Encraft host passive house conference for housing professionals

Passive house, the fastest growing energy performance standard in the world, combines principles of excellent thermal performance, exceptional airtightness with controlled ventilation. In the UK itself, the adoption of passive house is rapidly growing – with over 250 buildings completed and certified at the end of 2013, and a significant number in the process of being completed.

To look at this emerging area in-depth, Encraft are organising a day-long conference in Birmingham. The building physics team at Encraft, led by certified passive house consultant Helen Brown, have delivered multiple passive house projects in the last year – the most notable one being the emh homes (formerly East Midlands Housing Association) project in Sandiacre (which will be featured in the next edition of Passive House Plus).

The conference is primarily for construction and built environment development professionals representing registered social landlords (RSLs) and local authorities (LAs). "If you work in housing, either new build or maintenance, have heard of passive house but not sure if it is the right standard for your organisation or project, and want to know more, then this is the conference for you," said Helen Brown. 

"You will hear first-hand, the experiences, successes and challenges faced by people in similar roles within similar organisations; understand why they have chosen passive house for one or more of their schemes, and how they have made the business case for this internally." Consultants, architects, academics, contractors, surveyors and suppliers interested in passive house are also welcome to attend.

The themes covered at the conference will include passive house overview and certification; why opt for passive house: perspectives from RSLs and LAs; funding models for passive house; whole-life costs of passive house projects, and avoiding potential pitfalls of passive house. Short case-study presentations from a variety of UK passive house projects will be featured at this event.

Confirmed speakers include:

Kym Mead, associate director – Passivhaus Trust
Dr David Strong, chairman of the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Buildings
Brian Carroll, head of development – Hastoe Group
Andrew McDermott, regeneration and development team Leader – Camden Borough Council
Richard Gawthorpe, managing director – Beattie Passive Norse
James Halsall, architect – Mae LLP Architects
Helen Brown, head of building physics – Encraft
Matt Rice, senior development officer – emh homes
Martin Montgomery, managing director – Gumpp and Maier
Phil Summers, co-founder – R.gen
Eric Parks, architect and certified passive house designer
Nittai Edelmann, director- 2e Architects
Chris Parsons, managing director – Parsons + Whittley Architects
Steve Groves, repairs and maintenance manager, Portsmouth City Council

For more details about the event including booking details, visit the event microsite.