Successful Passivhaus Scheme

Randall Simmonds has led the development of 20nr affordable houses for Aster Homes that have been designed to the Passivhaus standard. The units were successfully handed over in 2012. Link to download the Ford Farm, St Ive: Passivhaus Brochure.

Our brief as the Employer’s Agent was to deliver an affordable housing scheme on a rural site to achieve Passivhaus and Code 4 compliance to address the issues of fuel poverty.

Some of the key lessons that we have learnt about the application of the Passivhaus design standard to affordable housing are:- Achieving Passivhaus requires a determined client, a skilled architect, a knowledgeable assessor and a willing contractor; Selecting products that are both affordable and robust e.g. triple glazed windows, that achieve and maintain air-tightness, requires detailed research and product analysis;  Choosing the optimum method of water heating on an off gas network site also has to be considered; The design and construction process cannot be fast-tracked; We strongly recommend that a dedicated quality control resource is employed on site by the contractor to deliver a Passivhaus certifiable dwelling to the required air-tightness standard.    Recent pictures of the completed scheme from October 2013 are below:-