PassivHaus

Talk 1: 7.30am for 8am: 'PassivHaus in the city, its not just for Grand Designs': More details or book here

Talk 2: 3pm for 3.30pm: 'PassivHaus: is it really deliverable?': More details or book here

In addition GCP will be running:

A free exhibition featuring leading manufacturers and suppliers of products approved by the PassivHaus Institute. More details or register here

Free design surgeries for anyone considering developing a project designed to the PassivHaus standard and want to learn a bit more about what is actually involved. More details and booking

A bit about PassivHaus

PassivHaus has been used as an energy standard for new construction and building refurbishments in Europe for over 20 years, with over 30,000 projects now completed. In Brussels, all new projects - both domestic and non-domestic - must be delivered to PassivHaus standard. This has had a profound impact on reducing the cost of building to PassivHaus and increased the ability, capacity and skills of the supply chain that delivers it.

PassivHaus has only recently been taken up in the UK and there are now over 30 completed projects. Most of these are individual houses, with a handful of multiple-unit schemes and a sprinkling of non-domestic projects including offices, a care home, student accommodation and schools. Recently, there have been some significant multi-million pound commitments by major clients such as the University of Leicester, who have seen BREEAM Excellent buildings deliver much higher energy bills than anticipated.

The latest revision to Building Regulations Part L, focusing on increased Fabric Energy Efficiency, moves the debate for low-carbon buildings away from BREEAM and renewable technologies towards more efficient, fabric first buildings. PassivHaus is the most effective and logical approach to achieve low-energy buildings. Is this the approach Bristol should be adopting?