Architect Kirsty Maguire has been designing Passivhaus buildings in Scotland since 2009. Here, she shares her thoughts on the Scottish Government consultation on its Passivhaus Equivalent policy that is currently underway and looks at the potential that Passivhaus construction offers Scotland.
I’m writing this from my own Passivhaus office near Dundee, experiencing steady comfortable temperatures, fresh air and benefiting from ultra-low energy bills as well as enjoying the light and bright space. Kirsty Maguire Architect Ltd have been designing Passivhaus buildings over the last 17 years, with projects across Scotland as well as further afield – consulting globally from Arctic Norway to the far south including the Falklands and South Georgia – demonstrating the potential Scottish export value of Passivhaus.
Shortly we will be handing over a new Passivhaus home in Perth & Kinross and another targeting the Passivhaus Plus standard in Angus. On the drawing-board we have other houses, a community centre and offices both locally and in demanding high latitude climates.
Why Passivhaus? Why not?
From my point of view, using the Passivhaus standard as part of our overall ‘design toolkit’ is the norm and we have always used this on all of our projects. Because it delivers what it says on the tin, I guess my question would be why would you not do it?
To me, good architecture is about delivering well rounded design – a building that is both technically strong, and a joy to spend time in from an aesthetic and practical side too. If you’re delivering something that doesn’t deliver good summer comfort or good indoor air quality, it’s a bit like saying that you’re designing a building without thinking about fire safety or thinking about waterproofing. Passivhaus gives us the tools to design great comfort and build quality in a way that is fully integrated, as well as low energy bills. Why would you not do that?
I started working with Passivhaus in 2009 because of the advantages it provides and now we’re finding that demand for Passivhaus is coming from clients. They are keen to have the benefits of fresh air, low bills and great comfort and are increasingly knowledgeable about Passivhaus even before they choose an architect. For example, we’ve been appointed to design a village hall by a community group, and their tender included that it needs to be a Passivhaus building.
Passivhaus removes a lot of risk for the client in many ways. Sometimes people mistakenly see it as risky, but I see it as the opposite. Passivhaus has a rigorous quality assurance process and a clear pathway to achieving that. Contractors have reported that number of defects at the end of a project that they are called back to are fewer, because of the framework that’s in place for quality from start to finish.
The timeline may change from a ‘standard’ project on site a little to schedule in managing the airtightness, and we spend time up front to detail a project so there is good cost and quality certainty, which is something that both we and clients are keen on.
Scotland’s Passivhaus learning curve
It has been brilliant watching the Passivhaus know-how and supply chain develop in Scotland over the last 17 years. We’re seeing improvements with cost-effectiveness and efficiencies. For example, the UK supply chain has developed a number of excellent Passivhaus offsite timber frame options. Off-site manufacturing really helps speed up construction time on site, which, with Scotland’s variable weather can be a big help in making projects weathertight sooner. The landscape for availability of components and expertise nationwide has completely changed since 2009 when Passivhaus first came to the UK as the supply chain is now pretty robust and continues to mature and develop.
I’ve now worked with both Passivhaus experienced and inexperienced building contractors. Good contractors tend to love Passivhaus because it showcases their skills and their attention to detail. Passivhaus is not rocket science and it works best with a positive and collaborative approach from everyone involved. Making sure everyone in the project knows what the outcome is to be is key, from the design team, local authorities and contractors. We have been part of delivering training to all of these since 2009 – independently and now there are far more resources, I work as part of the Coaction training team and we can signpost people to other external providers too.
Passivhaus gives a great framework for delivering high quality, low cost to run projects be that housing or other building types and should be the norm for everyone to enjoy.
Scottish Passivhaus Equivalent Like many others in the Scottish construction industry, I’ve been watching closely how the Scottish Passivhaus Equivalent policy has been evolving. The Stage 2 proposals are currently out to consultation. There are some really positive aspects, with proposals for Passivhaus to be ‘deemed to satisfy’ Scottish building standards and the use of absolute energy targets. However, there are proposals that suggest that the policy won’t live up to its promise. The Passivhaus Standard is a tried and tested international building standard that Scotland would do well to learn from. I would encourage everyone to read the Passivhaus Trust’s consultation response and submit your own response by 16 October.
https://bit.ly/SPEStage2Consultation
