design any
future projects.
One upshot is that projects like this attrac-
tive retrofit of a 1960s four-bed semi-de-
tached house in Blackrock, Co Dublin, are all
about achieving an equal balance between
quality design and thermal performance.
The rear of the house is north facing
but with probably one of the best views
anywhere of Dublin Bay, taking in the iconic
red and white twin chimneys of the Poolbeg
power station all the way over to Dun
Laoghaire harbour.
When Ruth and Tom Jenkinson fell in
love with and bought the original property
in 2017, it was an E-rated dwelling with a
small 1980s style extension that hadn’t been
lived in for some time. But they quickly
commissioned Trevor Dobbyn of Fabrica
Architects with a brief for a modern, well-in- by a short, single-storey extension to the tion’s professional energy skills in NZEB
sulated house that maximised the view, and front and a generous two-storey extension to course, and also the RIAI environmental
which needed minimal maintenance. It the rear, while also being retrofitted to an A3 accreditation.
also needed to be adaptable to living on the building energy rating (BER). “It’s very difficult to un-see a thermal
ground floor. Naturally the aim was to open up those bridge once you’ve learned about them,”
The accommodation brief was achieved amazing views, so the primary challenge was he says. Before that, “the kind of physical
how to offset the large amount of glazing that performance of the building would have
would be needed at the north-facing rear been further down the list originally when
with the potential for heat loss. “Therefore, you’re doing designs, so when you learn that
the overall performance of the building was kind of skill, it lends itself to trying to balance
of equal importance to the quality of the a building that’s as efficient as possible but is
interior looking out onto Dublin Bay,” says also aesthetically pleasing.
The rear of the house is Dobbyn. “So, there’s a bit of a trade-off depending
Having worked for the prestigious Dublin- on what you’re trying to achieve... some bits
north-facing but with one based practice de Blacam & Meagher you might feel the design is worth pushing
of the best views of Architects since qualifying in 1997, Dobbyn more than the thermal performance and
Dublin Bay. was one of the first to enroll in DIT’s diploma
in thermal bridge assessment in 2013, which
vice versa. You’re trying to detail it so you’re
not causing thermal bridges... and you can
he followed up in 2016 with the same institu- be kind of restricted in how it looks if you’re

44 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34

just purely going for thermal performance.”
This approach explains details like the
slender pillars at the front, supporting the
large canopy and covered entrance that gives
vital shading at the south-facing facade, but
which lightens the look and closely matches
the shape and feel at the rear.
“The use of shading canopies and projec-
tions allows the front and rear elevations
to be broken into more slender forms,”
Dobbyn says. “They are outside the insula-
tion envelope so they can be much lighter.
While the rear canopy is technically not
for solar shading, it is angled to face Dun
Laoghaire harbour, and allow the owner to
have his morning coffee in shelter, while also
allowing me to hide the parapet above the
sliding doors.”
The 1960s semi-D is of a solid-block
construction, so in order to maintain the
consistency in terms of the construction
materials and method, it made sense to opt
for a masonry build for the extension, with
the whole shell wrapped in EPS external
insulation, finished with an acrylic external
render.
Other fabric measures included pass-
ive certified, triple glazed timber alu-clad
Photography: Artur Sikora
windows all round (with exception of the
rooflights), and insulated stone floors with
underfloor heating, while the pitched roof
was rebuilt with new counter battens,
airtight membrane and Xtratherm insula-
tion boards.
The garden is fairly small, but another
touch was to install a pillarless safety glass
wall at the end to preserve the view, partic-
ularly from a sitting position.
A 12 kW Panasonic Aquarea air source heat
pump handles the heating duties, while a
Lunos E2 demand-controlled heat recovery
system looks after ventilation. Supplied
by Galway firm Partel, it’s a decentralised
ventilated system with automated humidity
control.
It was chosen because it is a ductless,
self-contained system, mitigating the need
to do extensive modifications to install
ductwork, particularly given the steelwork
required for the extension.
Coming from a traditional gas boiler and
central heating system, the adjustment to
this new heating-and-ventilation arrange-
ment took a while for the Jenkinson’s. “It is
simple to operate. You choose the tempera-
ture you want at each room thermostat and
CASE STUDY COUNTY DUBLIN
the machine does the rest,” says Ruth. “It
takes longer to build up or reduce the heat
than a gas boiler system.”
She adds that the ventilation certainly
enhances the air quality but is audible .
The final airtightness test was delayed
pending the arrival of a new front door,
so results were not available at the time
of writing, but Dobbyn reports that while
access to the relevant points in the building
for airtightness measures was OK, some
areas were a little tricky to get at, such
as where there the roof rafters met the
adjoining property, and the existing first
floor joists.
In all, the build progressed fairly smoothly
starting in May 2018 and finishing in April
2019, although the completion was delayed
because the windows were some six weeks
late.
“We were thrilled with the layout, ambi-
ence and the modern comforts,” says Ruth.
“We were particularly pleased with the
upstairs sitting room and the added bright-
ness it gives to that level of the house.
“Living in it has been a joy. We installed
solar panels but we’re not sure how cost
effective they are and perhaps we need
ph+ | county dublin case study | 45
COUNTY DUBLIN CASE STUDY

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46 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
 CASE STUDY COUNTY DUBLIN

CONSTRUCTION IN PROGRESS

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

1 & 2 The front and rear facades of the 1960s semi-detached house prior to renovation; 3 work underway on removing the existing small
extension and windows at the rear of the house; 4 works carried out during the renovation included rebuilding the original pitched roof;
5 the new two-storey extension at the rear was designed to maximise the spectacular views across Dublin Bay, despite being north-facing;
6 underfloor heating installed throughout the ground floor; 7 & 8 pro clima Intello membrane to extension ceiling and roof window opening,
with airtightness taping; 9 new alu-clad triple-glazed sliding doors were installed to the garden extension.

more panels. We certainly have a warm and

SELECTED PROJECT DETAILS
comfortable home and the bills reflect a
modern build.” Architect: Fabrica Architects
Dobbyn is happy that the final result has Heat pump & underfloor heating:
achieved that vital balance between energy Base Engineering Ltd
Civil & structural engineer:
performance and design that completely
OBA Consulting
fulfils the brief. “The clients have confirmed Main contractor:
no issues with the storms during the year Mark Whelan Building Services
with the extent of glazing to the rear, and the Mechanical contractor:
view is just incredible,” says Dobbyn. John Thompson Plumbing
If the Jenkinson’s have been confined to Electrical contractor:
this home during the Covid-19 lockdown, Action Electrical Contractors
you can certainly think of worse places to be. Airtightness products:
Ecological Building Systems
External insulation:
Green Zone Products
WANT TO KNOW MORE? Windows & doors:
Passive Window Systems Ltd
The digital version of this magazine Roof lights: Cubo
includes access to exclusive Screed: Ultraflo
galleries of architectural drawings. Flat roofs: Laydex Building Solutions We were thrilled with the
The digital magazine is available to
Wood stove: Heatco
Decentralised MVHR systems: Partel
layout, ambience and the
subscribers on www.passive.co.uk Solar PV: Base Engineering modern comforts.

ph+ | county dublin case study | 47

 COUNTY DUBLIN CASE STUDY

“I“Iwish
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48 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34 e: membership@aecb.net
e: membership@aecb.n

Building type: Deep retrofit & extension to 147
m2 existing semi-detached house from 1960.
New converted roof space, and single-storey
extension to front. Finished floor area 183 m2.
Location: Blackrock, Co Dublin
Budget: Undisclosed
Completion date: April 2019
BER
Before: D1 (251 kWh/m2/yr)
After: A3 BER (55.5 kWh/m2/yr)
Energy performance co-efficient (EPC): 0.393
Carbon performance co-efficient (CPC): 0.285
Energy bills (after): The Jenkinson’s told
Passive House Plus that their total electricity
bill for 2019 (the house is all-electric) was
approximately €1,500, which averages out
at €125 per month for all heating, lighting,
ventilation and appliances.
Airtightness (at 50 Pascals): Incomplete,
awaiting new front door to complete test.
Ground floor
Before: Uninsulated concrete floor &
uninsulated suspended timber floor
throughout.
After: New insulated stone floor with underfloor
heating throughout; 15 mm vein cut roman
travertine on de-coupling matt, followed
beneath by 55 mm Ultraflo liquid hemihydrate
screed with underfloor heating & 30 mm
edge insulation, 200 mm Ballytherm BTF floor
insulation, 150 mm concrete slab & 40 mm
edge insulation. U-value: 0.9 W/m2K
IN DETAIL
Walls
Before: Solid concrete block walls with no
insulation.
After: 100 mm enhanced Atlas EPS insulation
and acrylic render finish externally, on
215 mm hollow block or solid blockwork
(proposed and existing), on 8 mm cement
coat to inner blockwork to form airtight
layer, on 38 mm Xtratherm Thin-R Insulation
boards bonded with 12.5 mm plasterboard +
skim finish. U-value: 0.19 W/m2K
Party wall: Scratch coated & insulated with 50
mm Gutex woodfibre insulation in recesses
to either side of the large chimney breast.
U-value: 0.38 W/m2K
Roof
Before: Pitched roof with concrete roof
slates on battens, on sarking felt, on existing
joists, 100 mm insulation laid on flat between
ceiling joists.
After: Reused or replacement concrete roof
tiles on new counter battens, on new sarking
felt. Rafters replaced with new 150x44 mm C16
rafters with 100 mm Xtratherm Thin-R Pitched
Roof rigid boards between. Intello Plus airtight
& vapour control membrane to underside of
rafters. Followed inside by 38 mm Xtratherm
Thin-R boards + 12.5 mm plasterboard with
skim finish. U-Value: 0.19W/m2K
New flat roof: Resitrix CL roof membrane on
12 mm WBP, on 60 mm rigid Ballytherm PIR
insulation, on 19 mm OSB/3 ply laid to falls on
firring pieces, on 175x44 mm C16 joists with
full-fill Gutex Thermoflex insulation, on Intello
Plus airtight & vapour control membrane to
CASE STUDY COUNTY DUBLIN
underside of rafters, on 35 mm services zone
with 12 mm ply painted black, on 25 mm yellow
pine battens white washed. New U-Value:
0.13W/m2K
Windows & doors
Before: Double glazed UPVC windows
throughout.
New triple glazed windows & sliding doors:
Passive Window Systems triple glazed alu-clad
windows & doors throughout, (4-16-4-16-4)
U-value of glass: 0.6W/m2K
Roof windows: Cubo double glazed roof
windows on insulated timber upstands. Overall
U-value: 1.2 W/m2K
Heating system
Before: Gas boiler & radiators throughout
entire building.
After: Panasonic Aquarea 12Kw air to water
heat pump, with 200L buffer tank. Underfloor
heating to ground floor and low temp
aluminium radiators to first floor & converted
attic space.
Ventilation
Before: No ventilation system. Reliant on
infiltration, chimney and opening of windows
for air changes.
After: Lunos E2 decentralised
demand-controlled heat recovery system with
automated humidity control.
Electricity
9.4 m2 solar photovoltaic array with average
annual output of 2.2kW.
ph+ | county dublin case study | 49
DONEGAL CASE STUDY

P I LOT
LIGHT
PIONEERI NG DO N E GA L DE E P RE T R OF I T
A ROARI NG S U C C E S S

50 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34

ENERGY BILLS
€23
PER MONTH FOR ALL ENERGY
(estimate, see ‘In detail’ for more)
Building: Deep retrofit of 1970s social
housing scheme
Location: Ballyshannon, Co Donegal
Standard: Nearly Zero Energy Buildings
(NZEBs)
CASE STUDY DONEGAL
A rundown 1970s scheme of one-bedroom, single-
storey social housing units in Ballyshannon, Co
Donegal, has been transformed into a pioneering
development of cosy, A-rated, NZEB-busting homes.
The pioneering project – the first completed under
Ireland’s deep retrofit pilot scheme – also breathed
new life into an unloved green area and is expected
to help fuel a regeneration project in the town.
Words by John Hearne
West Elevation
East Elevation
South Elevation
North Elevation
Floor Plans
ph+ | donegal case study | 51
DONEGAL CASE STUDY

P
rior to its refurbishment, the Ernedale Brian Carey explains that the houses were down in the intervening years and Ernedale
Heights scheme of social housing in originally owned by Donegal County Council, Heights could act as a standard bearer for a
Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, presented and that Clúid reached an agreement with the broader regeneration programme.
a rogue’s gallery of problems. The three council to take ownership of the estate and Clúid funds its activities through a combina-
terraces of 11 homes were dark and cold. regenerate it. The tenancies would transfer to tion of private and public loan finance. The
Despite the fact that they sat on a site that Clúid on completion. The uninhabited houses former comes from the Housing Finance
enjoyed a lot of southern sunshine, they faced would be filled with people from the council’s Agency, while the latter takes the form of a
north, away from the green areas that lay waiting list. capital advanced loan facility (CALF) direct
between them. In 2015, Clúid – the largest housing associ- from the Department of Housing. There is a
Poor ventilation led to condensation, damp ation in Ireland – started to look into the rigorous approval process to qualify for these
and mould growth – a major health concern feasibility of addressing the shortcomings of loans, and all financing has to be in place
for the elderly residents, and this was exacer- the houses. Given the extent of the issues, a before the go ahead is given to begin work.
bated by leaky roofs and insulation-free walls. piecemeal solution was never going to work. The budget is always the starting point of a
The only heat sources were solid fuel fires and The conclusion was that a refurbishment project of this nature, says Carey.
storage heaters, while the cramped design programme could be undertaken, albeit “We don’t start with a lovely set of drawings.
caused a raft of accessibility issues. within very tight budgetary constraints. We see that we have X amount of money and
Brian Carey of Clúid, the housing associa- “We considered demolition,” says Carey, ask, ‘What can we do with it?’”
tion which refurbished the homes, explains “but there were two reasons why it didn’t Next, Clúid and the county council began a
that conditions were so bad that five of the happen, the cost and the model. A new build series of consultative meetings with residents.
houses were uninhabitable and had been would have been way out of our budget. “We wanted them to be part of the story,”
boarded up. Planning conditions would have required an says Carey. “These were the houses that
“You’re talking single glazed windows and increase in size from 35 to at least 52 m2. That they had been living in, and that they would
zero insulation. These were built back in the on its own would have driven costs higher.” return to. There was no point rebuilding the
1970s, and nothing had been done with them In addition, he explains, refurbishment was houses unless we dealt with the issues they
since then apart from emergency repairs. You the preferred choice of Donegal County had. We got them to list their problems, and
had black mould along the tops and bottoms Council. They wanted to maintain the there was a common thread. Cold, damp,
of the walls and no south-facing windows, so connection with these long-established lack of light, uneconomical and so on. This
they were very cold and dark. Even though houses and saw the project as a kind of became our starting point.”
they’re small – no more than 35 m2 – they were pilot. The entire area had become quite run Gary O’Connor of project architects,
very poorly laid out and did not make the most
of the space.”
Though the houses were not designed for
older people, most of the tenants had been
in situ for many years, and the majority had
passed retirement age. So, the residents
spent most of their time inside, leading to a
very high heat demand. Heating bills were
astronomical – as much as €4,000 per year
for a three-room house (that’s three rooms,
not three bedrooms), and the dwellings also
required near-constant maintenance.
Despite all this, residents loved the area.
The estate is centrally situated – less than five
minutes from the centre of Ballyshannon.
Between the coastal location and the strong
sense of community, there was a great
appetite from the tenants to stay put and make
the most of what they had.

52 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34 Photography: Kelvin Gillmor

 CASE STUDY DONEGAL

CONSTRUCTION IN PROGRESS

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

10 11 12

1, 2 & 3 The Ernedale Heights scheme of social housing prior to refurbishment. The 11 homes were dark and cold, and faced north, away from
the green areas that lay between them; 4 the original wall cavities were uninsulated; 5 the slopes of the original roofs were too shallow, so
they had to be taken down and rebuilt; 6 Ballytherm PIR insulation was installed where bathroom floors were taken up to create level access;
7 looking into the original 70 mm wall cavity before it was insulated; 8, 9 & 10 an external wall insulation system from Pw Thermal was chosen
instead of internal drylining, thereby improving thermal performance without reducing internal space. It features 100 mm Kingspan Platinum EPS
insulation, with a wet dash finish; 11 & 12 installation of the new front door — all windows and doors are double glazed units from Munster Joinery.

ph+ | donegal case study | 53

DONEGAL CASE STUDY
Rhatigan Architects, takes up the story. “The
consultation process allowed us to ascertain
the good and the bad of living in those houses,
what were the items that they felt needed
addressing, what inherent problems did the
houses have. We had another forum once we
developed our design and presented it to the
residents. We outlined the works that we were
going to do and got further input from them.”
The consultation process, combined with
a detailed survey of the houses, made it clear
that they would need to be gutted to achieve
even the most basic compliance. Apart from
the absence of insulation, the slopes of the
roofs were too shallow, and they had to be
taken down and rebuilt. The extent of these
works meant that given budgetary constraints,
the design team couldn’t be too ambitious.
They aimed for a C1 building energy rating
(so between 151 to 175 kWh/m2/yr of primary
energy demand, excluding plug loads).
It was at this point that the SEAI announced
its deep retrofit pilot programme. Clúid
approached SEAI, and this ultimately became
the first project in the country to secure
funding under the scheme. This enabled the
team to go much further than their original
design.
“All of a sudden, we were able to look at
external wall insulation, heat pumps and PV
panels. PV panels don’t suit everyone, but
these tenants are in their houses all day, and
so are in a position to use the power as it’s
generated.”
The original plan had been to pump the
cavities and dryline the internal walls. While
these measures would have brought wall
U-values to regulation levels, it would have
meant shaving precious inches from an
interior that was already very small. Now, in
addition to pumping the cavities with bonded
bead insulation, the design team had the
resources to opt for an external wall insulation
system from Pw Thermal instead of drylining
– in this case a polymer modified NSAI
Agrément certified system that replicates the
traditional wet dash finish, chosen to thereby
deliver much better thermal performance
without reducing internal space.
54 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
Heating bills are now a
fraction of what they were.
Airtightness in the original houses was very
poor; in excess of 12 air changes per hour
on average. Gary O’Connor says that the
walls were re-plastered internally with care
taken to seal all penetrations, as well as new
airtight roofs being installed. These measures
delivered a final average result of 3.0 air
changes per hour. Given that the site is in a
windy, coastal area, this makes a huge differ-
ence to comfort levels. barren look.
The tenants were kept up to speed with what
was happening throughout the build phase.
Most were rehoused locally, and often came
to see how things were progressing. Opening
up the design to address the accessibility and
orientation issues was of course key to the
refurbishment.
“We looked closely at the living spaces,” says
O’Connor, “working out how to maximize the
benefit of the passive solar gain within. We
decided to re-orient the houses so that they
were facing south. We put in double doors
that opened out to a generous patio, and that
connected both sides of the houses. We also
made them dual aspect, so that they linked to
their neighbours.”
In addition to those vital solar gains, the
re-orientation addressed one of the key
problems the tenants had identified during
the consultation phase – the fact that the
houses were so dark. In turning them to face
the sun, the architects were also able to make
all of the spaces accessible, replacing internal
and external steps with ramps. The front
entrances are now much more accessible,
and visible too, which gives a greater sense of
security to the residents.
Inevitably, fresh challenges arose as the
construction team began stripping the
buildings down. The need to replace the roofs
was discovered early on. In order to secure
SELECTED PROJECT DETAILS
Client: Clúid Housing Association
Architect: Rhatigan Architects
M&E engineer:
Doran Professional Services
Civil & structural engineer:
CHH Consulting Engineers
Main contractor: PJ Treacy & Sons
Quantity surveyor: Kilfeather QS
Mechanical contractor:
Emmet Travers Plumbing, Heating & Gas
External insulation system:
PW Thermal Building Solutions Ltd
EPS insulation (bead and boards):
Kingspan Insulation
Insulation contractor:
B Donaghey & Sons Ltd
Roof insulation: Knauf
Windows & doors: Munster Joinery
Roofing: Conwell Roofing
Heat pumps: Daikin, via Northern
Refrigeration Services
Ventilation: Aereco, via Northern
Refrigeration Services
Solar PV: Future Renewables
BER assessor:
Nationwide Energy Consultants
adequate airtightness and remove thermal
bridges, the chimneys were also removed and
the fireplaces blocked up.
One of the big issues with the original layout
was that the green spaces between the three
blocks were not overlooked. Brian Carey says:
“To say that these were unloved would be
putting it mildly.” There were no paths linking
the green areas, and no planting to soften their
“For that reason, people didn’t engage with
them. They didn’t meet here or go for walks or
anything, so we put in little footpaths between
the terraces, and each row is now connected
through these well-tended lawns, which
feature plants and flowers.”
The south-facing patios now look over
these landscaped areas. The introduction
of new boundary fencing and landscaped
boundaries gives ownership of these spaces
to tenants, and helps to stop others taking
shortcuts through the site.
The tenants moved back in in December
2018, and so far, the reaction has been univer-
sally positive.
Each Clúid scheme has a dedicated housing
officer to deal with any issues that the tenants
may have. During normal times, he or she
visits on a weekly basis to check in with
tenants, and Clúid puts in place a planned
maintenance programme too.
Despite the sophistication of the technology
– Aereco demand controlled ventilation,
PV panels and new Daikin air-to-air heat
pumps, the tenants are confronted with
simple controls – they only need to specify the
temperature they require on a simpler digital
controller, and there have been no issues as a
result. “We’ve learned,” says Carey, “that you
need to make it simple for people.
Heating bills are now a fraction of what

they were. The dwellings even meet Ireland’s
new build standard for nearly zero energy
buildings (NZEBs), with energy and carbon
performance coefficients all under 0.3 and
0.35 respectively, as required by the 2019
version of Part L of the building regulations
(see ‘In detail’ for more).
“The difference between these houses,
before and after, couldn’t have been more
different – they were completely reconfig-
ured,” Carey says. “All of the tenants were
delighted with how they turned out. I called
up a couple of weeks after they moved in
and a couple of them were out on their
patio drinking coffee. They were delighted
to be back.”
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
The digital version of this magazine
includes access to exclusive
galleries of architectural drawings.
The digital magazine is available to
subscribers on www.passive.co.uk
Building:
Deep retrofit of 11 x 1970s single-storey
houses, all approx. 38 m2 floor area.
Location: Ernedale Heights,
Ballyshannon, Co Donegal
Budget: €950,000
Completion date: May 2018
Space heating demand (DEAP, post-retrofit,
sample dwelling): 28 kWh/m2/yr
Number of occupants: 1-2 per dwelling
Building Energy Rating (DEAP)
Before: Average of G (736 kWh/m2/yr),
ranging from 409 kWh/m2/yr (F) to 866
kWh/m2/yr (G), the large range caused by
differences in heating systems and the fact
some dwellings had double glazing and
some had single.
After: Average of A3 (56.50 kWh/m2/yr),
ranging from 54.24 kWh/m2/yr to 58.91 kWh/
m2/yr)
Energy bills (measured or estimated
Before: Using the estimated pre-retrofit
delivered energy for an average dwelling
at Ernedale Heights, Bonkers.ie suggests
an annual electricity bill of at least €1,773
(cheapest suggested plan) at May 2020
electricity prices. This assumes equal use
of day and night rate electricity. Figure
includes VAT and standing charges. In reality,
residents were not likely to have been using
this much electricity as this assumes the
house is heated to 21ºC in living areas & 18ºC
elsewhere, which would probably not have
been the case in practice.
After: Bonkers.ie suggests a cheapest annual
available plan of €278 (€23 per month)
based on average post-retrofit delivered
energy (DEAP). This assumes equal use of
day and night rate electricity. Figure includes
VAT and standing charges.
IN DETAIL
Energy performance coefficient (DEAP):
Average of 0.223, ranging from 0.217 to 0.23.
Note 0.3 or lower is required to comply with
Ireland’s definition of NZEB (Part L 2019).
Carbon performance coefficient (DEAP):
Average of 0.213, ranging from 0.208 to 0.22.
Note 0.35 or lower is required to comply with
Ireland’s definition of NZEB (Part L 2019).
Airtightness (at 50 Pascals)
Before: Average of 9.32 m3/hr/m2 (ranging
from 7.95 m3/hr/m2 to 9.76 m3/hr/m2)
After: Average of 2.83 m3/hr/m2 (ranging from
2.44 m3/hr/m2 to 3.66 m3/hr/m2)
Ground floor
Before: Uninsulated concrete floor
After (if upgraded): No general ground
floor upgrades were undertaken within the
scope of works, however in places where
radon sumps were installed or bathroom
floors were taken up to create level access,
Ballytherm PIR insulation was installed.
Walls
Before: 100 mm rendered concrete block
outer leaf and inner leaf with un-insulated 70
mm cavity.
After: 100 mm Pw Thermal Building Solutions
external wall insulation with 100 mm Kingspan
Platinum EPS insulation, followed inside by
100 mm original rendered block outer leaf,
70 mm cavity pumped with Ecobead cavity
insulation, 100 mm masonry original inner leaf
with new plaster finish.
U-value: 0.17 W/m2K
Roof
Before: Insulation deteriorated to 25 mm.
CASE STUDY DONEGAL
After: Roadstone Donard flat pan interlocking
roof tiles, on Tyvek roofing membrane, on
new prefabricated timber trusses. Insulation
was installed on the flat at joist level with 300
mm Knauf Earthwool fibre insulation with a
thermal conductivity of 0.044W/mK laid in two
layers; between joists and over joists to give
a U-value of 0.13 W/m2K.
Windows & doors
Before: Single glazed, timber windows and
doors. Overall approximate U-value: 3.50 W/
m2K
New windows: Munster Joinery double
glazed windows and doors, with 6 mm clear
float, low-emissivity coating, 16 mm Argon
filled cavity, 6 mm solar control outer pane.
Overall U-value of 1.20 W/m2K. Glazing
oriented to south in renovated dwellings.
Heating system
Before: Open fire and portable electric
heaters.
After: 1 x external Daikin air-to-air heat
pump connecting to 2 x Daikin internal
air conditioners per dwelling, one in the
bedroom and one in the living room.
Controlled via infra-red remote controller with
temperature & timer function.
Ventilation
Before: No ventilation system. Reliant on
infiltration, chimney and opening of windows
for air changes.
After: Aereco demand controlled mechanical
extract ventilation.
Electricity
Renusol VarioSole on roof system with 6 JA
Solar – JAM6 60/265 with a rated output of
1,590Wp was installed to the roofs of each unit.
ph+ | donegal case study | 55
GREEN STIMULUS INSIGHT

DEEP RETROFIT
& STIMULUS
IS AN UPGRADE REVOLUTION THE ECONOMIC TONIC TO TACKLE COVID?

With governments across Europe looking for ways to jump start their economies following the
early impact of Covid-19, attention is increasingly turning to deep retrofit. But while there is strong
evidence that deep retrofit could play a major role, the devil will be in the detail – and the challenge
of dramatically upscaling a nascent industry shouldn’t be underestimated.
Words by Kate de Selincourt

56 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34

I
n April, the Financial Times gave the
world’s governments a grave warning.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has shown
the lethal folly of ignoring expert warnings
about the need to be ready for calamity...
This should be uppermost in leaders’
minds as they struggle to rebuild stricken
economies.”
The leader writers urged governments to
use their spending power “to help stimulate
a recovery… that does not lock in a fossil-fu-
elled economy. The situation could not be
more urgent; for the world’s beleaguered
workforces, and also for the climate.”
The coronavirus pandemic is expected
to cost the global economy between $6tn
and $9tn; this prediction doubled between
April and May. The International Labour
Organisation predicted cutbacks equiva-
lent to nearly 200 million full-time workers
would take place between April and June
of this year. The UK and Ireland, who in
common with much of Europe both had
severe lockdowns lasting several weeks, are
suffering major economic stress.
And climatologists are predicting that
2020 could be the hottest year ever recorded.
The last 12 months have seen accelerating
ice melt and record temperatures near
both poles. Carbon dioxide levels have just
topped 416 parts per million, probably the
highest level for 800,000 years.
The FT leader joined an international
chorus calling for green rebuilding. The
United Nations told governments to “build
back better” — more sustainable, resilient
and inclusive. The International Energy
Agency is urging nations to make clean
energy technologies, and energy efficiency
in particular, a key part of stimulus packages.
In the EU a “green recovery alliance” of
most member states, including Ireland,
and a slew of large corporations, has signed
a joint statement warning that “Covid-19
will not make climate change and nature
degradation go away” and that running to
panicked economic fixes that lock in fossil
fuel use would be counterproductive.
In Ireland, there is a clear focus on
construction – retrofit and new build – to
restart the economy. Business confeder-
ation Ibec is campaigning for its Covid
recovery plan ‘Reboot and Re-imagine’,
which calls for government support for new
construction, in particular social housing,
and for “an ambitious national deep retrofit
programme” with a new delivery and
financing model to upgrade buildings to B1
and A energy ratings.
And as Passive House Plus went to print,
a draft programme for government had
just been agreed between Fianna Fáil, Fine
Gael and the Green Party that contained a
commitment to retrofit 500,000 homes to at
least B2 rating over five years.
Just transition
In the UK, the Committee on Climate
Change (CCC) wrote in May to the four
UK governments urging them to rebuild
after Covid-19 “whilst delivering a stronger,
cleaner and more resilient economy”.
Covid has hit disadvantaged communities
harder, in multiple ways, and the CCC was
forthright, calling on UK governments to
embed fairness as a core principle of a green
recovery.
“The benefits of acting on climate change
must be shared widely, and the costs must
not burden those who are least able to pay,
or whose livelihoods are at risk,” the CCC’s
letter said.
CCC chief executive Chris Stark, and
Julie Hirigoyen, chief executive at the UK
Green Building Council, both point out that
construction and retrofit is one of the best
ways to create jobs, per £1 or €1 invested.
“Energy efficiency is ‘shovel ready’ – with
labour-intensive projects rooted in local
supply chains,” Hirigoyen says.
A report for the International Energy
Agency (IEA) agrees, stating: “When homes
are upgraded to higher efficiency standards,
more than half of the total investment
typically goes directly to labour.”
A very comprehensive analysis of the value
of green versus ‘standard’ stimulus packages
by the Smith School of Enterprise and
Environment, at the University of Oxford,
confirmed that boosting green construction
is a highly effective way to create jobs, and
thus repay the investment long-term.
A team of 230 economists from around
the world was asked to rate 700 stimulus
packages implemented after the 2008
financial crash. They found construction
projects retained more of the investment
locally, adding that clean energy in partic-
ular (both renewable generation and energy
efficiency work) was “helpfully very labour
intensive in the early stages” with up to three
times as many jobs being created per £1
invested, compared to investments in fossil
fuel.
Unconditional airline bailouts, by
contrast, “performed the most poorly in
terms of economic impact, speed and
climate metrics.”
Wider benefits
As well as creating jobs, construction-fo-
cused green stimulus brings numerous other
benefits, in particular to the least well-off.
This was highlighted in a report last year by
the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, calling
for a just transition for Irish households and
workers affected by the planned closure
of carbon-intensive peat-burning power
stations in the Irish midlands.
The group quotes the Sustainable Energy
Authority of Ireland, which estimates that
tackling the one million older Irish homes
that need deep retrofit could add €35 billion
to the Irish economy: “This represents a
significant opportunity to improve health
and well-being for the occupants, particu-
larly the significant numbers suffering from
energy poverty… as much as 28 per cent of
households in 2015.”
New housing, particularly the construction
INSIGHT GREEN STIMULUS
of well-designed, low energy social housing,
also brings large social returns. When social
housing is constructed, new tenants enjoy
lower rents, better living conditions, and
more security than the average tenant in the
private rental sector – and far better than in
temporary accommodation.
Tenants and the community at large
benefit, including economically, as
research by HACT (the Housing Associa-
tions’ Charitable Trust) illustrates. People
moving into social housing are likely to
enjoy improved mental and physical health,
to be better able to find and retain a job,
they are less likely to be a victim of crime,
and their children will be able to stay in the
same school, benefiting their education, this
research shows.
How to finance a green rebuilding
Funding energy saving work through utility
bills, as has been done in the past ten years
or so in the UK, is popular with governments
because it is “off balance sheet” (i.e. kept out
of the state’s own budget).
But funding via energy bills is regres-
sive. It hits the poorest hardest and has
become politically unpopular as a result. An
expanded, ambitious programme of the kind
that is needed to meet carbon targets cannot
realistically be imposed on bill payers, many
of whom will see little or no financial return.
Yet governments seem to have had a bit of
a blind spot with regard to green construc-
tion. Regarding retrofit in particular, the case
has repeatedly been made that deep retrofit
should be seen as a national investment — it
is effectively an infrastructure programme.
And it works economically in those terms.
Medium-to-long term, investment in green
construction pays back amply to the state,
many researchers have concluded.
Verco and Cambridge Econometrics
examined this for UK climate change think
tank E3G in 2014, and calculated that a
15-year programme of deep energy retrofit
would return £1.25 to the government per
£1 invested, from the increased tax take
resulting from job creation as well as from
supply chain activity, increased household
disposable income, and a lower state welfare
bill.
This positive rate of return makes govern-
ment borrowing justifiable as an approach
for funding energy efficient construction – in
the same way that any national infrastruc-
ture investment is justified.
For big infrastructure projects, govern-
ments generally like to leverage private
sector finance, to increase the total size
of the programme. Given that energy
efficiency work improves the value of a
property, property owners can be expected
to contribute something, either at the time of
the work, or at the moment of property sale.
However, incentives are generally still
required to overcome initial resistance,
compensate for the costs of disruption, and
also to ensure uniform, high standards of
work. In Ireland, Paul Kenny of Tipperary
ph+ | green stimulus insight | 57
GREEN STIMULUS INSIGHT

Energy Agency, who runs the SuperHomes

deep retrofit scheme, believes grants of 35%
or so are necessary to catalyse homeowner
investment.
Tax incentives (for example stamp duty
relief) are one way of managing this, as
are direct cash contributions to the work.
Another incentive, which could be comple-
mentary, is to offer subsidised lending. This
can be organised as a rolling loan fund,
which has worked well in pilot schemes in
the UK in the past. Low cost finance is offered
along with support to ensure the work
carried out is properly designed and project
managed. MEP Ciaran Cuffe suggests that
in Ireland, the European Investment Bank
could support something similar, and back
a state guarantee for loan finance for deep
retrofit.
There is also the option of independent
finance through the private sector. Energy
retrofit is a market that is reportedly of
growing interest to private investors who are
seeking ‘green’ and future-proofed invest-
ments. Analysts are warning investors that
oil stocks are no longer safe, as fossil fuels
are increasingly identified as problematic –
a trend that if anything is accelerating in the
Covid crisis.
Lending into future-proofed, low-carbon
property is starting to appear attractive,
though investors will however be anxious
to see quality assurance of the work they
are backing (this was one of the drivers for
developing the UK retrofit quality protocol,
PAS 2035).
‘Ethical’ investors are also being courted
by the social housing sector. According to
the Financial Times, a group of large housing
associations, investors and financial experts
is actively looking for ways it can raise
money by quantifying what they do in terms
of environmental and social performance, to
attract so called ESG (environmental, social
and governance) investment.
One of the criticisms levelled at infrastruc-
ture investments like airports or high speed
rail is that they do not always distribute
benefits to the most in need. Construction
work, as we have seen, is jobs-intensive,
and wherever there are people, there are
houses to retrofit and new houses to build.
However, there are still concerns that to
maximise community-wide benefits of any
regeneration and retrofit programme, there
also needs to be local control.
The UK Green Building Council has
proposed a couple of structures that could
enable a national retrofit programme to be
fine-tuned to suit each area, such as local
authority funds and community social
enterprises.
Do as much as you can do well
The calls to ‘green stimulus’ action
emphasise the urgency of the Covid and
climate crises, and the need for ramping up
of action to match. The International Energy
Agency, for example, at first glance seems to
be promoting a gung-ho approach to green
Above clockwise from top left: Irish Green Party MEP Ciaran Cuffe; Julie Hirigoyen of the UK
Green Building Council; UK Committee on Climate Change chief executive Chris Stark.
energy and retrofit: “Early action can create
jobs quickly by focusing on what is already
in place and ready to be scaled up.” But they
go on to warn: “Supply chains and capacity
will be crucial. If new programmes quickly
increase demand, can the market respond?
Are good products available? Are installers
ready to meet demand at sufficient levels of
quality and safety?”
Jonathan Atkinson, manager of the
Manchester People-Powered Retrofit
programme, fears they are not – and says
that changes at many levels are needed.
In a blog for the Centre for Alternative
Technology he warned that the existing
model for procuring energy efficiency work
in the UK has led to a ‘race to the bottom’ in
terms of costs and quality. “Poorly planned
energy supplier-funded works delivered
to unrealistic timescales by badly trained
staff led to widespread damage, leaks, poor
quality home environments and aggrieved
residents.”
As the IEA put it: “Governments in a hurry
to generate activity can be tempted to lessen
the focus on technical standards or required
efficiency levels, but this can be a false
economy in the longer term.” This is not a
mistake we can afford to make.
The UK’s new PAS 2035 retrofit standard
represents a major step forward in assuring
quality in retrofit. Requirements include
design by appropriately qualified profes-
sionals, and an insistence on effective
ventilation whenever there is a risk of
inadequate air exchange. At national level
though, it has not yet been formally adopted.
In order to overcome the dangers of
inadequate and even harmful installations,
there is wide agreement that more and more
appropriate training is urgently needed.
Even in the small pilot whole-house retrofit
schemes currently being funded by the UK
government, demand from homeowners
risks outstripping the supply of suitably
qualified advisors and installers.
Manchester’s People-Powered Retrofit
programme is one of these pilots, and
Jonathan Atkinson is concerned. “There is
a skills shortage that has to be addressed
to enable safe and effective retrofit to be
delivered. There is no point in ramping up
funding for retrofit unless it can be delivered
properly,” he writes.
“Luckily there are great, practical training
models out there that can be replicated.
Investing in the people doing the work
absolutely must go hand in hand with
investing in the work itself, or we will be
storing up all kinds of trouble.”
In new build too, construction to
genuinely low-energy standards requires
particular skills and knowledge: one of
the reasons passive house projects often
show higher costs is because clients are
effectively investing in skills training on
behalf of the whole construction sector —
the necessary skills and knowledge aren’t
part of mainstream construction education
and apprenticeships.
Experience has shown that many
construction workers adapt readily once
the time and resources have been found
for training, so there is a clear opportunity
during a construction slow-down to support
workers to remain in the industry and to gain
the skills needed to “build back better”.
One group who could be targeted are those
same young people whose skills training
and job prospects are most impacted by
an economic crisis. The damage is already
occurring: reportedly just 20% of UK

58 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
 INSIGHT GREEN STIMULUS

apprenticeships due to start in April came to

fruition.
Research by the Resolution Founda-
tion shows that remaining in education
or training offers long term benefits to job
market entrants, compared with trying to go
straight into work in a depressed job market.
The foundation has called for extra support
to be put in place urgently, so young people
can gain an extra six months of training –
something many currently struggle to afford.
The Green Party in Ireland has similarly
called for the introduction of fast track
apprenticeship programmes, to train the
20,000 workers its estimates are required
to adequately retrofit the national housing
stock. The programme for government that
the party agreed with Fianna Fáil and Fine
Gael, just as Passive House Plus went to
print, contains a commitment to overhaul
apprenticeships and training to ensure there
is a skilled workforce for delivering mass
retrofit.

Politically popular?
According to recent news reports, polling
shows a clear majority of the population in
each of the 14 major economies, from China
and India, to Russia, the US and Brazil, thinks
climate change is as serious as coronavirus.
And in the UK, 70 per cent are in favour of
accelerating climate action by moving the
government’s zero-carbon target from 2050
to 2030.
People are also questioning economic
norms: polling has found a majority of the
UK public, for example, wants ministers to
focus on improving health and wellbeing
over economic growth, even after the
immediate threat from the coronavirus has
passed.
Nick Robins from the London School of
Economics (LSE), one of the authors of the
Smith School study, pointed out that after
the global financial crisis of 2008 a massive
proportion of ‘recovery’ investment was in
his view misdirected into fossil fuel projects.
In an interview, he told the BBC: “If we have
any hope of combating climate change, we
must make absolutely sure we do it better
this time.”
So often the argument is heard that we
can’t afford to invest in more sustainable
approaches to building and upgrading
our homes, schools, shops and offices.
It is becoming increasingly clear that we
can’t afford not to – and that the world’s
ordinary people understand this perfectly
well. Failing ourselves, and young people
in particular, on either a Covid rescue, or on
climate rescue, would be unforgivable.
WILL EC ONOMIC
GR OWTH SAVE U S?
‘Green stimulus’ or ‘green recov-
ery’ generally has its goals framed
in terms of boosting or restor-
ing economic growth. Yet at the
back of our minds, many of us are
aware that the headlong striving
for growth at all costs may be what
has got us into the climate crisis in
the first place.
An exception to the ‘growth
growth growth’ agenda is the city
of Amsterdam. In the Covid recov-
ery plan the city produced in April,
its main goals, unusually, weren’t
about growing the economy or in-
creasing gross domestic product.
Rather, they were about making
the city better for people and the
planet, in an analysis based on the
principles of ‘doughnut econom-
ics’, a concept developed by the
Oxford economist Kate Raworth.
The doughnut envisages society
flourishing in a sphere between a
basement of minimum, decent liv-
ing standards for all and a ceiling
of ecological limits (see diagram
above).
Instead of using the gross domes-
tic product as the measure of soci-
ety’s success, doughnut economics
enables policymakers to visualise
numerous dimensions of wellbeing
– economic, health, social, environ-
mental – on an equal basis. They
can identify where there is a short-
fall in basic needs for citizens, and
where there is excess that is taking
too much from the rest of the world,
or threatening its future.
“It gives us the opportunity to put
those other values — like social
interaction, health and solidarity —
much more in the forefront of how
we’re going to recover from this
shared crisis,” Amsterdam’s dep-
uty mayor Marieke van Doorninck
explained.

Above Visual representation of the ‘doughnut economics’ concept, by economist

A fully referenced version of this article Kate Raworth (CC BY-SA 4.0).
is online at www.passivehouseplus.co.uk

ph+ | green stimulus insight | 59

GREEN STIMULUS INSIGHT
WE CAN LAUNCH A NEW
ECO RENAISSANCE
The UN’s Scott Foster says deep retrofit of our building stock, and a sustainable built
environment, should be at the heart of our recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Words by Lenny Antonelli
S
cott Foster has a great green vision for
our post Covid world. Over the past
few years, Foster has made something
of a name for himself as a global champion
of passive and low energy buildings. Foster
is director of the sustainable energy division
at the United Nations Economic Commis-
sion for Europe (UNECE), which promotes
economic co-operation between UN member
states (UNECE includes the US, Canada, and
the former soviet states, as well as Europe).
Passive House Plus first spoke with Foster in
February about retrofit, the carbon footprint
of building materials, and more besides. We
intended to run the piece in our spring issue
but decided to delay its publication until
summer. Then the Covid-19 outbreak became
a global pandemic, and suddenly our original
interview felt dated.
So, in April we reached out to him again by
email, to discuss how the global response to
Covid-19 could be an ecological one. Foster
pointed to anecdotes of how lockdowns
had caused a dramatic reduction in pollu-
tion — “CNN reports that people in the
northern Indian state of Punjab can now see
the Himalayas, more than 100 miles away,
because of reductions in air pollution,” he
said — but he also stressed the pandemic had
come at a devastating economic cost, and
could lead to a dangerous deflationary cycle.
“Plummeting demand for products at
some point will lead to drops in prices. As
60 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
that effect becomes generalized, an economy
will move into a deflationary, self-reinforcing
spiral as people delay purchases in anticipa-
tion of lower prices. The money multiplier of
economic growth becomes a money divider
as economies shrink – deflation is considered
to be much worse than inflation because of
the deep damage it can do.”
He expressed hope that this effect would
be temporary but added: “The implosion
of the world’s economies is extraordinary,
and as confinement continues the duration
of deep repercussions becomes increasing
unknowable. It is an urgent imperative to get
the world’s economies back to work. Jobs,
health, security, food, investments all depend
on our getting back to work, though all the
while ensuring that we do not relaunch the
pandemic in the process.”
What is needed, he said, is a global
economic “renaissance plan” with green
principles, and deep retrofit of buildings, at
its heart. The Renaissance, which marked the
transition from the Middle Ages to modernity,
was associated with “great social change and
strides forward intellectually and culturally”,
arguably just what we need now to confront
the climate and ecological emergencies.
“If we simply re-launch economies by
reverting to the model that existed before
December 2019, then we are simply
re-treading paths that take us to the wrong
destination,” Foster said.
‘A holistic vision for the role of buildings’
While promoting energy efficiency in build-
ings is just one part of his job, it’s the one
where Foster believes he can make the
biggest difference. To underpin that belief,
UNECE has developed ‘framework guide-
lines’ on energy efficiency in buildings, a set
of common principles for UN nations to strive
for. These advise limiting the space heating
and cooling requirements in buildings to 25
kWh/m2 per year, and total energy use to 90
kWh/m2 annually. 

But in general the guidelines are aspirational
rather than prescriptive: they say that building
design and construction should be science-
based, and that building performance should
be subject to ongoing measurement. Build-
ings should also be affordable, be built using
sustainable materials, and integrated with their
surrounding environments. They should also
have advanced, networked building informa-
tion systems (you can read the principles in full
at unece.org/energyefficiency).

Speaking on the phone from Geneva in
February, Foster said the guidelines “go
way beyond what building standards do so
far, in that they don’t deal with a house on a
component by component basis, they deal
with a building as an entire system, which is
embedded in a community, which is its own
system. Which is embedded in a city.”
“This goes way beyond simply ‘passive
house’. It creates a holistic vision of the role

that buildings are going to play in a complex
urban environment.” And he thinks these
principles could be at heart of a post-Covid,
or indeed intra-Covid, economic stimulus.
Deep energy retrofit of buildings has been
flagged as one of the effective ways to stimu-
late the economies post-Covid (for more see
our feature on retrofit and stimulus elsewhere
in this issue). Retrofit cuts carbon emissions,
creates lots of jobs for every euro spent,
and when done well, improves health and
wellbeing for building occupants too. The
challenge has always been how to make it
happen at scale.
Cheaper finance for low energy renova-
tions is part of the solution, Foster believes,
as is direct government funding — which will
hopefully receive a boost via Covid stimulus
packages. Another key step is getting property
valuations to reflect the quality of buildings
in a more holistic sense — including, for
example, whether they are good or bad on
occupant health.
‘Agents of change’
But we also need to change the way we pay
for energy, he says. “If I move from paying for
energy as a commodity to paying for energy as a
service, instead of me sending you a bill for the
number of kilowatt hours you’ve consumed,
you and I enter into a subscription relationship,
and you’re going to pay me to make sure the
temperature in your house is 18C. You get the
lighting you require, and air quality standards
are met. My business model becomes one of
looking at your entire dwelling as the complex
system that it is and making needed invest-
ments to reduce my costs of delivering the
energy services you require.”
This approach, called energy service
contracting, works well in theory, though
in practice it has been hindered by tricky
contracting issues — such as the fact the
consumers cannot easily change energy
supplier under such arrangements. But Foster
believes the concept is essentially sound. He
says we need to see energy suppliers, rather
than property owners or tenants, as the
“agents of change” to scale up retrofit.
But we should also remember how
important new build energy standards are
going to be, especially in the global south. “If
you think of a world with 9 billion people [as
The agents of change are
at the city and local level.
is predicted for 2050] and you imagine, as is
expected, that 70% of those are going to live
in cities… that is the equivalent of adding 235
new cities the size of Paris to the planet. So,
when you look at the developing world, new
building is extremely important to get right.”
Cutting the embodied carbon of buildings
is key too, and Fosters calls for method-
ical new ways of recovering materials from
existing buildings to help avoid extraction of
new raw materials in future. We should look
at the built environment itself as a source of
materials, he says.
“So if you’re going to demolish a building
or trash a car, or whatever the object is, there
needs to be some way to track all of the compo-
nents that went into it, either its batteries or
copper or steel… some mechanism for using
digital processes for keeping inventories of
what materials have gone into what objects, so
when you go to dispose of it, you know what’s
there, and you know how to access it.”
Pricing carbon
But he says that carbon taxes are a key under-
lying mechanism to make all of this happen. “I
am not talking about €20, €30 or €50 per tonne
of carbon, I’m talking north of €120. So, it’s a big
number if you want to have a serious effect.”
Without a carbon tax, the only choice is to try to
regulate the climate impacts of each individual
material or sector. “I’m not convinced of the
effectiveness of prescriptive regulations in a
market as complex and diverse as the global
supply chain for buildings.”
In such a complex system, Foster says people
working on the ground are most critical.
To that end UNECE has developed its High
Performance Buildings Initiative, partnering
with New York, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, and
Ireland to establish international centres of
excellence in high performance building,
to spread the good word at grassroots level
among designers, tradespeople, and local
decision makers.
INSIGHT SCOTT FOSTER
These centres will provide training in
low-energy design and construction, share
best practice, and work to build public
support for high performance buildings. In
Ireland, the Waterford Wexford Education &
Training Board has opened an NZEB (nearly
zero energy building) training facility in Ennis-
corthy. It runs courses in low energy building
skills for trades, including carpenters, brick-
layers, electricians, plasterers, and plumbers.
“Wexford is a national initiative that is likely
to have Ireland-wide effects, and we’re hoping
to have Ireland then have an effect across the
EU,” Foster says. “The agents of change are at
the city and local level. Government policies
are obviously very important — but I do find
that it is critically important to talk to the people
with the hammers in their hands, they’re the
ones who are going to make things change.”
Fosters believes pumping in money and
support at this level is crucial to any retrofit
stimulus. “Getting cash into the hands of the
tradespeople — the carpenters, the plumbers,
the contractors, the architects, and the rest of
the building supply chain — would reinvig-
orate local economies rapidly while deliv-
ering on long-term quality of life for everyone
(climate, affordability, health, comfort),” he
wrote to us.
‘An existential threat’
Foster is unequivocal on the state of our
planetary emergency. “The world is not
on track for 1.5 degrees or 2 degrees [of
warming]. Right now, we are barrelling down
the highway for between 4 and 6 degrees and
that is, as a species, the existential threat that
we’re facing,” he says. “And by the way we’re
screwing up life for a lot of other species in the
process, too.”
Facing this crisis will require global cooper-
ation, and a recognition of our inter-depen-
dence. Foster believes this has been lacking
in our response to Covid-19. “If governments
had been open and transparent about the
challenges they faced and collaborated on the
solutions, the now pandemic could have been
contained better by staying at the personal
transmission level and not a community
transmission level. Had they shared experi-
ences on what was working and what was not,
they might have flattened curves much earlier
on,” he wrote to us in April. “So, yes, I firmly
believe that nations and states acting alone
do not work as well as collaboration based on
science and facts. Mutually beneficial inter-
dependence requires trust, and that seems to
have gone missing.”
Trust, and co-operation will certainly need
to be rebuilt, if Foster’s vision of a green global
economic renaissance is to bear fruit. But his
vision is still a vivid one.
“We have an opportunity with this pandemic
to catalyse a modern renaissance, a re-birth of
nations and economies in a way that delivers
quality of life sustainably at global scale.”
Left Participants at an NZEB training
course run by Waterford Wexford
Education & Training Board, one of the
latest UNECE centres of excellence for
high performance buildings.
ph+ | scott foster insight | 61
GREEN STIMULUS INSIGHT
DEAD AIR
 I RBO R NE C OV I D-19 & P OORLY
A
V ENT IL ATED BUILDI N GS
In the early stages of the Covid-19 crisis, there was little
official recognition that airborne transmission was a
risk. Has that view changed, and what role will building
ventilation play when winter approaches?
Words by Jeff Colley
T
he World Health Organisation (WHO)
has long maintained that Covid-19 is
not airborne, but its position becomes
less clear when subjected to scrutiny. On 28
March, the agency made strong assertions
in posts on Facebook and Twitter: “FACT:
#COVID19 is NOT airborne,” the WHO
account tweeted. A WHO article published
the next day was less unequivocal, stating that
the virus was “primarily transmitted between
people through respiratory droplets and
contact routes”, while conceding that airborne
spread “may be possible in specific circum-
stances and settings in which procedures or
support treatments that generate aerosols are
performed,” such as intubating a Covid patient.
The article acknowledged that research existed
indicating airborne spread, but cautioned that
it had not yet been subject to peer review, and
proposed no additional precautions about
airborne spread.
Passive House Plus contacted the WHO to
ask, in light of the contradiction between its
unequivocal Facebook and Twitter posts ruling
out airborne Covid-19 on 28 March and its
more nuanced position on 29 March, if it would
unpublish the social media posts in question.
The agency reiterated its position: “Covid-19
is primarily transmitted between people
through respiratory droplets (for instance
produced when a sick person coughs) and
close contact with sick people or contami-
nated surfaces. These droplets are too heavy
to hang in the air. They quickly fall on floors or
surfaces. This is why WHO recommends that
everyone  continue to follow basic protective
62 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
measures against Covid-19.”
“In health settings during certain proce-
dures, it is possible for the virus to be airborne
under some conditions. This is why WHO
recommends precautions for health workers.”
The WHO response referenced a WHO
guidance document on preventing Covid
transmission in healthcare settings. In a
section on contact and droplet precautions, the
guidance states that “patients should be placed
in adequately ventilated single rooms. For
general ward rooms with natural ventilation,
adequate ventilation is considered to be 60 l/s
[litres per second] per patient”. For airborne
precaution rooms, the target is set at 160 l/s per
patient.
There is an apparent contradiction in the
ventilation target for wards. If the WHO’s
position is that Covid quickly falls on the floor
or surfaces, and that one metre of distancing
between beds is sufficient mitigation, then why
specify a ventilation rate – and a high rate of
60/l/s/patient at that?
Linsey Marr, the Charles P. Lunsford
professor of civil and environmental
engineering at Virginia Tech agrees. “Recom-
mending improved ventilation in build-
ings implicitly acknowledges that airborne
transmission is important. Otherwise, social
distancing alone would stop transmission,”
says Marr. In responding to Passive House
Plus, the WHO revealed plans to imminently
publish revised advice on ventilation as part of
its Covid-19 infection prevention and control
(IPC) guidance in healthcare settings, while
also issuing a statement to the magazine on
airborne Covid-19. The statement, which is
published in full on the Passive House Plus
website, outlines the WHO position that there
is no evidence of airborne transmission of
Covid-19 outside of aerosol generating proce-
dures, and that evidence of the virus in air
samples did not demonstrate that the virus
could be transmitted in this way. “So far there
is no evidence of “transmission” of the virus as
an airborne pathogen (such as TB),” the agency
said. “This is different from finding the virus in
air samples or showing that aerosol particles
can be generated from bigger droplets when
people cough, sneeze or talk loudly.”
According to Prof Jose L Jimenez, a fellow
at the Cooperative Institute for Research
in Environmental Sciences, this statement
reflects a very narrow, binary definition of
“airborne”. “It is like measles or TB, or it is not
airborne at all. Makes no sense,” he says. “Why
are there only those two possibilities, what is
that assumption based on?”
Charles Haas, LD Betz professor of environ-
mental engineering at Drexel University is
equally vexed. “The dichotomy between
‘aerosol’ and ‘droplet’ is ancient and
outmoded,” he says. “The problem with WHO
is that initially they conveyed too much of a
sense of certitude and they have had difficulty
backing off.”
The WHO statement argues that the virus
reproduction number in various countries,
“does not indicate a typically airborne pattern
of transmission. The occurrence of airborne
transmission would have resulted in many
more cases and even more rapid spread.”

Prof Jimenez calls this assertion “totally
bogus”, adding that the reproduction rate
“is not an indicator of aerosol transmission,”
adding that Anthrax or hantavirus have a
reproduction rate of zero, but are only trans-
mitted via aerosols. Jimenez adds that unlike
more efficient airborne diseases like measles
and TB, Covid-19 is “opportunistic airborne”,
and needs crowding, low ventilation rates and
duration in order to spread.
Shelly L Miller, professor of mechanical
engineering at the University of Colorado
Boulder argues that the WHO are “demanding
much more rigorous proof of airborne trans-
mission compared to surface/touch transmis-
sion. Where has it been definitively proven that
contact with contaminated surfaces got people
sick? Yes, we find the virus on surfaces but also
in the air.”
Replying to Passive House Plus in May, Prof
Marr made a similar point: “I don’t think we
can rule out airborne transmission of Covid-
19, especially in close contact situations and
in spaces with poor ventilation for the number
of people present,” said Marr. “In fact, there is
mounting evidence that airborne transmis-
sion is occurring. There isn’t actually any direct
proof of transmission by large droplets either.”
The sense that the WHO and the medical
community in general are not engaging
sufficiently with aerosol scientists is
palpable. The WHO told Passive House
Plus it “convenes a group of more than 30
international experts in the fields of infec-
tious diseases, epidemiology, public health
and infection prevention and control” to
regularly review the evidence. “The set of
people at the table […] is narrow,” says Prof
Haas. “Where are experts in engineering,
ventilation, risk assessment? They have
always had too narrow of a net that they cast
for expertise.”
If the emerging consensus among aerosol
scientists is right, then airborne transmission
of Covid-19 is a significant factor – in particular
in crowded, poorly ventilated buildings. The
issue, then, of how we ventilate our buildings
comes into sharp relief.
The aforementioned 60/l/s and 160/l/s
per patient targets for hospital wards and
airborne precaution rooms – expressed as
minimum hourly averages – comes from a
2009 WHO document, titled ‘Natural venti-
lation for infection control in health-care
settings’. It notes that this guidance, “only
applies to new health-care facilities and
major renovations,” an apparently implicit
recognition that existing hospitals will have
sub-optimal ventilation rates in airborne
precaution rooms, and consequently higher
risks of infection spread.
The guidance also states: “The design must
take into account fluctuations in ventilation
rate”, and adds that “when natural ventilation
alone cannot satisfy the recommended venti-
lation requirements, alternative ventilation
systems, such as hybrid (mixed-mode) natural
ventilation should be considered, and then
if that is not enough, mechanical ventilation
should be used.”
Consulting ventilation engineer Mich
Swainson points out that the ventilation rate
required to maintain good indoor air quality in
non-domestic buildings is typically taken as a
minimum of 10 l/s, as per UK building regula-
tions, CIBSE Guide A, and the Department of
Health document, ‘HTM 03-01 A’. However,
HTM 03-01 notes that a general ward or single
room should have an air change rate of six air
changes per hour (ACH).
“Relating 6 ACH to a dwelling, purge venti-
lation in a room is achieved by opening the
windows, this aims to achieve a minimum
of 4 ACH,” says Swainson. “Purge ventila-
tion is deemed to be intermittent. The WHO
and HTM 03-01 respectively indicate that a
ventilation rate of 60 l/s/patient and 6 ACH
is required, 24/7. Unless a natural ventila-
tion system had been specifically designed
to achieve such rates, in a single room this
would require a significant window area to be
open 24/7, and in a general ward could only
be achieved with cross ventilation through
large openings. In cool, windy or wet weather,
the use of windows would be impractical
to achieve such high flows, without signif-
icant impact on the thermal comfort of the
occupants.”
As Dr Chris Iddon, chair of the CIBSE
natural ventilation group, explains, the ability
to deliver high levels of natural ventilation
through window openings in hospitals may be
considerably reduced from the design intent
by window restrictors installed to stop patients
escaping. “Window replacement is also an
issue,” he adds, “as the tendency is to focus on
Part L rather than whether the windows can
help achieve the flow rates under Part F.”
Iddon warns that achieving higher venti-
lation rates may prove trickier in the coming
months, given the tendency of occupants
to close windows and vents during colder
weather. “We’ll be coming to wintertime. We
need to think about what amount of air we can
reasonably deliver whilst not unduly increasing
any transmission risk.”
“If you’re in your household bubble I think
you have to think less about ventilation than
in a public building,” says Iddon, reasoning
that surface spread and large droplets will
already make virus transmission highly likely
in households. Iddon is more concerned about
public buildings. “A lot of those buildings are
probably well ventilated, but a lot aren’t. I’m
not surprised we’ve seen large viral transmis-
sion events in halls, given how high up and
inaccessible the windows tend to be.”
Iddon said CIBSE’s position has been to err
on the side of caution, and try to maximise
ventilation as much as reasonably possible, but
to revisit this as we move in to autumn . “In a
lot of circumstances where the ventilation is
poorer than it should be, there seems to be an
increased risk of infection,” he says.
But can natural ventilation be relied upon
to satisfy a specific ventilation requirement?
Useful insight on this point can be found
in a 2015 review of 168 academic papers
published since the year 2000 on ventila-
tion and health, and which subjected 48
of these to more detailed analysis. It found
that higher ventilation rates were generally
associated with reduced adverse health
outcomes, and that acute health symptoms
INSIGHT COVID-19
tended to be lower in mechanically venti-
lated buildings. The picture on mechanical
ventilation was mixed with regard to asthma
and allergy symptoms, but the findings on
natural ventilation bear repeating in full:
“Ventilation rates in naturally venti-
lated buildings can only be characterized
with a high level of uncertainty because
they depend on outdoor conditions
and activities and on the behaviour of
building occupants. Instantaneous (spot)
measurements or even weekly averages
may not be able to capture and represent
the true variability and may not be repre-
sentative of actual rates. Consequently,
exposures that are related to ventilation
may not be properly estimated and may
not reflect the actual exposures. They may
simply be too low or too high compared
with the actual levels.”
Barring feats of ventilation engineering, it
would appear misguided therefore to expect
natural ventilation to reliably meet a minimum
ventilation rate, except when backed up with
the safeguard of mechanical systems in mixed
mode designs.
There’s also evidence that occupants tend
to close or permanently block natural vents. A
Scottish study of 40 naturally ventilated airtight
homes found that 63% of vents in bedrooms
and 63% of vents in living rooms were stated
to be “closed and never opened”. Meanwhile,
a 2010 study of natural ventilation in 22 airtight
English homes found that 60% of vents were
closed, while a 2005 BRE study of 37 homes
found that trickle vents were fully open in only
four of the study homes, and fully closed in 13
homes.
The Scottish study, which was conducted
from January to March 2014, calculated that the
average per person overall ventilation rate was
3.1 litres per second per person and the range
was from 0.9 l/s/p to 6.0 l/s/p.
The BRE study involved monitoring
ventilation rates in 37 naturally ventilated,
leaky homes during winters and summers
over two years. The measured air change
rates were considerably lower in winter:
0.44 air changes per hour in winter, versus
0.62 air changes per hour in summer. The
main reason given was increased opening
of windows and trickle vents in summer
months. Homes where windows were open
‘most or all of the time’ had significantly
higher ventilation rates than other homes,
both in winter and summer. House type
was also an apparent factor: flats had lower
ventilation rates than other house types.
Bearing all of this in mind, there is reason to fear
that the conditions will be ripe for the airborne
spread of Covid-19 as winter approaches, due
to people spending more time indoors and the
near ubiquitous reliance on natural ventilation
via background ventilators and window opening
– ventilation strategies that many people are
inclined not to use during winter.
To view the CIBSE guidance on emerging
from lockdown, including ventilation guidance,
visit: www.cibse.org/coronavirus-covid-19/
emerging-from-lockdown.
ph+ | covid-19 insight | 63
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64 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34

Marketplace News
WHY SHADING IS A MAJOR HEALTH ISSUE IN OUR HOSPITALS
D aylighting, overheating, glare and lack of
natural, insect-free ventilation remain
significant issues in UK hospitals and may be
hampering the ability of patients to recover,
and hospital staff to properly care for them,
according to UK solar shading manufacturer
Smartlouvre.
Smartlouvre managing director Andrew
Cooper said that many UK hospitals are
prone to overheating and glare, which in
turns leads to stuffy indoor environments
that are sub-optimal for both patients and
staff, as emphasised in the latest CIBSE
guidelines on ventilation.
“In a healthcare environment the occup-
ants need natural daylight and air more than
ever,” he said. “A connection to the outdoors
and having access to natural light helps
patients heal faster, making for a shorter
hospital stay, and in general, the therapeutic
environment that is strived for.”
But without proper shading, glazing that
provides views and daylight can also cause
overheating and glare, and discomfort for
those inside. Cooper says these are often
not considered during hospital design. “All
too often they are disregarded, or at least
deprioritised and found to be a problem
after the building is occupied.”
He pointed out that back in 2018, a UK
heatwave saw NHS trusts bulk-buying
mobile air-conditioning units, fans and
bottled water as temperatures climbed to up
to 40C inside wards. “This year is predicted
to be the warmest year in UK history when
we are also dealing with a global coronavirus
pandemic, which makes clean natural
ventilation essential,” he said.
“So why isn’t solar shading prioritised?
Or is it the cost of cooling? Or the effect
on the environment of air conditioning?
Ventilation is crucial, as CIBSE emphasise,
especially whilst dealing with the pandemic,
but so is heat and light control. Worse still,
healthcare trusts that don’t have imminent
budgets for new buildings are seeing their
running costs rise, year after year, in order
to manage temperatures in buildings built
when these levels of temperatures weren’t
even a consideration.”
The UK Committee on Climate Change
stated in a recent report that the types
of hospital ward that are vulnerable to
overheating currently make up 90% of
the total stock (by floor area). A recent
Cambridge University report found that
some £17.5bn of upgrades could be needed
to make UK hospitals resilient to overhea-
ting through new shading measures and
improved ventilation.
“Overheating in hospitals is a serious issue.
The general design guidance for healthcare
premises as defined by the Department of
Health isn’t prescriptive when it comes to
solar gain and glare. It simply states that it
should be controlled and suggests examples
of providing control being through louvres
and blinds. Internal or external, it doesn’t
say. Furthermore, it suggests that thermal
comfort conditions are ‘issues to consider’.
Where are the standards? The minimum
heat gain and glare, the temperatures
acceptable at any given point in the day?
Recuperating patients require a lot of sleep,
which is interrupted at just 26C, and that’s
just the start.
“And so, the management of heat and
glare is left to shading solutions that at best,
remove only some of the problems, or at
worst, also remove the benefits of the glazing
and the daylight.”
“Internal blind systems remove visibility
and a connection with the outside world
and only protect the room from a minimal
amount of heat gain. External shading
systems do work but are expensive to
install and maintain as well as reducing the
quantity and quality of daylight and vision
out. Even the most recent advances in
glazing technology reduce the view out.”
Smartlouvre’s MicroLouvre product
consists of a fine bronze allow mesh,
comprising 700 tiny ‘bris-soleil’ fins per
metre of fabric, measuring only 1.5 mm in
depth. It is installed on a frame external to
any windows, allowing heat to accumulate
on the surface of the metal and then dissipate
to the outside before it reaches the window.
“You stop the heat and light before it hits
the glass, with a metal fabric, with micro fine
louvres woven in to dissipate the sun’s heat
and energy but not block natural daylight,
natural ventilation or vision out,” Cooper said.
“This solution works totally differently from
traditional external and internal blinds, which
reflect, distort and restrict vision and light.”
“It doesn’t diffuse daylight, it provides all
the benefits but not the negative impact of
excessive heat gain and glare. The louvres
are micro fine, and angled at a level to ensure
optimum light in, and visibility out, whilst
protecting the building occupants from the
heat, glare and even external viewing in.
It’s known as angular selective technology.
Testing at Fraunhofer Germany has shown
that MicroLouvre, retrofitted on to ordinary
double glazing, outperforms even the best
solar glasses.”
MicroLouvre was recently studied as
part of an exercise carried out by Richard
Tibenham of Greenlite Energy Assessors to
model different solar shading solutions for a
PA S S I V E H O U S E + MARKETPLACE
large new student accommodation building
in the East Midlands.
Tibenham’s model determined that
without any solar shading, the building was
likely to experience “moderate to severe”
overheating issues, even without taking
account of future climate change scenarios.
He modelled MicroLouvre against two
other solar control solutions, namely control
glass and high-performance internal blinds.
Of the three products, Tibenham concluded
that Smartlouvre offered the “highest level
of guarantee against overheating concerns
over the medium-long term”.
He concluded that the product offered
a good glare reduction while allowing full
daylight spectrum transmittance and a
durable service life of 25 years plus, all while
reducing overheating to the required target
(CIBSE TM59).
“MicroLouvre performs better than
retrospectively applied solar control films in
terms of light transmittance, summertime
solar gain reductions and durability,” he
wrote. He also stated that in the case of
this new build student accommodation,
however, it is the more costly option.
On a retrofit project however, MicroLouvre
would compare more favourably, because
its cost would be compared with the need
to fully replace existing glazing with a solar
control option.
Speaking to Passive House Plus,
Smartlouvre’s technical product manager
Joe Reynolds welcomed Greenlite’s
analysis, and recognition of MicroLouvre’s
performance. “Now we just need to quantify
the effect of full-spectrum daylight, superior
glare control and the other added benefits
MicroLouvre provides,” he said.
To find out more about Smartlouvre go to
www.smartlouvre.com.
(above) MicroLouvre is designed to prevent
glare and overheating while preserving
daylight and maintaining views to the outside.
ph+ | marketplace | 65
MARKETPLACE PA S S I V E H O U S E +
ECOLOGICAL LAUNCH NEW
WEBSITE AND ONLINE TRAINING
E cological Building Systems
announced the launch of a new website,
aiming to support professionals and
have
homeowners alike to achieve better results
from their next project.
The new site adds e-commerce functi-
onality, enabling online ordering of
Ecological’s range of sustainable and energy-
efficient building products.
As well as providing in-depth technical
specifications, datasheets and certifications,
the site includes a wide range of visual instal-
Xtratherm secures EPD for Thin-R boards
L eading insulation manufacturer
Xtratherm has become the latest
company to receive an environmental
product declaration (EPD) under the
Irish EPD programme. Xtratherm’s EPD
is for its Thin-R range of PIR insula-
tion boards, and the declaration covers
Thin-R boards ranging in thickness from
25 mm to 150 mm.
EPDs are an increasingly important way
for manufacturers to provide standardised
data on the environmental impact of
their products across a range of different
parameters, including global warming
potential, acidification, eutrophication
and ozone depletion.
They are designed to eliminate false
and misleading claims about the environ-
mental performance of materials by
providing independently certified data.
Building materials are assessed according
to EN 15804, a standardised method for
evaluating the environmental impact of
construction products.
There is growing focus in the industry
66 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
lation guides, project examples and hands-on
product advice aimed at making sustainable
building methods more accessible. It includes
an advanced recommendation engine to
help users quickly identify complementary
products and accessories to fit their needs,
plus live chat to provide personalised advice
where needed.
For industry professionals, the website also
houses information on Ecological’s range
of training and CPD events. While these are
usually hosted in Ecological’s on-site training
now not just on the energy efficiency of
buildings, but on the wider environmental
impact of the materials used in them.
Speaking to Passive House Plus, Peter
Seymour of EcoReview, the consultancy
that produced the EPD for Xtratherm, said
manufacturers were starting to see the
benefits of having EPDs among their range
of environmental certifications.
“EPDs are now the preferred choice for
specification on projects using BREEAM,
LEED, and the IGBC’s Home Performance
Index,” he said. “It is also a sure thing
that the incoming government will put a
major focus on the embodied carbon and
energy of the built environment, and that
EPDs will become the essential vehicle to
communicate this data.”
Meanwhile Danny Kearney, Xtratherm’s
director of technical sales and marketing,
commented: “Xtratherm is committed to
reducing the environmental impact of our
products and we’ve seen the benefits of
EPD certification since back in 2018 when
we were one of the first companies to
centres in Carlisle in the UK and Athboy in
Ireland, the training offering has recently been
expanded to include new virtual webinars and
online events in light of the Covid-19 crisis.
Penny Randell, UK general manager and
director at Ecological Building Systems, said:
“At Ecological, we’ve always felt that providing
education and support is just as important as
selling the products themselves, if not more
so. Finding not only the right products but
the right accessories and tools for a particular
application isn’t always easy, and even then,
correct installation can make or break a
project.
“Our new website is a one-stop shop to
help anybody planning a sustainable building
project to source the right products for the job,
and access information and advice to get the
best possible results. We’re delighted to be
able to bring so much of our team’s collective
expertise online for the first time – it’s the next
best thing to having them at your desk.”
The Irish division of Ecological Building
Systems is in Athboy, County Meath where
the company was established in 2000, while
the UK division is near Carlisle, Cumbria. Full
information on their range of products and
services is available on the new website at
www.ecologicalbuildingsystems.com. •
(above) The new Ecological Building
Systems website.
certify. Now more than ever, environmen-
tally conscious customers are demanding
transparency in build materials, and we’re
happy to be able to provide assurance
across the entire production process from
raw materials all the way to dispatch.” •
(above) Xtratherm’s Thin-R range of
insulation boards has just received
EPD certification.

Partel launches new
Size is key for MVHR fire-rated breather
— CVC Direct membrane
L ow energy building product supplier Partel has launched
W hen it comes to MVHR,
size does matter, accord-
ing to leading system designer
and supplier CVC Direct.
“All too often MVHR [mecha-
nical ventilation with heat
recovery] units are under speci-
fied and forced to run at high
capacity, and the outcome of
this is a noisy and inefficient
system,” CVC Direct’s Nicholas
Vaisey told Passive House Plus.
“Typically we aim for 50-60% of
the unit’s maximum capacity
for normal ventilation, allowing
for sufficient boost ventilation.”
CVC supplies Brink MVHR
units with constant volume fans,
which operate by constantly
assessing the system pressure
and adjusting the fan to maintain
the commissioned airflow. “On
this basis it is very important to
maintain low system pressures, to
help reduce noise and provide an
efficient system,” he said.
“So, it is just as important
to size the ducting correctly
and use the correct ducting,”
he continued. “Trying to push
too much air down a small
duct means high velocities,
increased pressure on the
system and increased noise.
(above) Brink MVHR unit with rigid pre-insulated ducting.
Unnecessary bends, sharp
bends and corrugated ducting
also result in higher levels of
resistance in the MVHR system,
which increases the noise from
the unit and turbulent noise
generated by the airflow.
“At CVC we design the air
velocities to be below two
metres per second at normal
operation, to maintain these
velocities we recommend the 92
mm semi-rigid ducting, rather
than the commonly used 75
mm. If we supply a rigid system,
we would use steel rather than
a PVC system, for its increased
performance characteristics.”
Lack of attenuators is another
common failure with specifi-
cations, Vasiey said. Passive
house guidelines outline sound
pressure levels of less than 25
dB(A) in living and sleeping
rooms, and less than 30 dB(A)
in kitchens, bathrooms, WCs
and utility rooms. “This should
be demonstrated at design stage
and if can’t be achieved through
attenuators, then the unit selec-
tion should be revised. If a rigid
system is used, cross talk atten-
uators should also be speci-
fied,” he said. •
PA S S I V E H O U S E + MARKETPLACE
a new premium class of protective flame-retardant
breather membrane to the UK market. EXOPERM MONO
DURO 200, with a Euroclass B fire rating, is designed for
external applications within the low energy building sector.
“Today, fire-rated breather membranes are the leading
solution in planning any type of durable construction,” said
Hugh Whiriskey of Partel. “Designers, architects, engineers,
and builders are facing critical challenges such as more
demanding environmental, health and safety regulations, as
well as the need for a higher level of building fire safety that
protects the building structure, as well as protecting lives.”
Partel’s new EXOPERM MONO DURO 200 membrane is
designed to address these challenges and provide peace of
mind in any condition.
The membrane has been tested in accordance with EN
13501-1, obtaining a B-s1, d0 classification. It is CE-certified
according to EN 13859-2 and is ideal for use with both roof and
rear-ventilated facades, featuring open or closed joints. It is
suitable for use in all building types, from residential houses to
high-rise construction, the company said.
Based on advanced monolithic TPU technology, EXOPERM
MONO DURO 200 provides “outstanding water and
wind-tightness properties, excellent ageing resistance while
offering constant high performance throughout its useful
lives,” Whiriskey said.
Thanks to its unique two-layer structure — vapour permeable
TPU coating combined with technical PES non-woven fabric
— the membrane is designed to:
• be highly breathable, reducing condensation risk
• provide increased fire resistance, reducing
flammability and smoke
• offer long-lasting UV protection (the TPU
monolithic-coated facade offers long-term UV
protection, up to 10 years)
According to Partel, the TPU functional film ensures very
high resistance of the membrane to stretching and tearing,
which positively impacts the safety and speed of the builder’s
work, being very easy to handle.
The product is underpinned by an extensive 15-year warranty
when used with typical vented facades, and a 10-year warranty
for open joint facades (maximum proportion of joints 40% and a
maximum joint width of 50 mm).
“EXOPERM MONO DURO 200 will enable our customers
to improve building safety, increase design opportunities
and enhance sustainability, making it easier for them to
reliably build better, energy-efficient, and more durable
construction,” Whiriskey said.
For more see www.partel.co.uk.•
(above) Partel’s new EXOPERM MONO DURO 200
fire-rated breather membrane.
ph+ | marketplace | 67
MARKETPLACE PA S S I V E H O U S E +

Built Environment completes

‘mammoth’ MVHR installation
B uilt Environment Technology Ltd are suppl-
ying an innovative MVHR system with
geothermal intake ducts at a luxury new-build
home for a private client and his family, in
Surrey. With a gross internal floor area of
1,300 m2, the new home has been designed to
provide privacy, space and luxury, including a
basement swimming pool with spa and sauna, a
fully-equipped fitness suite, a cinema and a golf
simulation room. The family accommodation is
arranged over four floors, with a separate studio
flat above the garages, for guests.
Completing a new-build house of this size is
a mammoth task under any circumstances and
one which would normally be undertaken by
an appointed main contractor, with designated
sub-contractors in their various fields of expertise.
In this case, however, the client elected to project-
manage the entire build process himself, directly
appointing specialist contractors throughout.
Built Environment Technology Ltd was appoin-
ted as the mechanical ventilation with heat
recovery (MVHR) specialist, with full turnkey
responsibility for specification, design, procure-
ment and project management. Vent-Axia Sentinel
Kinetic High Flow MVHR units were specified, with
five units required to meet the airflow demand, in
conjunction with a complex system design. Air
quality will be proportionally controlled by an
integral humidity sensor in each unit, with manual
boost override in case of need.
The client also wished to refine comfort as
much as possible, whilst reducing the associ-
ated energy requirement, and specified two
geothermal intake ducts for the MVHR units.
Manufactured by Rehau, ground-to-air heat
exchange ducts are designed to eliminate the
extremes of outside conditions, by transferring
renewable geothermal energy to the intake air.
When outside temperatures are very low,
therefore, the intake air temperature is naturally
raised, and conventional, high-energy frost
protection heating is not required. When outside
temperatures are very high, however, the opposite
takes effect and intake air is naturally cooled.
When asked about the challenges of heat
recovery on such a big project, senior projects
manager at Built Environment, Richard Porteous,
said: “We have a great deal of experience with
very large properties and this is certainly no
exception! Attention to detail is critical over a
period of many months and it is a huge team
effort, both on and off site. It has been refreshing
to work directly for the client, as decisions have
been made very quickly, when required. We
also look forward to monitoring the geothermal
intake performance, as outside temperatures (above) One of two geothermal
vary throughout the year.” • intake ducts for the MVHR system.

New passive vet centre opens in Wigan

V eterinarian and passive house
enthusiast Chris Copeman, whose
£60,000 passive house retrofit was
featured in Passive House Plus issue 29,
has built a new veterinary practice in
Wigan that is aiming to meet the passive
house standard.
Bryn Veterinary Centre comprises
three consulting rooms leading off a
reception space that reaches up to the
roof of the two-storey building.
The project was designed by PYC
Group, who also acted as passive house
consultants on the project. The timber
frame structure was provided by MBC
Timber Frame and insulated using
Warmcel recycled cellulose insulation.
Green Building Store’s Ultra and
Performance triple glazed timber
windows and doors were chosen for
the project. Green Building Store also
designed, supplied and commissioned
the MVHR system for the project. A Paul
Novus 450 MVHR unit was specified,
alongside galvanised rigid steel ducting.
The ventilation system at Bryn Veteri-
nary Centre provides a controlled
amount of ventilation to every room in
the building and enables the veterinary
centre to extract air from ‘wet’ rooms,
such as operating rooms and kennel
rooms, to create a healthy air flow and
reduce the risk of infection.
Using timber frame for offsite construc-
tion also speeded up the building
process, Copeman added. “Within a
week you’ve got a weather-tight building.
It’s an incredibly fast building method.”
The building achieved an airtightness
of 0.33 air changes per hour and it is
currently awaiting passive house certifi-
cation. It boasts a 10kW solar photovol-
taic array which has so far generated
about 3,700 kWh since opening in
October, with about 2,300 kWh of this
used on site.
Copeman added: “The result is a near
carbon neutral build footprint and a
building that is 10 times more efficient,
generates its own power and gives you full
control of every aspect of the environment
inside. It is a happy building, full of warm,
natural materials, where staff, clients and
their pets all seem to thrive.” •

68 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34

Remote home monitoring can help
in Covid fight – iOpt Assets
G lasgow-based remote home sensing provider iOpt Assets
believes its digital monitoring service can help to significantly
limit maintenance visits by local authority and housing association
staff, reducing one potential avenue of infection spread during the
Covid-19 pandemic.
iOpt Assets provides a remote sensing service that enables housing
stock owners to remotely monitor temperature, humidity and CO2
in the buildings they manage. This dynamic information is then
correlated with static information like house type, build method,
insulation levels, and occupancy levels, as provided by the landlord.
“When combined, this provides a powerful mix of information
that can be used to anticipate problems like damp and mould, fuel
poverty, poor indoor air quality, changes in occupancy levels, and
heating system failures,” iOpt Assets director Dane Ralston told
Passive House Plus. “And in the age of Covid-19, we believe this
can be hugely helpful in reducing the need for local authority and
housing association staff to visit their properties, helping to prevent
the spread of infection.”
Ralston continued: “Most of our clients start off interested
principally in monitoring energy efficiency and temperatures, but
quickly realise they can learn a whole lot more about conditions in
the properties. It’s not about just about looking at temperature, or
CO2, or humidity, but about how these interact with the lifestyle of
the occupants, and with the ways the properties are insulated and
heated. This provides a very powerful set of data.”
S U S TA I N A B L E B U I L D I N G
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have said the products and services
advertised are relevant to them*
Contact us for more information on how your brand
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PA S S I V E H O U S E + MARKETPLACE
The company provides real time, accurate data on housing
conditions, and early warnings of potential issues, to its clients. Three
or four wireless sensors are typically installed in an average two or
three-bed property. The company’s software platform then interprets
the data gleaned from sensors and information about the house to
predict when and where issues such as mould growth will arise, using
iOpt’s bespoke algorithms and machine learning techniques.
Ralston said it was interesting to note that in May 2020, CO2 levels
in dwellings it monitors rose on average by about 40% compared
to May 2019, because far more people were working at home and
staying inside.
“We worry that if Covid-19 comes back for a second wave in winter,
that will have a massive impact in terms of people spending more
time inside, and keeping windows closed, leading to worsening
indoor air quality and lack of ventilation.”
iOpt Assets uses the LoRa radio network for its remote sensing.
“We’re looking at developing our monitoring capabilities further
to work at the ’smart city’ level to look at how indoor air quality is
impacted by external factors such as traffic pollution.” To find out
more see www.ioptassets.com. •
(above) The iOpt Assets system combines wireless indoor air
quality and temperature sensors with building data, to enable
social landlords to remotely monitor buildings and identify risks
such as the likelihood of when and where mould growth may occur.
ph+ | marketplace | 69
T O BY C A M B R AY COLUMN

The science of filters

How do ventilation filters work, and can they help to protect us against Covid-19? Toby Cambray weighs in on
the physics of a subject that is more complex and interesting than you might expect.

I
f you’ve never given it a great deal of
thought you’d be forgiven for thinking
that filters are very important when
it comes to how our buildings can help
or hinder the effort against the current
pandemic. I certainly did! It turns out (at
least in relation to domestic MVHR) that
unless you have several infectious people
coughing into the intake grille, a filter in
your typical domestic MVHR system is
not going to do much to protect you from
Covid-19 (though it can’t hurt). But filtra-
tion is still important, as well as compli-
cated and perhaps interesting…
There is more to how filters work than
meets the eye; they aren’t simply sieves with
tiny holes, although that’s one mechanism
by which they work. If you look at them
under a microscope, the holes in most filter
media (or gaps between their fibres) are
bigger than much of what they are intended
to catch. Crucially, proper filter media are
manufactured with an electrostatic charge
applied, so particles tend to stick to the
fibres if they get close enough.
Above about 0.2 microns, particles tend
to travel in straight lines, and in the same
way you can’t see through a filter because
microns, which are larger than the MPPS,
and more likely to get stopped by a filter.
So how good are the different grades of
filters at catching these various particles?
The answer to this question can be found
in the boring-but-important standards on
the subject. Anyone who has specified or
designed MVHR for a passive house ought
to know that the level of filtration required
on the intake is F7 (or better). Here, F
means fine, as opposed to M for medium
and G for coarse (sic), and F7 must on
average remove 80 to 90% of particles in the
0.4 micron size.
G4 is the standard spec for domestic
filters, and what you get if you don’t specify
a grade. These are therefore typical in
non-passive house applications. However,
G filters have an efficiency of less than 40%
with respect to 0.4 micron particles, so
clearly can’t be relied upon to remove the
finer particles that are bad for our health.
To be clear, G filters are only really intended
to protect equipment from larger particles
which could damage fan blades etc.
Also, it’s common in commercial
buildings to cascade filters, so the incoming
air is passed through more than one filter,
but they are generally comparable and
should yield better performance because
the new test looks at a broader spectrum of
particle size.
There is a huge amount to this topic and
I’ve barely scratched the surface here.
Pressure drop is a very important aspect
for example, and one reason to avoid
over-specification of filters. I started out
on this column thinking I’d mug up a
bit on filters and write something about
the importance of filters in combatting
the current pandemic. Instead, I found
myself going down a rabbit hole with less
relevance to protection against Covid-19
but learning a lot along the way. I can only
hope that someone else out there finds this
useful, interesting or both! n

It makes sense to have one filter for Covid,

and another one for Corvids.

the light hits one or more fibres, a particle
travelling in a straight line will simply collide
with a fibre. Below about 0.1 microns, a
particle starts to behave more like a gas
molecule, darting around according to
Brownian motion. Once within the filter,
all that darting around tends to make it
bump into the charged fibres. The cumula-
tive effect of these mechanisms gives an
efficiency curve with a dip at about 0.1 to
0.2 microns; this size is therefore known as
the ‘most penetrating particle size’ (MPPS)
and is used to benchmark filters.
It turns out that a Covid-19 virus has a
size almost exactly the same as the MPPS,
which is bad because it means a virus is
the optimum size to penetrate a filter. On
the other hand, viruses generally escape
the body suspended in droplets of 0.5 to 10
starting coarse and becoming more fine.
This helps the fine filters focus on what they
are best at, leaving the job of catching flies,
leaves and dead birds to less costly filters.
It makes sense to have one filter for Covid,
and another one for Corvids.
It’s also worth pointing out that the
standard setting out the G, M, and F classi-
fications (BS EN 779) has been superseded
by one that is more fit for purpose. As usual
with changes in standards, it takes time
for updates to become widely adopted in Toby Cambray is a founding
practice. Brave souls might summon the director at Greengauge and leads
energy to wade through the 164 pages that the building physics team. He
make up BS EN 16890, but failing that, you is an engineer intrigued by how
might consider swapping F7 for ePM1 60% buildings work and how they fail,
and G4 for Coarse 70% in your documenta- and uses a variety of methods to
tion. The categories are not directly equiva- understand these processes.
lent because the test method is different,

70 | passivehouseplus.co.uk | issue 34
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Architecture and built by Andy Mackay Passivhaus & low energy experts
at Mac Eye Projects, with Green
B u i l d i n g S t o r e U LT R A w i n d o w s & d o o r s , Call us on 01484 461705 or go to
MVHR and airtightness products.
photo: © Mac Eye Projects, LARCH CORNER PASSIVHAUS. www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk
ph+ | editor’s letter | 71
Support
Topics include:
— Achieving Future Homes Standard

where and
— Part L Regs and Passive - where are we?
— It’s all in the detail - how to improve thermal bridging
— Threshold detailing to avoid bridging

when you
— Closing cavities to meet fire, structural & thermal regs
— Calculation of Thermal Bridging - what software?
— Calculation of U-Values - getting it right

need us
— Cut-to-fall roof thermal calculation - not as simple
as an average
— SAP - an understanding

Xtratherm have updated our resources
and technologies to support you in
your own changing working situation,
to continue to provide the service
you can rely on.
We are all getting used to communicating
online, particularly in the areas of
technical support and CPD delivery.
We have met many more of you
face-to-face for the first time; so
that can only be a good thing.
Our webinars and consultations are
created with you and your team in
mind, covering the areas of interest
that you are focused on.
Let’s keep talking.

New & Updated

Ways to Work:

Xi Online Learning

Remote Support

Live Webinars

For more information call:

0371 222 1055
xtratherm.com
72 | passivehouseplus.ie | Issue 21