UK news - passivehouseplus.ie

The AECB 2023 Conference will focus on providing solutions required for building in an age of climate chaos and biodiversity collapse.

A pioneering co-housing scheme, a cube-shaped self build, a cork and polyester- insulated retrofit to a 1970s house, a glulam timber school, and a curved college building were the winners at the 2023 UK Passivhaus Awards.

The United Nations is pushing for a rapid drive to make the world’s buildings sustainable – aided by an international coalition centred in the Wexford town of Enniscorthy.

TrustMark defends scheme & says it creates a pathway to PAS 2035

Simon Jones reviews new book exploring the Grenfell tragedy.

Scotland’s minister for zero carbon buildings is proposing to make the passive house standard, or a new Scottish equivalent, the minimum energy efficiency standard for new build homes from the end of 2024.

Over the past two years Passive House Plus editor Jeff Colley has been moonlighting as co-host of Zero Ambitions, a weekly podcast that wrestles with the challenge of how to deliver the scale and ambition of decarbonisation and sustainability in buildings required to avoid a hellish future.

The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) has launched a set of principles aimed at guiding national governments to develop effective building policies and programmes to accelerate a decarbonised future.

The potential of the passive house standard to change the world isn’t restricted to tackling climate change – it’s about social justice too.

Changes include embodied carbon, zero emission buildings and minimum energy standards

The Passivhaus Trust has published a new technical paper on thermal bypass – the phenomenon where air movement across, within and behind insulation increases heat loss, causes discomfort and enables mould growth.

This year’s UK Passivhaus Conference was held in Exeter, reflecting Exeter City Council’s record for developing buildings to the passive house standard over the last decade.

The first in-person event of the Association for Environment Conscious Building (AECB) since Covid, the 2022 AECB Conference, focussed on practical solutions to decarbonising buildings.

Organisations tackling the UK cost of living crisis and providing a new generation with the skills for green jobs have been recognised in this year’s international Ashden Awards.

The Association for Environment Conscious Building (AECB) has introduced a new retrofit standard catering for hard-to-treat homes and cases where homeowners want to take urgent action on climate change but are not currently able to commit to a deep retrofit.

Decarbonising buildings is “probably the most important issue” in the UK’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UK’s independent authority on climate change.

Do thicker insulated walls, triple glazed windows, & MVHR ventilation systems tip the scales unfavourably for passive house when it comes to embodied carbon?

As Russia weaponises gas exports, the European Commission has proposed a gas demand reduction plan, to cut use in Europe by 15 per cent until next spring.

The world’s first passive house hospital has been certified by the Passive House Institute – showing that the standard can be applied to even to the most demanding building types.

The AECB conference 2022 will focus on practical solutions to decarbonising buildings, with a particular emphasis on timber-based approaches with the potential to deliver low energy, healthy buildings at scale while minimising the use of precious resources and impact on the environment.

Max Fordham House in North London has become the first residential building in the UK to be verified as net zero carbon. Located in the London Borough of Camden, this certified passive house was designed for, and lived in by, the late legendary engineer Max Fordham.

A major new social housing retrofit programme by Renfrewshire Council will see up to 3,500 local authority dwellings renovated to either Enerphit or the AECB Retrofit Standard.

St Sidwell’s Point Leisure Centre in Exeter, the first passive-certified leisure centre in the UK, is set to open to the public on 29 April

Latest climate report calls for more e cient use of floor space in buildings

Green groups criticise lack of focus on embodied carbon.

The European Commission is proposing sweeping changes to the way in which energy ratings for buildings are allocated, in a bid to stimulate the retrofit of the worst performing buildings across Europe.

Leading sustainable building association the AECB has secured funding to create an international resource to share detailed information on low energy buildings in the UK, Ireland and, ultimately, internationally, via a rebuild of the Low Energy Buildings Database (LEBD).

Review finds that SAP is not fit for purpose, by Kate de Selincourt.

Passive House Plus editor and publisher Jeff Colley’s TEDx talk on the passive house standard is now available to view online.

The Welsh government has issued a new standard for social housing that requires an embodied carbon assessment, favours timber-based offsite construction, and bans fossil fuel boilers.

At COP26, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) recognised the UK’s Sustainable Development Foundation (SDF), along with South West College in Northern Ireland and the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre, as international centres of excellence for high performance buildings.