Net Zero Housing Design in Practice – Evaluating Innovation

Heating costs for a 100m² Passivhaus dwelling can be as low as £200 pa with the potential to eliminate fuel poverty.

The Scottish government has committed to adopting a Passivhaus equivalent approach to building energy performance standards by 2025. Building regulations will be adapted and solutions developed to achieve this quickly and cost-effectively – with a focus on a fabric-first approach. Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) can provide valuable data on performance outcomes in terms of achieving the required target standards. Publication of the results of this project will provide measured outcomes and evidence for the impact of implementation of Passivhaus in Scotland.

The outcome of the project is an evidence-based report will quantify the performance of replicable infra-red heating systems to achieve the standard:

a. occupancy profile
b. indoor air temperature
c. indoor relative humidity
d. indoor carbon dioxide concentrations
e. outdoor temperature
f. outdoor relative humidity
g. barometric pressure
h. dwelling energy consumption (manual readings)a
i. heating costs

A questionnaire will be used to collect “soft data”, e.g., occupants’ level of satisfaction with the indoor air quality, construction process, etc.

The project in question has already attracted high-profile media interest, e.g., leading specialist publications—“Passive House Plus” and Home Energy Scotland (EST) have expressed interest in publishing the output. These offer valuable opportunities for promoting the (independently validated) capabilities of Kirsty Maguire Architects, and the advantages of the innovative technology.