We developed in the Rift Valley in Africa, a landscape that was rapidly changing, in relative terms, creating new and diverse habitats.

The facade performance in a Passivhaus building goes well beyond current UK Building Regulations, though a combination of highly insulated walls, high-performing windows and by ensuring “thermal bridging” around windows, doors and junctions is reduced to as close to zero as possible.This contrasts with traditional building construction, where these elements account for upwards of 10% of the building’s heat loss..

The design must achieve the following targets to gain Passivhaus certification:.A heating energy demand of < 15 kWh/m²/yr or a maximum required heating power of 10 W/m2.Avoid overheating or have a cooling system demanding < 15 kWh/m2/yr.

Achieve an air tightness of ≤ 0.6 air changes/ hr @ n50.The building design also needs to achieve low primary energy & renewable demand.

This is a combined target and is based on the energy consumed by building systems and the renewable energy generated by building mounted wind, photovoltaics or solar thermal systems.. For the above reasons, Passivhaus is a suitable standard for clients and developers that seek a well-established, sustainability standard to deliver low energy buildings with the highest construction quality, aspiring to net zero carbon in operation.. Bryden Wood’s 10-step approach to Passivhaus building design and construction.

Whilst there is no fixed formula to Passivhaus, Bryden Wood proposes the achievement of the above targets via the following 10 steps, which relate both to design decisions and construction specifications for improved sustainability:.Studies to look at remediating the buildings had suggested the need to cease operations for 18 months, meaning the solution was unviable.

Although the client was looking for the most efficient replacement factory, the Design to Value approach – combined with clever thinking and seismic modelling – came up with a solution to support the existing building.This eradicated the need to replace or shut down the operation, saving the client more than £120 million – not to mention tonnes of embedded and emitted carbon in the construction of a new asset..

If building is the only option, then the hard questions need to continue:.What would a zero-carbon building look like across its whole lifespan?