Passivhaus low energy building in the UK

Dated: 12/10/2010

 

3D model of Denby Dale PassivhausGreen Building Store today (Tuesday 12th October 2010) launches its technical film ‘Passivhaus low energy building in the UK’ for building professionals. Freely available to view from its website www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk, the 60+ minute film covers all stages of construction of the Denby Dale Passivhaus – the UK’s first Passivhaus to be built using traditional British cavity wall construction methods.

To get cavity wall to perform to the Passivhaus standard, the Green Building Store team needed to develop many original design details. The film includes much of the technical detailing for the project, including floor and foundations, first floor, roof, window openings, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery systems and much more. With a Foreword by Jonathon Porritt, the film sets out to offer the UK construction industry a template for building ultra low energy Passivhaus buildings using construction methods and materials familiar to UK builders and designers.

Bill Butcher, Green Building Store Director and Project Leader on the Denby Dale Passivhaus said:
“Until the Denby Dale project, people assumed that cavity wall construction wouldn’t be suitable for Passivhaus. Having achieved an airtightness level of 0.33 ach @ 50 Pa, we are delighted to demonstrate that cavity wall can offer a viable and valid option for Passivhaus construction in the UK. The project can also offer the construction industry useful technical detailing for radically improving the energy efficiency and airtightness of cavity wall construction, regardless of whether the project is aiming for the Passivhaus standard. We very much hope that the ‘Passivhaus low energy building in the UK’ technical film will make a useful contribution to furthering the take-up of the Passivhaus approach in the UK.”

Filmed over 12 months of construction, the technical film contains on-site footage and technical diagrams and graphics, as well as interviews with the clients and Green Building Store Directors. Green Building Store has also made a 10 minute documentary ‘Future Passiv’ (presented by TV environmentalist Penney Poyzer) which makes the case for Passivhaus low energy building in the UK to a wider audience. The technical film and documentary will be available to freely view at Green Building Store’s website www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk from 12/10/10. A free technical briefing on the Denby Dale Passivhaus project is also available as a 40 page pdf for building professionals registering at: www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk/denbydalehouse

‘Passivhaus low energy building in the UK’ was filmed and edited by student film-makers and was made possible thanks to the kind sponsorship of Kirklees Council.

Notes for the Editor

 

Green Building Store
Green Building Store is a specialist manufacturer/ supplier sustainable building products as well as supplying a range of Passivhaus services including Passivhaus products, training, consultancy and construction. It won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development 2009 for its “pioneering approach to sustainability” and for delivering “cutting edge sustainable products to the market”.

Green Building Store, Heath House Mill, Heath House Lane, Golcar, Huddersfield HD7 4JW
Tel: ; Fax: 01484 653765; [email protected]
www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk

Denby Dale Passivhaus
The Denby Dale Passivhaus project in West Yorkshire is one of the first certified Passivhaus homes in the UK and is the first to be built in the British vernacular style, using a cavity wall construction. The house will require minimal heating and will use 90% less energy for space heating than the UK average. Built to a tight budget of £141K, the 118m2 three-bed detached house aims to be an exemplar of how Passivhaus construction can be achieved inexpensively by a small, skilled construction team. The project was led and managed by Green Building Company (Green Building Store’s construction division).

Key features

* One of the first certified Passivhaus homes in the UK
* First certified Passivhaus built with cavity wall construction in UK
* £141K build costs
* 118m2 three-bed detached house
* Costs/m2 = £1194
* Airtightness: 0.33 ach @ 50 Pa
* Space heating needs: under 15 kWh/m2/annum
* Minimal heating – using 90% less energy for space heating than the UK average
* Heating costs of around £75 per year.
* Subject of the popular ‘Passivhaus Diaries’ blog
* Shortlisted for RIBA Yorkshire White Rose Awards – Sustainability Award (results announced 26/11/10
* Shortlisted for Sustainability Awards – Sustainable Housing Project of the Year (results announced 30/11/10)

More information at: www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk/denbydalehouse

Jonathon Porritt  
Jonathon Porritt, Co-Founder of Forum for the Future, is an eminent writer, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development.  Established in 1996, Forum for the Future is now the UK’s leading sustainable development charity, with 70 staff and over 100 partner organisations, including some of the world’s leading companies.
In addition, he is Co-Director of The Prince of Wales’s Business and Sustainability Programme which runs Seminars for senior executives around the world. He is a Non-Executive Director of Wessex Water, and of Willmott Dixon Holdings.  He is a Trustee of the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy, and is involved in the work of many NGOs and charities as Patron, Chair or Special Adviser.
www.jonathonporritt.com
www.forumforthefuture.org

Penney Poyzer
Penney Poyzer was recently hailed as one of 100 British women of the last century who have changed the world. She is an acknowledged expert across a broad church of green issues. She is an author, broadcaster and campaigner. She presented BBC2’s ground-breaking series “No Waste like Home” which has been seen in 27 countries.
She is patron of a number of green charities and was recently appointed as an expert to the EU. She is co-creator of the Nottingham ecohome, the UK’s first radical eco retrofit of a hard to treat home. Now in its eleventh year, Penney and her green architect husband Gil Schalom, are acknowledged as pioneers of the eco retrofit movement. Penney is an advisor and consultant to a wide range of organisations.
www.penneypoyzer.com

Kirkees Council
The production of ‘Future Passiv’ was made possible thanks to the kind sponsorship of Kirklees Council. Mehboob Khan, Leader of Kirklees Council said:

“Kirklees Council is at the forefront of local government efforts to reduce CO2 emissions from buildings and we are delighted to have the low energy exemplar Denby Dale Passivhaus project within the Kirklees area. We are fortunate to be able to benefit from Green Building Store’s expertise in this exciting new approach to low energy construction and we hope that the Denby Dale Passivhaus will offer a template for the construction industry to help deal with the urgent problems of climate change and fuel poverty.”

 

11th October 2010

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