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The Home of Self Build, Custom Build & Renovation
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These episodes will investigate various subjects in more detail, with expert guests, and previewing upcoming shows and events to help you with your potential or current self build and renovation projects.
Well,
greetings and welcome to episode four
of the self-build and
renovation live by NSBRC.
We're back up on the
mezzanine for this one,
which I said before is my
favourite location in the
whole of the NSBRC centre.
So we're back here for this one.
We're doing something a
little bit different.
We're actually recording
this during the day so that
I can have my lovely guests here with us.
But we're actually going to
be broadcasting this tomorrow night.
You with me?
You still following?
So it's going to be going
out at six thirty because
we recognize that a lot of
people are busy when we try
to broadcast it live during the day.
But it's still got that
authentic feel because
we're just having a
conversation about it.
you can still put your
questions and comments in
there because we'll have
moderators watching whether
you're on youtube facebook
linkedin will be able to
watch those so please if
you have questions during
the episode type them there
and someone will be able to
reply to you uh accordingly
but a little bit different
this time so my name is
chris dawes from visual pr
but I'm going to introduce
my guests first of all you
can see him right here next
to me I've got jasper mead
from the pyc construction company
Is that correct?
Welcome to the show, C. Thank you.
Hi, Chris.
I said C with the PYC then.
I followed it on.
But welcome to the show.
We'll come on to your
company in more detail.
Next to you, we've got Jay Cotterell,
director from Passive House
with a PH-Fifteen system.
That's correct.
The main thing that you guys
are known for.
Welcome to the show, Jay.
Thank you.
And I'm going to then add
remotely all the way from Scotland.
It is Iga Pankcina,
Associate and Chartered
Architect at Allan Caulfield Architects.
Hi, Iga.
Hi, Chris.
Thank you.
Thank you for inviting me.
I wish I was there with you,
but I am in Scotland today.
So, but what I was going to say,
I will be in NSBRC on the
twenty third during the
Passive House Workshop.
I'll be giving a talk.
So what?
and I'll be there at some
point this month.
We should just give you the
job there because you did a
great job of promoting that
exactly all three of you
are going to be here talking at this,
aren't you?
On Saturday, the twenty third of November,
ten till four.
I'm going to quickly put up
on the screen now the
banner that shows you where
to go to book your tickets.
So it's on the NSBRC website.
Go to what's on the
workshops and then you'll
find the Passive House Workshop.
and so much useful information.
So get yourself signed on
for the free tickets to
come along to that one on Saturday,
the twenty third of November.
To find out the people that
I've just said that are
going to be speaking there,
let's work our way round from my left.
So Jasper,
tell us about yourself and your company.
So our company, we're based in Mid Wales,
PYC Group,
so construction being part of
our company.
And we specialise in offsite
manufacturing of an I-beam
passive house timber frame system.
So we're delivering passive
houses around the country.
I know we're going to go
into Passive House more,
but what's iBeam?
iBeam is a timber structure,
so it's engineered joist or
rafter or stud made from timber.
Fantastic.
Thank you for that one.
And Jay, as I understand it,
you pretty much wrote the
book on Passive House.
Yeah,
I co-authored the Passive House
handbook some years ago,
probably ten years ago now.
And in my professional job,
we have a system built in a
similar way to what Jasper does,
but we do a complete solution.
So we do also the glazing
and the ventilation system
solution as well.
And another thing that's
different is we don't construct.
So we do train part of our
ethos is to do training for
people to help them to
transition rapidly up to a
better quality of build.
And so the PH-Fifteen system,
what does PH-Fifteen mean?
Well, PH for passive house.
Of course, yeah.
And fifteen is actually the
maximum amount of energy
that you're allowed to use
for every square metre of
your house to heat your home.
So that's the sort of for
the Passive House Classic, it's called.
The Passive House Classic
allows you fifteen kilowatt
hours or units of energy
for every square metre of your home.
I love it.
So PH-Fifteen.
I love it.
That is so obvious as soon
as you explain that.
I'm glad I didn't pre-ask
that one because I was
genuinely impressed with that one.
That's really cool.
And then Iga,
obviously I know that you're
from Allan Caulfield Architects,
but what do you do in the company,
especially when it comes to
Passive House?
So I specialize in design
and delivery of low energy
homes and passive homes.
And as part of the company, obviously,
we opened the company in
two thousand and nine and
we particularly deal with
self builders and designing, you know,
they dream homes to the low
energy standard levels.
We've got offices in
Scotland and in Swindon and NSVRC,
and we cover all of the UK.
And we have developed an
offering to provide a kind
of comprehensive service to
the self-built clients.
So we do offer a three-D
modeling VR service.
We offer obviously passive
house design services.
I'm a passive house consultant,
certified consultant.
And we also extended our
offering to include for
structural engineering.
So when you do come in to us,
quite a lot of people,
self-builders would do as a
first point of contact on
the design journey.
You would be offered a kind
of comprehensive service to
get you all the way to the site.
Fantastic.
Well,
it certainly sounds to me like a good
mix of there for people to
come on the twenty third of November.
Makes absolute sense.
So go to the NSBRC website,
put yourself on totally
free and come along and
hear more about it.
Now,
I'm going to start with the
overarching question.
And Jay,
I'm going to take this one to you
to start with.
What is Passive House for
those that might not know?
So Passive House is just an
energy standard.
It's an international energy standard.
It's the highest energy
standard in the world, in fact.
It was created by a physicist.
who was very interested to
know why our buildings were
so energy inefficient.
And it's very commonly known,
it's called the performance gap.
It's well known in the UK,
having a very large
performance gap between
what is designed and what
actually you get.
So he was looking at that
and then he came up with
this sort of recipe.
for how to get a very energy
efficient home or building.
It's usually up to ninety
percent more efficient than
a normal new build.
So he's really targeting the
space heating and it's done
through something called fabric first.
That means you concentrate
on the fabric of the
building and the walls and
the windows and the doors.
And then you get this
incredible performance and
you get lots of co-benefits,
which is quite interesting to people now.
You get really high indoor
thermal comfort and you
also get very high indoor air quality.
Yes, I heard about this,
the quality of the air,
the health benefits are
quite significant.
Yes, in some places in Europe,
it's known as a health standard.
Really?
So they emphasize more the
health than they do the energy,
which is quite interesting.
And I had somebody saying, oh,
I'm building a passive house.
And the question from the person was, oh,
who's unwell?
So they were actually
thinking that they were
doing it for some sort of health.
We have had one or two
clients who have been doing
it for health for a member of the family,
which has interested me.
Yeah, we've seen that as well.
If they've got allergies,
then you could have
filtrated air coming
through into the building.
So if you've got hay fever,
really bad hay fever,
then you could walk into
your house and have this
fantastic air quality.
But it's comfort.
Comfort is another name that
they've often called past houses.
Comfort stand.
Comfort stand.
Yeah.
I mean, is it an exaggeration?
I've heard people say that
you don't need to dust.
Is that an exaggeration?
I think it's an exaggeration,
but there is definitely less dust.
Dust less.
I like the sound of that.
That would be my priority.
Because you've got filtered air.
It's outside air being
brought in and the house
has continued being refreshed,
but with filtered air.
So obviously that's taking a
lot of the dust and the
dirt away at that point.
Does that mean that you
don't need to open your windows?
You don't have to, but you do.
And the actual fact is you
will open your windows more
because you open the
windows more when you're comfortable.
So when we say it's a comfort house,
you will actually end up
opening your windows and doors more,
but you don't have to.
So when it's cold in the winter,
And it doesn't normally, you don't think,
oh, I'll open the windows now.
But once you close the windows,
you know that your house is
being ventilated well.
Yes.
It was some sort of early
misconceptions about
plastic bags that you had
to shut the windows.
They had to stay shut.
It was an airtight building.
Yes.
You can open your windows as
much as any house.
The reality is that when
there's strong cold winds of a winter,
you wouldn't want those new windows,
but you still have that
fantastic air quality and
thermal comfort.
And what you've done is actually,
it shouldn't be called an airtight.
In a way,
you should call it a draft-free
or a leak-free house.
That would be a better way of saying it,
maybe,
which would help people understand.
Because if you've got a very leaky house,
all you're doing is leaking
all your heat out constantly,
then you keep having to reheat the air.
Whereas in a passive house,
you've not got those leaks,
you haven't got those drafts,
so you retain the heat constantly.
Wow, that does make sense.
I mean, Iga,
obviously from a design
perspective is that you're
presumably having to know
what is their focus.
Is it the health side?
Is it the comfort side?
Or the environment.
The environment, the cost savings,
that's got to come into the
design as well.
Definitely.
I mean,
this is one of the initial
conversations we would have with
potential clients on what
sort of level of comfort
would they want within their home,
what sort of energy
efficiency they would be
aiming to achieve.
And obviously the budget is
also the key for a lot of people.
But when it comes obviously
to designing a passive house,
the whole beauty of it is
that you are going to be
reducing those energy bills.
And what's more important,
which Jay and Jasper mentioned, obviously
the comfort internal within
the house you're creating.
So I'm just going to pick up
on what has been said in
terms of the ventilation
and opening the windows.
I mean,
part of the design process when
when we look at the
creation of the low energy
passive home is relying on those very,
very basic principles of building physics,
which are the fabric first.
And one of them is using a
natural kind of ventilation
within the home.
So as, you know,
we all observe what's
happening to the global temperatures,
there's risks of overheating.
So again,
using the windows and that
passive nighttime cooling
ventilation through the
windows is the kind of part
of the whole approach of
designing the dwelling.
So, yeah, excuse me.
And in fact, Igor,
I was also thinking that
It's not just the materials and the design,
but even the, I was going to say location,
that doesn't do justice
what I'm thinking of, because it can be,
you know, where it is relating to the sun,
to shade, to hills, to whatever else.
You have to take those
things into consideration as well.
Yes, I mean,
this is where we would normally start,
Chris.
So we would be looking at the site.
So if you do have a plot
that you're looking at,
that's the moment that you
should be having initial
conversations with
architects or any other
professionals who design.
to test what is feasible on that site.
So perhaps there are
deciduous trees you could
be utilising for obviously
providing you some shade during summer,
but obviously during winter,
you want to get that free
solar gain as much as you can.
So you can utilise those
aspects of the site within
the design and orientation
of the building is quite key,
as is the form of the building.
So some people would
you would pose the question is,
can I build any kind of
building to the Passive House standard?
And the simple answer is yes, you can.
It will depend how much
money you want to invest.
So we do tend to work with
something called a form
factor when we design.
So what it means is a ratio
of the external building
area to the heated floor
area and the lower the ratio,
the less kind of insulation
investment you have to do to
make the building to the
Passive House standards.
So, of course, you can design anything,
but the most kind of
complex forms will be more expensive.
I mean,
we've touched on the fact that it can be,
you were saying about,
is it a workbook you've got
with a massive array of
different designs?
Yes, on our project page,
you can see Passive House
certified houses and some like we'll have,
we've got one on there that
I know it has a form factor.
of like maybe four point five,
which you might think,
I don't know what that means,
but then we have other ones that are two.
That would mean that that
one that's over four has
twice as much thermal
envelope to floor area.
So you can imagine when
you're paying for that high
quality thermal envelope,
obviously that house is
going to be a lot more
expensive than the one that was two.
So you can do whatever you
like in passive house.
And even the orientation is
not as important as people think.
but it can have cost
implications so I mean it
is important to some degree
but it's not as important
it's not the be-all and
end-all but the cost
variation between one house
to the same standard and
another house can be
extremely significant.
so for example um you took a
eighty square meter house
that would have to have
very thick thermal walls
quite probably to insulate
it because you've got a
very poor form factor but
then if you had a tower
block or a big block of
flats which could be
counted as one that would
have a much better form
factor you could reduce the
insulation levels because
you wouldn't need so much
right so it's that's a
crude way to look at it yeah um
And so, Iga, your side on the design,
you even get involved, as you say,
in that form factor.
And so that's why it needs
this sort of almost
cross-party involvement to
get what you want.
I think that designers,
because form factor happens
very early on in the process.
And often, not always,
it would be before Jasper
and I became involved.
Ideally not.
And ideally not, but often.
And so if a client comes
along with the design and
their budget isn't huge...
but the design that's been
done for them has got a
very high form factor,
they may end up
compromising performance
when they didn't need to.
And I would,
if it was me and I was a self-builder,
my number one would be I
want a massive house and I
would much rather have the
house designed with a
better form factor and
afford it than have
something that had been
designed with a poor form
factor and not be able to afford it.
I mean,
we always encourage early engagement,
as everyone would want to do, ideally,
when you're building a house.
So the more parties involved
at that early stage,
then the better chance that
things are not going wrong.
And that's not just form factor,
that's complexity of the design.
So structurally,
we would look at it and say, well,
hang on a minute,
that's going to be a bit tricky to build.
Could you move that
partition wall by three
hundred mil to help pick up
that ridge beam, for instance?
There's lots of different ways.
and a glazing specialist
would say be careful don't
put too much windows on
that southeast facing wall
because you will likely
overheat or if you do
encourage a bit of shading
so so getting that full
balance is yeah it's tricky
but it's it's almost fun
though as well and there's
a lot you can do to play with the
with the different elements.
And by far the most expensive uplift is,
which people don't actually
appreciate as much as they might,
is the glazing.
So you're paying very high quality glazing,
which is a lovely thing,
and you'll really enjoy
that glazing when you have it,
but it is the most,
if you want to talk about cost uplift,
going to the triple glazing,
which is part of Passive House,
is a significant cost uplift, I would say,
for a self-builder.
But a big, big difference in comfort.
A big difference.
It's doing a lot of work in
the whole performance.
It's doing a lot of work.
Or being the weakest link.
Exactly.
If you thought,
I'll just do the walls and
I won't do the wing, you break.
It's a recipe and you break the recipe.
Same with anything is that
you're only as strong as
the weakest link.
You have to bring all the
bits together for it to work.
And then if you do, it's really amazing.
I can imagine.
I mean, Iga,
just picking up on this really
is that by its nature,
your work is right at the
beginning and not just in
this conversation, but so many.
It's like,
get us involved as early as
possible because you don't
want to be wasting your time.
You're just talking about the form,
what was it again?
Form factor.
Form factor, sorry.
And you design it up here
and then they suddenly go
to the material side of it and go, oh,
well, I can't afford that.
you presumably want everyone
involved as early as possible.
Definitely.
You took it out of my mouth, Chris.
I was going to say that if
you are on this journey,
obviously some of you
self-builders will have
that design done before the
architect has actually
asked them the question
what the energy performance
you are striving for, which is
the part of the brief
conversation you should
have with your architect
before you start any design process.
And that will guide what is, you know,
your brief,
the architect should help you
formulating that brief,
obviously taking into
consideration your requirements, etc.
and so when it comes to
obviously that design
involvement of
professionals who
specialize in this
particular area of low
energy passive is is the
key and it's not just
architects it's everyone
involved in the process so
structural engineers as
well they're going to be
designing your structure
they're going to be putting
you know if it's a quite
elaborate design there
might be a steel involved
the steel can become a cold
bridge so it's going to transfer your
nice and warm air from the
inside to the outside so
you're going to be losing
the heat through that so
all of the professionals
who and then the site
obviously um operatives and
need to be aware of what
the detailing is what the
thermal bridges are what
the air tightness of the
building should be etc and so
So, yeah, definitely start, you know,
with engaging with those
conversation before you start the design.
And just a little note on
the windows that Jay
mentioned that don't don't
obviously don't forget
about one element just to
give you an idea or rule of thumb.
you know,
if you're building to the low
energy standard or passive house standard,
your wall is going to be super efficient,
thermal efficient, super insulated.
Quite often the designs,
the modern designs feature
large areas of glazing.
So even with the best on the
market triple glazing,
that glazing is going to be
between four to six times
worse in terms of the
energy performance than your wall.
So it is a key to be specifying
the highest you can afford
effectively when it comes to glazing.
And I'm going to end up,
this is going to come to
all three of you because I
think everybody's got an input on this,
is that many people when
they're thinking about
building their dream home,
especially if it's their
forever home or anything like that,
By human nature,
the first thing that starts
coming into mind is things like,
you called it the bling things,
didn't you?
I love that.
The kitchen, the cinema room,
the bathroom.
Yeah.
So we talk about fabric first.
Make sure it's prioritised
first on your cost elements as well.
And so look at what...
your house is going to cost
you running costs in the
future and that can be
enormous if you don't get
your fabric right and
that's money saved which
could upgrade your kitchen
for instance if you wanted
a better kitchen further
down the line exactly yeah
I mean we don't need all
those things from the
get-go I know that's the
dream and that's what we
want but to have that
patience you're going to
benefit from thinking about the
you know the bits that we're
touching on here first and
then add or change or it is
yeah it is a big balance
it's a balance of
everything that you want in
your house and you know you
want the best you can get
at the start um but
additions could be added so
for instance um we talk
about fabric first so not
necessarily renewables at
the start but everybody
would want renewables but
perhaps they could come in
a later date so you future
proof and format
So you enable that retrofitting,
if you like, on the building.
So if you can't afford it at
the start of the build,
maybe in a couple of years
time you could.
I mean, Igor,
do you have that problem from
the design that people sort
of focus on the bling things too early?
They do,
but what we tend to do in our practice,
we tend to put a lot of our
knowledge and education of
the clients before we start
the design process.
So we take them through, and again,
this is coming back to the
briefing conversation, obviously,
you know,
if it's your desire to move
into that you know turnkey
solution house with this
lovely kitchen there's
nothing wrong with that but
if you then say you know
you've got this certain
amount of money within your
budget but you also want to
have a low energy home so
there's that balance to be
struck um at that at that
time and to prioritizing as
um Jasper said will you invest
the majority of the budget
within that public first to
get your forever home to be
future-proofed,
to get the energy bills
down to zero if you can,
or would you want to spend
some of that and compromise
on that kind of healthy
living environment to get
yourself a nice lovely
kitchen for fifty thousand pounds.
So, yeah.
And Jay, I mean, you know,
I've just got a few words
that were thrown in for reasons.
And I think that you have to
find out what their priorities are.
Sustainability, reduce running costs,
comfort, health, well-being, for example.
And I guess it's almost
about working out what is
the priority for that client.
Well,
I think we're in a slightly different
role because we're
supplying something that is
Passive House suitable.
That's all I do.
And that's because I think
that's how we should be building.
I don't think it should be a choice.
Unfortunately, it is a choice.
So that's all that we do, because to me,
it's just building well.
It's also about
decarbonizing the way that
we live in the West.
So for me, it's an ethical matter.
I know a lot of people do
build past houses,
nothing to do with that for
other reasons because of the co-benefits.
But for me,
it's an ethical issue that we
should be building to high
quality and we should be building,
emitting as little carbon as possible.
And so that's my key.
As a person,
that's my key motivation for
my business and what I've done.
And am I right in believing
that as a society, we're more open
I think definitely it's
shifting and there have
been cities and whole
countries considering,
like Scotland's been
considering a passive house equivalent.
So you see, you know,
people who are running
cities adopting the
standard and they are
adopting it because they've
made climate change
declarations or similar so
I mean you think of the
hundreds and hundreds of
councils that have made
climate change declarations
I mean that in itself
should make them adopt
passive house so but maybe
the step between making a declaration
And actually what you do,
that's a huge bridge.
And what we try to do is
provide solutions that say, well,
this is how you do it.
you know so you know if
you've made a declaration
can we just make these
connections please across
to the actual doing I keep
declaring I'm going to go
to the gym more but it
doesn't hasn't happened and
I think the declaration is
great say what you think
great watching you know
blue planet great how are
we going to actually live
how do we live in a low
carbon way and also have a
high quality of life and
that's what passive house
shows you yeah we can have a even
higher quality of life.
Yeah.
And, you know,
that's what is intriguing to me,
that you can have a higher
quality of life when you
actually start thinking
these things through.
I'd like to stand up for councils,
housing associations,
because we do an
installation product for Warm Cell,
which is made from recycled newspaper.
And that's been used in some
really fantastic large
schemes of house building.
The councils are building to
passive house standards,
building schools to passive
house standards.
So there's been some
phenomenal growth where
they specifically are
concerned about their
tenants and the pupils in the school,
their health and well-being
and the running costs of these buildings.
And so Passive House in that
field has been really
helping fuel poverty, for instance,
so reducing your heating
costs by as much as ninety percent.
And those are real figures.
So it's phenomenal.
And they've taken it up and
they're standing up for it,
which is fantastic.
And what I'd say as well,
the people who are under
financial stress in our
society often have health related.
Yes.
So you provide them with a home,
which is critical.
We all need a home.
But we also, if you provide a healthy home,
you're giving people such a
massive step up, you know,
and I think you just can't
underestimate both things.
You're giving them low bills
and you're giving them a health benefit.
And that's why I think, you know,
NSBRC asking us to make this episode,
this topic is that the education and like,
for example,
I can straight away take here is that,
okay,
I probably hadn't heard Passive
House before I started
working these broadcasts with NSBRC.
even then it's been a
gradual increase in
understanding and for
example even this one today
I hadn't fully considered
the health bit it was
always the save money on
bills with the you know the
cost of living crisis and
the uh environment if I
kind of picked out my two
most obvious things that
stood out it was those but
I'm suddenly going no
there's there's so much
more here not just the lack
of the reduction in dusting
that I know I've got excited about but
That health element, that dust,
what is it?
What is it doing to me?
Pollen, fever sufferers.
Diesel fuel, fuel from cars coming in.
Especially in cities.
Yeah,
and some of the biggest problems that
councils and housing
associations have with
their existing housing
stock is dealing with damp problems,
mould.
So if you design into these
performance standards,
making sure that the fabric
is absolutely right, you won't get mould,
full stock.
And mould is the biggest thing for health.
Living, especially black mould.
Yeah, because I mean, that's spores,
isn't it?
We're breathing in and stuff like that.
I mean,
I think you've kind of alluded that
it's possible.
My question with cynicism,
what I believe is about to
be put to bed is that I was going to ask,
could this become mainstream?
Could the big builders?
Yes, they can and they are.
And this is sort of
There are always going to be
an element of builders,
developers who want to make
as much money as possible,
as quickly as possible,
the lowest possible
standards to save money.
But we are now finding developers.
So we're currently working
for developers building houses,
which are passive house
standards because they know
that that's better quality to build.
But it's not just that
they'll be able to sell for
the higher price.
But on the large schemes
that we've been involved with,
the councils, housing associations,
we're finding that the
costs there are five percent,
five to ten percent.
Some people are challenging
that they could be a
neutral cost uplift because
you don't need such a
heating system in there.
And you've got the light costs,
a hundred percent is the
better way of course.
I think it's just a complete no brainer.
that was the exact phrase I
was going to use is it
sounding to me like an
absolute no-brainer and I'm
going to emphasize get
yourself down saturday the
twenty-third of november
ten a.m till four p.m is a
passive house workshop uh
go on to the nsbrc website
uh and go to the the
workshops uh that are
available and get yourself
booked on and come along
and find out more educate
yourself it doesn't matter
which level you're at I'm
finding that there's still
more that we can find out
it's more plausible than we might think
It's absolutely plausible.
I think it definitely jumped
out at me as something very obvious.
A question then,
is there any new-build homes?
Right,
so there is a Passive House
equivalent standard called
Enerfit which is slightly
lower because it's harder
to do in a retrofit but it
is much more complex
retrofit and more expensive
and you have to understand
what you're doing when you
start messing about with an
existing building and it's
very easy to create problems
I use the nursery rhyme,
swallowing the spider to catch the flies.
So you really need somebody involved.
But you don't get spiders in the pathway.
No, I'm sorry.
Of course, yeah.
The ACB,
the Association of Energy
Conscious Builders,
has been encouraging these
retrofit coordinators.
So you get a retrofit
coordinator in to sort of
help you come up with a,
and maybe because it's expensive,
you do it step by step is a good idea.
So with a new building,
you're building a new house, aren't you?
You're doing it.
That's it.
In a retrofit, you might think, well,
I could have
plan where I want to get to
and can I step by step get
there without causing any
problems at each step and
do it over a period of time
and budget it so that's a
very good idea but the
question of how far you
should go in a retrofit
because of the price
because of the problems
because we have so many
houses um that is a lot
there's a lot of discussion
going on how far do you go with retrofit
I think one of the key
things about retrofits and
Enerfit houses is if you've
got to do repairs, consider it.
Look at the performance of
what you've got.
Don't just repair it as is.
Repair to a better standard.
Or take it as far.
I know the AECB again have
been talking about maybe a
step one retrofit is you
take your house as far so
that it makes it okay to
then fit a heat pump.
So that's a good step one, isn't it?
So you can start beginning
to bring heat pump.
And heat pumps will be quite key, I think,
in retrofit.
In new build, fabric first.
You can get rid of a lot of
the technology.
Do get involved in that
Enerfit side of things, Iga.
We do, yes,
although our main area is the new build.
So we do have a few projects
that are retrofit projects.
None of them are going
through certification though yet.
um so yeah okay fair enough
I just knew that it was
worth uh to touch on that
one one for you I believe
jay in particular um that
this uh workshop being run
by uh nsbrc run in
conjunction with the passive house trust
What is that and why should
we be keeping an eye out for their logo?
So the Passive House Trust
is an independent.
It's not selling anything.
It's just promoting the
Passive House standard in the UK.
So...
I'm a member, Jasper's a member, you know,
lots of people who are in
the passive organ member,
but you don't have to.
Anybody can join, but they're promoting,
educating and trying to
assist the uptake of
Passive House within the UK setting.
So they've got lots of information.
They've got projects on their sites,
example projects.
They have open days.
There's an open day coming up this weekend,
next weekend.
I don't know.
This weekend.
This weekend.
Friday and Saturday.
Visit a Passing House.
They have a conference once a year.
There's lots of useful
information on the site.
They've got lots of members there,
so you could look up somebody.
If you were thinking of doing a project,
you could look at their members list.
So they're independent.
I'll do a plug on the open days.
So our offices are Passing
House certified offices.
So come and see us there.
Book in for the eighth and ninth.
So that's PYC Group or PYC Construction?
Our company there is based,
so all our companies are based there.
All of them, so yeah, PYC Group.
Yeah, we will have a tour.
Co.uk.
If you go on the website,
you'll find Jasper's.
Open it and you'll find
houses that are open and
other buildings that you
could go and see.
And that's got to be a key
part of the education is to
actually be able to see.
Yeah,
that's the great thing about the
Passive House Trust is
they're helping us all to understand it,
learn more and...
bring us all together
enabling it sorry jasper
eager from your side do you
find that you and the
answer might just be no and
that's the end of this
question but you have to
educate some of your
clients when you're in that
those early stages of of
what passive house is or could be etc
Yes, definitely.
I mean,
a lot of our potential clients will
have some knowledge because
what we tend to do,
we create a lot of content
to share our knowledge.
So if you go to our website,
you will find loads of resources.
You can read there's a
self-built e-book that
tackles the low energy.
But when it comes to passive house,
there is still that kind of need to
have those initial
conversations to explain
the process to demystify
the the whole um idea and
the standard because it
does rely on a very simple
basic building physics
approach so it's it's yes
the answer will be yes to
that yeah I mean and we're
not talking new you you
were saying earlier two
thousand and eight
Yeah.
Yes.
That we've had passive houses.
Was it German origins?
Yes.
Yeah.
It was a German physicist
Wolfgang Feist who started it off.
But now it's you'll find them all over.
It's a lot in America now.
Yeah.
All over you will find them.
Australia, New Zealand,
European countries.
Wow.
I'm nervous to ask this
because I know when we were
with Tom McSherry, for example,
in episode two,
and he was saying we're way
behind Europe in terms of
the ratio of new builds
compared to Europe.
How are we featuring with
Passive House here in the UK?
It's quite low, I hate to say.
But then there's a firm of
architects we know in
Ireland who've got nine
thousand units on their books,
which could be Passive House.
Ireland's going great guns.
Ireland's really promoting
it incredibly well.
Scotland's talking about
Scotland might take it on
as their own standard.
So the Scottish standard could,
should be Passive House.
And based on that principle, for sure,
using the tools.
and a lot of take up with
councils and so york have
got over six hundred houses
they're doing so it's not
much in the in the scheme
of what we're doing but
it's escalating so if you
look so it is escalating
absolutely if you look at a
graph of pacifist builds it
is like that house
brilliant so I remember the
first house yeah yeah well
we insulated the first
house actually yeah because
it was in wales it was in wales
That is amazing.
I mean, Igor,
obviously perfectly placed
with what we were just saying there.
You're currently sat up in Scotland,
but as you know,
we know you're down here as well.
Are you seeing that where
Scotland is suddenly
looking to increase and
still escalating down in England as well?
Well, definitely.
I mean,
the whole passive house approach
and equivalent, it's all happening.
I mean,
the government introduced further
regulations on the
performance criteria where
from two thousand and
twenty five through the
future home standards that
is aimed to ensure that all
new homes will be built to
will produce around seventy
five to eighty percent less
carbon emissions that homes to
you know,
that has been built to the
previous building regulations.
I mean, the changes are already happening,
whether you want it or not.
So what it means in simple terms is that,
you know,
from that two thousand twenty five,
you will be required to
install low carbon heating
system and invest more
money into insulation level
and construction methods.
But if you invest wisely and
if you follow the
principles of passive house,
then that will
potentially give you a
better benefits rather than
just looking purely from
you know compliance
perspective I mean
definitely your phrase
right exactly what I was
thinking no-brainer it
definitely seems that way
so for those that want to
be educated saturday the
twenty-third of november
we've got the passive house
workshop here um I'm going
to come to all three of you
to give us an insight of
what are you individually
going to be covering at
that that particular workshop
So I'm going to be talking
about how timber frame
construction has developed over the years,
and how it's improved and
changed to get to pass-by standards.
So there's various methods of doing that,
and we've chosen one method.
And I'll talk about
materials a bit that we use in the system,
and particularly cellulose
fiber insulation, warm cell insulation,
which is what we use.
One thing I wanted to say is
Passive House as a standard
is agnostic about materials.
it was going to last yeah so
you can use any materials
as long as you adhere to
the standards the science
of it in the construction
um but we like with jay we
choose natural materials so
we're looking at better
benefits in health with
these natural materials and
environmental benefits so
very low embodied carbon
materials whole life carbon
having fantastic results
really so we'll be talking
about all of that
I like that.
That nicely answered that, no,
it doesn't have to just be Timber.
No, it doesn't have to be,
but we found it's the best
way and we believe in it.
Yeah, and I agree with the sentiment.
So that's the angle you're
going to be able to take.
That's brilliant.
So you'll be there on the day.
Jay, what are you going to do?
I think I am doing something called PHPP,
which is the modelling
software that you use.
So it is a rigorous standard.
and you have to put the
precise building through
this piece of modelling and
it's basically a very complex
software piece of software
and you're putting in all
of the data the shape of
the house the orientation
the particular site windows
everything I'm just going
through that with people
just showing what the
modeling software does why
it's important and how it
can really help you in the
design process so it's
something you should also
do early on because it's
sort of it's meant to be a
design tool as well as just
checking that the performance is correct
So it's checking the
performance and giving you
some design help as well.
So I'll be talking about that.
A real rushed run through, I think.
Yeah.
I guess the nature of these
workshops is to give a good
insight and make people go, oh.
It's to give people an insight and say, oh,
that's why.
And that's why it's a good
thing and why it's really useful.
and oh that exists I think
that exists yeah and that's
why it's not something
again something I should
miss off no we talk about
not missing things off so
phpp is a part of the whole
answer having a very
accurate way of modeling is
part of it it's good to
know really good to know
that that's there uh eager
what are you going to be
covering here then on the
uh what did I say it was of november
So as an architect,
I'll be covering a passive
house design principles.
So I'll be talking about
those fabric first
principles and I'll be taking them apart
is just just to illustrate
of what we have to take
into consideration when
designing the passive house
so we're talking about
orientation a little bit
we'll be talking about
overheating but also solar
gain and any forms of
passive shading we'll be
talking about insulation
envelope air tightness of
the building and obviously
natural ventilation but also
you know,
how do we look at the layout of
the building to maximise
the potential of that site
you're working with?
So that's kind of like a
high level summary of it.
There will be a touch on
current legislation, where we are.
There will be a little bit
about the metric of how do we determine
determine what level to be designing to.
So we'll be talking about
the heating demand figure
and how that relates to
what design aspect we can
cover with that.
I love it.
I mean, clearly, Igor,
your side is going to be
someone that's in the early stages.
Am I right in reading, though,
that even if someone
started along this journey,
that there's still benefits
from this workshop to come
and be aware of some things,
learn some more.
It's not just for those that
haven't yet started.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And we've said it before,
early engagement is so important.
We are actually currently on
site with a house which has
been put up this week and
we first talked to him at a
NSBRC Passive House
workshop in twenty nineteen.
So it doesn't have to take that long,
of course.
Hopefully it wouldn't.
Yeah,
we don't want any more pandemics
thrown in.
But there was that and
design issues and planning issues.
But his early engagement has
really helped get him what he wants.
So definitely the earlies.
Plus, if you're a little bit further,
don't shy away.
Don't think it's too late.
Come down.
You've got these wonderful
experts to speak to.
So as I said, it is Saturday,
the twenty third of November.
Go on to the NSBRC website, to the events,
the workshops and get it
booked ten till four.
Totally free,
but book your ticket to be able to come.
I thank all of you for for
joining so much is there
anything else that we
haven't added that you
would like to add yes tons
yes true we could go on all
day couldn't we very easily
but we covered some of the
cool things that you'd like
to have out there I think
so I hope so yeah um
yeah don't give me more time
than that no you will
absolutely jay yeah I would
like to say that you know
passive house is there's a
low energy standard so if
you go which maybe has been
slightly talked about
there's the passive house
classic but then I'd like
to there's also a passive
house plus where you start
to use your house to
generate energy and energy
you we've got several now
that we've done and your
house is then generating as
much energy as it's using
throughout the year and it
also can be a positive
generator and we have one
project which we were
talking about at the past
house conference that you
know they take out it's
creating income so they
have an octopus account
which they withdraw money
at the end of the year wow
so you can really once you
start with the principles
and the fabric first
You can drop the standard a little bit.
Yes, you can.
It's true.
But you can also go right
the other way and really
your house can start to
really work for you.
And then that pays to
retrofit the fifty grand
kitchen and the cinema room.
Let's not forget about
setting the bar high and
really going for it.
You did ask me,
so I have something which I
did want to say.
A lot of people say I'd like
to build a pacify as principles,
but not certify.
And what we try and
encourage certification
because it is essentially
proof of what you've done.
So it's proof and evidencing
of that quality control of
the build and that you have
achieved those targets.
If you haven't got a certification,
you haven't necessarily, you know,
you might not have quite got that.
Yeah.
So I think it's important thing to do.
Okay.
I like it.
Aniga,
anything that you would like to add?
Well, obviously,
I would like to encourage
everyone to come in on a
day and listen to all of us
elaborating on a subject,
not just forty five minutes of today.
So there's going to be a
whole day of talks.
There is obviously a
resource of NSBRC and all
of the exhibitors.
So it's quite a tangible
experience for everyone.
But if you cannot come in,
I would say that don't
hesitate to get in touch
with us to discuss it,
to discuss your product,
to discuss what's possible for you.
And we'll be quite happy to
give you that free initial
advice and guide you
towards the kind of right
direction where you want to
develop your home.
Well, that is absolutely fabulous.
Thank you to all three of you.
Thank you, Iga.
Thank you to Jay and thank you to Jasper.
And thank you everybody watching.
As I said,
this has been recorded the day
before you're now watching
it and you're now watching
it being broadcast to you.
And if you have any questions,
please don't hesitate just
because of that fact to ask
us any of those questions.
because there will be
moderators that will be
able to answer them for you.
But most importantly, Saturday,
the third of November,
come down to this
completely free workshop
with these experts that are
going to be there to answer
all of your questions.
So from all of us here for
episode four of Self-Build
and Renovation Live by the
NSBRC in this wonderful location.
Thank you for joining us.
And we'll see you next month.
I can't remember.
I think we've got a date yet.
But we will let you know
when that's going to be and
what the topic is that
we'll be covering next.
So thank you and cheers.