Applying the Passive House Approach to Refurbishment
January 29th, BuildDesk Offices, Hammersmith
Passive House is being adopted for a wide range of buildings in Austria. Hermann Jahrman, Managing Director of BuildDesk Austria, has been deeply involved in setting up the Passive House concept in Austria. He has also run projects focussing on the practical performance of the buildings in use and on their sustainability over time. In January he gave an engaging talk about the standard and how it is being used in refurbishment, using two schools as case study examples.
Some of the key points he made were:
- Passive House standard is applicable across all types of buildings
- The whole life costs of Passive Houses are low because energy costs are low
- The extra cost of designing to Passive House standard is about 8% compared to buildings designed to Austrian buildings standards
- Having the right components and craftsmanship is critical to success
- People living in Passive Houses find them more comfortable than conventional houses.
