UK - passivehouseplus.ie

Passive Sills, the Cork-based manufacturer of insulated windowsills, has announced that it has achieved British Board of Agrément (BBA) certification.

Voices from across the construction industry have united in criticising the UK government’s “disappointing” proposals to update the building regulations and progress towards a 2025 “Future Homes Standard” for England.

A passive house new build has commenced in Guernsey and, when certified, it will be the first project in the Channel Islands built to the standard. Located on the west coast of the island, Le Catillion is a single-storey dwelling being constructed for an architect and his wife as their low energy holiday home.

A deep retrofit project in Lancaster has achieved possibly the best ever airtightness result in the UK for a retrofit project. Designed by leading passive house architect Mark Siddall, Shepherd’s Barn is a super insulated, low energy barn conversion which incorporates high standards of airtightness and an MVHR system.

A new report has advocated a 'bottom-up' approach as an effective way to deliver the deep retrofit of the UK's building stock at scale.

The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP) has announced that the ASBP Awards 2020 are now open for entries.

A new apartment development in one of South London’s up and coming districts is making use of Magply boards’ fire resistance and other performance characteristics, as the lining to a bespoke timber frame package.

With this stunning, award-winning passive house in Camden, the legendary engineer Max Fordham — together with bere:architects & Bow Tie Construction — has produced a simple and beautiful urban home with no wet heating system that draws on his lifetime of work applying the principles of simplicity, practicality and replicability to the design of building services.

NBT, the UK supplier of Pavatex insulation and airtightness products, has completed the first phase of a merger with building products giant, Soprema UK.

The Goldsmith Street development in Norwich has become both the first social housing scheme and the first passive house certified project to win the Stirling Prize, British architecture’s most prestigious award. 

The entire UK housing market — from self-builders and house buyers through to large-scale developers, housing associations and local authorities — must start demanding a much higher level of quality from new homes in order to ensure the market delivers buildings that are genuinely healthy, sustainable and low energy. That is according to Will Kirkman, managing director of leading sustainable building product supplier Ecomerchant.

Green Building Store has announced the launch of a new service that is now included at no extra charge in its product packages.

Ecological Building Systems have announced the addition of a new thermal modelling service to their existing array of technical services. Ecological technical team member Joe Fitzgerald recently successfully completed the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) approved thermal modellers examination in Dublin Technological University. Fitzgerald is now listed on the NSAI thermal modellers register.

Antrim-based company Showersave say that the imminent inclusion of wastewater heat recovery in the new DEAP 4.2.0 software, set to be launched on 16 September, will provide developers, designers and builders with a simple and cost-effective new way to help ensure Part L compliance and achieve better building energy ratings.

Local authorities across the UK are starting to embrace the passive house standard by formally encouraging its use in their planning policies and local area plans. This follows confirmation from the government last year that councils were entitled to set higher building energy efficiency standards locally than is mandated by Part L of the building regulations.

Rights allowing the conversion of commercial buildings into dwellings, without planning permission, are potentially creating unhealthy living conditions.

Kingspan Insulated Panels and Kingspan Insulation have jointly been shortlisted for the sustainable manufacturing award at the prestigious The Manufacturer MX Awards, recognising the company’s “commitment to sustainable practice at all levels of their business.”

Green Building Store and PHI Architecture are currently seeking property owners with MVHR systems to take part in air quality research in conjunction with Nottingham University.

As construction delivery chain roles have become more fragmented, a lack of joined up thinking has meant that disparate elements of a project don’t always work effectively as a whole, says Andrew Mitchell, managing director of Natural Building Technologies.

When looking at new technologies and projects, developers and self-builders might assume that if you’re building with ‘new’ methods such as ICF, SIPS, timber frame and steel frame that you can’t achieve a traditional facade.

Long-term partners Kingspan Insulated Panels and Nulok have combined their innovative pitched slate and tile roofing systems to create a slim, versatile solution that offers the benefits of insulated panels with the aesthetic appeal of traditional vernacular roof finishes, all in an easy to install package.

The pressure to build large volumes of additional housing in response to the housing crisis is driven by false logic and risks undermining both the quality of new homes and UK carbon targets, according to Richard Tibenham, lecturer in building physics at the University of Lincoln and director of Greenlite Energy Assessors.

The British Blind & Shutter Association (BBSA) has challenged what it described as the defacto banning of shading on tall glass buildings in Part B of the building regulations, and is seeking a judicial review on several points, principally that the regulation is misconceived as it focusses on combustibility rather than flammability

From 28 – 30 June 2019, the mid-year International Passive House Open Days, organised by iPHA and its affiliates, will take place in the UK.

The application of Passive Purple Liquid airtight membrane to a dilapidated test building has demonstrated the product’s remarkable ability to air seal even the leakiest structures.

Alongside its portfolio of passive house certified skylights and roof glazing (phA advanced components) Lamilux has extended its product range to include Smoke Vent AOVs (automatic opening vents).

Leading mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) supplier CVC Direct believes that despite the growing popularity of MVHR, there are still many misconceptions about the technology among both general consumers and the building sector.

Creating 125 modern workspaces, a new £4m cornerstone development is the latest addition to North West Bicester’s pioneering.

During a speech last year Theresa May challenged the construction industry to halve the energy use of new buildings, and to halve the cost of retrofit. But we already know how to meet these challenges, writes Peter Rickaby, and much more difficult tasks lie ahead.

With obsessive attention to preserving and restoring the original fabric of these two Victorian townhouses, and a commitment to shunning petrochemicals and using only natural materials, could this be the most wildly ambitious and sustainable passive retrofit ever undertaken in the UK?