Call for entries by 15 May: UK Passivhaus Awards 2013

The Passivhaus Trust is calling for entries to the second UK Passivhaus Awards – the only dedicated awards for passive house in the UK, with a focus on as-built performance. The deadline for applications is 15 May.

Now in their second year, the awards celebrate the design and performance of passive buildings in the UK. Organised by the Passivhaus Trust, the awards aim to highlight the achievements of the passive house pioneers and show that the standard can apply to any building type to create beautiful buildings. The awards are sponsored by Ecology Building Society, Kingspan and Munster Joinery, and we’re proud to announce that Passive House Plus is the lead media partner.

A key objective of the 2013 awards is to gather data on post occupancy performance of passive buildings and demonstrate that passive buildings address occupant health and well-being, energy saving and other sustainability issues.

The awards will be judged by leading professionals involved in passive house such as the Passivhaus Trust’s technical director Nick Grant and chief executive Jon Bootland; Sustainable by Design co-founder Lynne Sullivan OBE and The Architects’ Journal sustainability editor Hattie Hartman.

According to Hartman, the awards represent an opportunity to pin notional sustainability down to specifics, backed by robust evidence. “I’m often asked to represent the sustainability angle when judging architectural awards,” she said, “and I’m always looking for evidence and data of the building actually performing in the way it was designed. Normally such performance data is few and far between, whereas in these awards it was essential – it was really refreshing to have a whole range of sustainability metrics that we could look at to try to understand the nitty-gritty of these buildings.”

Commenting on the awards, Passive House Institute founder and scientific director Wolfgang Feist said: “Passive house is the ideal solution for new builds across the UK. This holds true for all kinds of buildings, residential and non-residential alike, thus offering a huge potential for energy savings and the mitigation of climate change – as well as a great opportunity for lots of enterprises.”

This year’s award categories are:
• Private housing (sponsored by Ecology Building Society)
• Social housing (sponsored by Kingspan Insulation UK)
• Non-domestic (sponsored by Munster Joinery)

All entries will be judged against the following criteria:
• energy consumption
• quality of the indoor environment
• occupant feedback
• design philosophy/ innovation
• aesthetics
• other sustainability features

Teams/individuals who have completed a certified passive house project are invited to submit their project for the awards. However as the focus of these awards is on proof of performance, the trust is ideally seeking performance data for at least one winter and one summer cycle, as of 15 May 2013.

The winners will be announced on 4 July at the awards ceremony, which will be held at the Austrian Ambassador’s residence in London.
For further information visit: UK Passivhaus Awards 2013

The awards timeline
15 May: phase I submission
3 June: announcement of shortlisted projects
21 June: phase II submission
25 June: online voting for Passivhaus Trust members opens
3 July: online voting for Passivhaus Trust members closes
4 July: presentations and voting for shortlisted projects
Announcement of winners at awards ceremony

Click here to watch a Youtube video of Hattie Hartman talking about the 2012 awards.

About the Passivhaus Trust
The Passivhaus Trust was launched in the UK in October 2010. Affiliated with the Passive House Institute in Germany via the International Passive House Association (iPHA), the trust is a not-for-profit organisation which focuses on research, education and policy campaigns around the application of passive house in the UK. Membership is open to any organisation with an interest in passive house, and includes free membership of the iPHA and access to its Passipedia database, as well as discounts on training, promotion of projects and involvement in the trust’s working groups.