Keen to get started! If only I could find an architect...

[joe90]

1 hour ago, CharlieKLP said:

That’s a bit of a waste of an architect’s skills isn’t it?

Yes but my builder got him to do it fir me and the cost was minimal as no “design” from him was involved.

1 hour ago, CharlieKLP said:

If you want a Passivehouse level you’re looking at SIPs and an investment in renewables.

I think quite a few here would disagree with you on that one  https://www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk/golcar-passivhaus-cavity-wall-passivhaus/

Edited January 30, 2022 by joe90

[Iceverge]

3 hours ago, jno said:

@Iceverge Interesting experiences. A shame that building performance not more of a consideration amongst the trades. 

 

I definately envisage using an architect with previous Passive experience and fully expect to enlist services of heating and energy consultant, who can work with us to refine designs based on software and past experiences. 

 

Tradespersons are much less of an issue in my experience.  They are happy to build whatever is drawn for them if they have the skills. In fact many take pride in the attention to detail a passivhaus build takes. 

 

Architect's, engineers, and other designers are harder to come by with the knowledge. 

 

Beware the terminology here. Passivhaus is the German company who developed the standard. They control PHPP and certification of buildings and professionals. They own the passivhaus name.

 

"Passive" doesn't really have any official designation but many of us on here use it to describe our houses. For instance I put mine through PHPP ( you can buy it for about £150) and built the house to perform as such. It's quite doable with a bit of reading. However I wouldn't call ours a passivhaus as it uses too much primary energy by direct electric heating. Passivhaus has limits on the amount of non renewable energy used as well as total energy. Secondly ours wasn't designed and supervised and certified by a Passivhaus accredited professional. 

 

Many adapted the tag "Passive" about ten years ago in Ireland. They bunged in walls with u values less than 0.15, triple glazing and huge south facing windows. The results were predictably haphazard. Lots of overheating in summer. High energy use in winter ( poor airtightness and thermal bridging) and disappointed clients. 

 

"Passive solar"is a seperate term from America which aims to construct a giant solar oven of a House! 

 

With my mates aforementioned bungalow it'll cost too much money to get to passivhaus levels. The most economic result overall was an annual heat demand of 30kWh/m2K as he's committed to installing an ASHP anyway. For ours we designed and built to 8W/m2 heating load which saved money by allowing us to omit central heating. 

 

If a house is designed with PHPP and constructed using passivhaus techniques it will perform as designed, even if those standards are above or below the passivhaus targets. 

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by Iceverge

[Adsibob]

On 14/11/2021 at 20:34, recoveringbuilder said:

I do wonder why you want to build a passive house given that you have said it will not be your forever home. Will the extra expense be worth it? Things may be changing as a result of the recent cop 26 but in my experience the general house buying public have no knowledge of these houses and would be rather suspicious of say a house without heating or no upstairs heating, they don’t even understand EPC certificates!

With Energy prices so high, I think a passive house will be highly desirable

[LnP]

5 hours ago, jno said:

All recommended making a pre-app (with a similar range of costs). As we liked but didn’t love any of these local architects, we’ve gone ahead and put in the pre-app ourselves. We’ll keep searching more options in the meantime.

We're using a planning consultant and he advised that a pre-app was a waste of time and money. Regarding time, most planning departments are taking a very long time to process full applications at the moment, and pre-apps go to the bottom of the pile. Regarding value for money (professional fees and the applications fee), our guy told us that case officers are cautious about committing themselves, so just reply with a list of the policies you'ill have to comply with. He told us the days are gone when you could sit down with a case officer and get their input on whether what you're proposing would be acceptable. That's how it is here, anyway. Maybe different where you are.

 

We're in a conservation area and were a bit unsure whether the architects we talked to had a sufficient understanding of what would be acceptable. We got the planning consultant to write a short constraints plan which we gave to the designer - maximin ridge height, footprint, position on the plot any overlooking issues etc. The fee proposals we got from architects included a fee for handling the planning application, writing the design and access statement etc, and we felt the money was better spent with a planning specialist.

If you do decide to engage a planning consultant, you can find ones in your area via the RTPI website https://www.rtpi.org.uk.

 

Our project is in two phases. We're first refurbishing a Victorian coach house which we'll live in during the build. The planning application for the coach house was submitted in September. It's very simple, non contentious, no neighbours objected and one supported.  It recently made it onto the case officer's desk and she has proposed two pre-commencement conditions which would require us to make further submissions after the consent had been granted, which would mean further delays. We're happy to have a specialist deal with this on our behalf and we hope resolve them prior to determination.

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by LnP

[Andehh]

55 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

With Energy prices so high, I think a passive house will be highly desirable

I'm not so sure... I think most won't know what it is & will just see an EPC rating and be happy with it.

 

The difference between being top 2% vs top 10% just isn't that meaningful to average Joe, even with higher energy bills hitting us all 

 

If OP isn't designing his forever home, just get the architect to design it for a SAP of 91 (or a B and be 81 ) and leave it at that. Anything more then this is money you simply won't recoup. 

 

[redtop]

10 hours ago, Andehh said:

I'm not so sure... I think most won't know what it is & will just see an EPC rating and be happy with it.

 

The difference between being top 2% vs top 10% just isn't that meaningful to average Joe, even with higher energy bills hitting us all 

 

If OP isn't designing his forever home, just get the architect to design it for a SAP of 91 (or a B and be 81 ) and leave it at that. Anything more then this is money you simply won't recoup. 

 

I reckon a passive house that didn't need and didnt have heating upstairs, which is perfectly possible. Would sell for less than a less well insulated house that did have heating in all rooms. A buyer wouldnt trust someone else telling them heating wasn't needed. Also less traditional build / heating usually sells for less. Shouldn't be like this, but it is. If it wasn't new builds from mass building company's would be going down the passive route.

[jno]

@LnP+1 for use of planning consultant. I found a great planning consultant locally by looking through planning applications and seeing who was writing D&A statements. They offered up excellent advice free of charge when I first contacted them and I've now got them in the back pocket if we encounter problems further down the line.

Value of pre-app definitely questionable. And cost of app could pay a few hours work with a planning consultant.... However, in my area, the planning rules aren't all that clear for my particular situation. And we only get several single detached new builds approved each year, so there's little precedent to go by. So pre-app is the only way you'll have a chance of actually speaking with planning officer to get some clarity before forking out on the full app process.

 

I agree, average buyer wouldn’t value building performance all that much… Though I think this is changing and there’s a market for this, albeit a much smaller one.