Above: Key Passivhaus benefits for residents
gcp Chartered Architects have recently supported two members of the team to attend the AECB Passivaus Designer Course and further develop their skills. Here, Matt Bonney talks about his route to sustainable design.
Energy efficiency in homes has always been a key part of my architectural education. My interest was sparked in 2010 at the University of Strathclyde where an environmental studies class taught me how to calculate building u-values from first principals. This information could then be used to help calculate heating/cooling loads and work out the building’s annual energy demand. I have always had a fascination with numbers so the ability to calculate the efficiency of a building was very interesting to me.
Starting my Part 1 Placement year in 2013 I wanted to expand this new knowledge as much as possible. The practice I worked for focused on bespoke housing in the Yorkshire Dales, so I signed up for the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) assessor course at BRE which allowed me to assess houses against the CSH criteria and make my designs as sustainable as possible. At this time, the CSH guidance was being adopted by some planning authorities which made the knowledge very useful. However, as the guidance was merged with the updated building regulations the CSH became less influential.
It was during my CSH training that I first became aware of Passivhaus as a design standard. Returning to university in 2014 I focused on designing energy efficient buildings, with a specific focus on passive sustainable solutions for high density mixed-use buildings. My intention was always to ground myself in the fundamentals of sustainable design so I could pursue Passivhaus designer accreditation on my return to practice.
When I joined gcp in 2018 I was impressed by their history of sustainable design which continues today through gcp Consulting. I hope that by attending the AECB Passivhaus Designer course I will improve my knowledge of sustainable design and develop the skill set needed to create fantastic Passivhaus buildings such as the ones designed by Colin Powell, gcp’s Passivhaus Designer.
If you or your company are looking to build a Passivhaus project, get in touch by emailing mail@gcparch.co.uk or phoning our office on 0117 967 6286
Click here to for more information on Passivhaus projects completed by gcp.