Kiss House launches “cutting edge” turnkey passive houses

This article was originally published in issue 21 of Passive House Plus magazine. Want immediate access to all back issues and exclusive extra content? Click here to subscribe for as little as €10, or click here to receive the next issue free of charge

Kiss House brings together three industry leaders in a “marriage of award-winning architecture, award-winning project management, and the UK’s foremost passive house certifier and training provider.”

The team includes Oxford-based architect Adrian James, passive house project manager and cross laminated timber (CLT) specialist Trunk, and leading passive house certifier Warm.

“Award-winning design, delivery and quality assurance ensures Kiss House provides houses of the highest design standards, and of great aesthetic appeal,” said Adrian James, one of the founders of Kiss House. “We offer a small range of semi-configurable, passive house certifiable houses, built with cross-laminated timber.”

He continued: “Kiss House is an investment in one’s quality of life, and by choosing Kiss House clients choose uncompromising quality and cutting edge design.”

All Kiss House units will be built to the passive house standard, and thus be certifiable. “Passive house is the undisputed international gold standard in low energy building. A passive house is guaranteed to be extremely comfortable, healthy and low cost to run.”

James said that Kiss houses are delivered with minimal environmental impact and the least possible aggravation for clients.

“To ensure the procurement process is as simple as possible Kiss House operates a one-stop shop, the principle design is set and configurability gives a carefully created range of choices for the client to make their Kiss House their own.”

In 2014, Adrian James Architects completed Sandpath, a three-bedroom self build which has gone on to become the inspiration for the Kiss House concept.

Sandpath has won numerous architectural awards, including from RIBA and the Sunday Times British Home Awards.

“Sandpath generated a lot of interest and enquiries. I had previously worked with Mike Jacob at Trunk and they were looking to collaborate on a repeatable housing model so we decided to take advantage of the incredible interest in Sandpath, and thus Kiss House was born,” Adrian James said.

Kiss stands for the well known acronym ‘keep it simple stupid’, and James said its key principles are beauty through simplicity; clean, well-proportioned spaces; a cuboid shape; care in the choice of materials, arrangement of openings and flow of space; the provision of a calming sanctuary; poise and lightness in the way the building sits on the ground; and a balance between being cutting edge and minimal but not alienating or austere.

He explained that CLT is unrivalled for strength, sustainability, energy performance and aesthetics. “It is so strong it can outperform concrete and steel. It comes from sustainably managed forests, where more trees are planted than are cut down. Panelised off-site construction is also one of the most efficient ways of building.

“It is inherently airtight, meaning no internal air leaking and no complicated airtight strategies. Our houses have very low running costs, are very comfortable, and make for happy and healthy occupants.”

He added: “CLT is revered for its beauty and can be left exposed to provide crisp and clean internal surfaces.”

Kiss House also offers the passive house standard at no extra cost. “Our exemplary quality standard is simply what we do,” James said. “Kiss House is positioned to excel in both design and performance.”

Leading passive house certifiers Warm are part of the Kiss House team and are helping to develop a simple methodology for delivering cost effective passive housing.

Sandpath recently won a 2017 Best of Houzz Design Award for being one of the most visited projects on the 20 million subscriber strong website. The Kiss House team are now looking to harness this and are seeking customers for 2017, with the launch of their new website www.kisshouse.co.uk. They can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and are @KissLoveAffair on Twitter.

All 2017 customers will benefit from an extended handover period and a free smart home system.