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Five hundred homes in Agar Grove in North London are being redeveloped by Camden Council – the project is reported to currently be the largest Passivhaus development in the UK
A new era of low carbon and energy-saving dwellings While the Passivhaus standard for buildings has been around since the 1990s, it is finally beginning to gain traction in UK, with many examples of local authority building projects being constructed to the energy-saving standard The UK’s built environment is responsible UK Passivhaus projects for 25 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse Camden Council is in the process of gas emissions. With government targets for re‑developing 500 homes in North London, the country to be net zero-emission by 2050, known as Agar Grove, which is reported to more environmentally friendly methods of currently be the largest Passivhaus development design and construction are being sought to in the UK. address the issue, as well as more efficient The project, which won in the Large Projects ways to heat and cool buildings. category of the UK Passivhaus Awards 2021, Passivhaus is an international design recently reached a new milestone with standard, which cuts energy use the ‘topping out’ of the latest from buildings and delivers phase of 125 homes. s au high standards of comfort The form of the Passivh n and health. Developed building is efficient, a s i sign e in Germany in the early allowing insulation d l a n io t a n 1990s, the design thicknesses below r h e c t in , whi m d r standard uses very little those conventionally a d n a fro st e s energy for heating associated with u y erg and cooling, instead Passivhaus. Achieving cuts en gs delivering using a ‘whole building’ the airtightness on this n i f d l bui ards o d approach to construction, scale is easier in many n a t s high fort and based on the principle respects, but much harder com lth that reducing heating loss to test. To achieve the to a minimum is the most required levels of airtightness, hea cost-effective and robust way of the construction team undertook achieving a low carbon building. the largest ever pressure test of its kind Key passivhaus features include insulation, in the UK. The air test took a full day, with eight stringent levels of airtightness, minimal separate fans and miles of cabling and pressure thermal bridging, solar optimisation, and tubes across the complex shape and layout of mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. the building.
Michelle Christensen from Camden Council said: “We are determined to tackle fuel poverty and reduce CO2 without the need for complex energy systems with high lifetime costs. The Passivhaus approach provides thermal comfort and air quality in a way that alternatives do not match. Although this can increase the initial capital costs, Camden Council – as both developer and landlord – believes that it will see the benefits of this approach, in higher build quality and reduced maintenance costs over the lifetime of the buildings.” Powys County Council has completed a £1.3m development in Sarn, Wales. It was the first social housing to be built for the local authority in 30 years and the first ever to meet Passivhaus conditions. The development was highly commended in the Constructing Excellence in Wales Awards. The seven energy efficient homes – a mix of two-bedroom bungalows and two-bedroom and threebedroom houses used low energy construction methods and included sustainability features such as solar panels and mechanical heat ventilation recovery systems that reduce running costs for tenants. The project also used Welsh-grown wood for the timber frame, while cellulose fibre insulation, manufactured from recycled newspaper, was used to reduce E
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