Investing in a passive house: a wise choice for the future
High-performing insulation panel fitted on the outside of the oak frame of our certified passive house
In a world where sustainability and energy efficiency is pivotal, the concept of Passivhaus buildings, both new-build and retrofit, offers an exceptional solution. Whether you're considering buying or building new or upgrading to an eco-friendly home, a question to consider is ‘Should I invest in a passive house?’ Let's look at some aspects of this, analyse the reasons to invest in a passive house, and look at future viability.
Understanding passive houses
Passive houses are buildings designed and built to be highly energy-efficient, reducing their carbon footprint and ensuring optimal indoor comfort. They achieve this through:
superior insulation;
the minimisation /avoidance of ‘cold bridges’ breaching the insulation;
near-airtight construction;
high-quality windows; and
a ventilation system that efficiently retains heat whilst providing a constant supply of filtered, fresh air.
With significantly lower energy requirements, passive houses minimise the need for heating and cooling systems.
The Passivhaus standard was pioneered in Germany by Bo Adamson and Wolfgang Feist. There are many more Passivhaus buildings in Germany, Austria and other European countries than the UK (but we are catching up) and many are to be found in other countries.
You can read more about our experience of self-building and living in a certified passive house in this series of posts.
The first of our two airtightness tests to confirm build quality and, as the standard was achieved, assure future Passivhaus performance
Most importantly, in our view, Passivhaus buildings have a superb indoor environment: always-fresh, the temperature is remarkably constant throughout whatever the weather or time of year, and relative humidity levels are optimised. In other posts, you can find the views of others who live in passive houses or have retrofitted to the Passivhaus standard.
Five top reasons to live in a passive house
Whether you self-build a new passive house, retrofit an existing one, or buy an existing one you’ll benefit from:
superior comfort: passive houses maintain a consistent temperature throughout, ensuring a comfortable, peaceful, always-fresh living environment throughout the year;
much lower utility bills: passive houses can save up to 90% on heating and cooling costs compared to average UK homes (75% compared to those built to current Building Regulation standards);
a reduced environmental Impact: lower energy requirements mean lower carbon, nitrogen oxides and particulate emissions;
guaranteed performance: if your house is built as designed using the Passive House Planning Package then you’ll avoid over-engineering and can expect it to perform exactly as intended (for example, the first house built to the Passivhaus standard, in Darmstadt, Germany, is still performing as designed 30 years later); and
a more durable building: continuous and effective ventilation throughout the building prevents condensation damage of the building’s fabric.
The UK passive house market
Passive houses can be built in a variety of shapes and sizes and of different materials. Increasingly, Passivhaus design is also being used for community housing, for example in Camden, London; Norwich; Exeter; Llangan, Wales; Stirlingshire, Scotland. And there are a variety of passive house retrofit projects, such as in Manchester, Cheshire, Oxfordshire, the New Forest (and see more about Passivhaus retrofitting in another post). You can see the Passivhaus Trust records of certified projects in the UK, and there are more still that have been built without going through the certification process.
With most UK passive houses being individual self-build projects built in the last few years, it’s a bit early to determine whether they subsequently sell at a premium. However, some estate agents are reporting that larger eco homes are selling for more and we would suggest that, for the reasons described above, buying a passive house would be a worthwhile investment. Certainly, those building and living in community housing built to the Passivhaus standard say that their living environment is vastly better and their energy bills much lower.
Future viability of passive houses
The Passive House Trust states that ‘Passivhaus buildings are optimised for Net Zero and meet the predicted capacity of our future decarbonised grid’. That would suggest that all future buildings should meet the passive house standard and Scotland is proposing to do just this.
In terms of UK housing achieving Net Zero in time to contribute to reducing the worst effects of the climate emergency, there are two main problems: there aren’t yet enough architects and builders with the skills and experience to design and build enough new Passivhaus homes, and, in any event, more than 80% of the homes likely to be used in 2050 are already built and these fall way short of the energy efficiency standards required by 2050. Retrofitting as many existing homes as possible thus needs to be a priority but this will also require a much-increased number of designers and builders with the right skills.
But for individuals, self-building, retrofitting or buying an existing passive house, based on our experience, we’d suggest is something well worth exploring. Certainly, we consider that all new buildings should have much higher levels of insulation and airtightness (and improvements are proposed for the UK’s building regulations) and existing buildings should be similarly upgraded.
Try before you buy
If you’d like to experience the Passivhaus difference then stay at Woodlands Malvern B&B! Set in the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (now called national landscapes), you can enjoy stunning scenery and tranquility, and we’d also be pleased to talk with you about our experiences of building and living in a passive house.