Experience

A development of 8 new Passive House dwellings (2 and 3 bedrooms). These highly efficient houses have cost-effective and simple technology:

• Solar thermal panels: feed the thermal store above the landing
• Wood stove with air feed into the combustion chamber (DiBT tested for air tightness) feeds the thermal store via back boiler. 1.5kW of heat to the room, the rest goes to the thermal store.
• The thermal store provides the DHW and hot water for the MVHR post heater
• The water based post heaters of the MVHR system provides the additional space heating.

These houses are heated by the sun and the locally sourced timber.

As one of the most northerly certified PassivHaus schemes in the UK, Tigh na Croit nestles quietly into an area of former crofting land in the hamlet of Gorstan in the Scottish Highlands. The house, being heated by solar gains and a water based post heater in the MVHR system, has got no conventional central heating system. It is a well designed example of a certified Passivhaus and has won the 2016 Passivhaus Award.

The brief was simply to create a quality modern and low energy PassivHaus from which the clients could continue to enjoy their love of outdoor pursuits whilst living in an environmentally responsible, low impact home.

The intention was that the house should look towards the form of a traditional steading in creating an appropriate scale and form for the site. The proposed contemporary architectural solution where the scale, proportion, openings, roof pitch and mix of materials are all contextually relevant to the rural landscape.

The house comprises generous living space, kitchen and dining room, 3 bedrooms, utility space, cinema room, sanitary, utility and storage space. The living areas face south making the most of views with a small terrace allowing the client to enjoy the beauty of the surrounding landscape. The bedrooms are then orientated eastwards to capture morning sun.  Oversized windows allow internal spaces to connect visually with the landscape and take advantage of the many wonderful views from the site.

The primary material for the house is white render with limited areas of stained timber cladding used at the dining room ‘box’ on the south elevation and small areas to the north and west elevations.

Recognisable details of highland rural forms are used in terms of chimneys, roof pitch, verges, eaves and carefully placed openings. All of this succeeds in maintaining a sense of place and supporting local identity.

Architect & Passivhaus Designer: HLM Architects
Certifier: – Passivhusbyrån – Ingo Theobold
Contractor: Urquhart Homes
MVHR Design: PAUL Heat Recovery Scotland

For more information, please see following link:

http://www.passivhaustrust.org.uk/projects/detail/?cId=74#.V2AOso-cGVR

Hill’s Peak is a private residence in Inverness which was built by Hanse Haus in 2013 as an off-site manufactured Passive House. The Paul novus 300 HRV system is an integral part of their dwelling.

Jean and Tony commented on their built:

“When the Passivhaus Trust were doing the three months of complex calculations to work out whether our proposed bungalow could be made to reach their standards and become the first in the world off-site factory built bungalow, to be erected in a site 100m up, in Inverness (further North than Moscow) facing North, they insisted it must have a Paul Novus 300 as it was the most efficient being able to recover 94.4% of the heat and add it to fresh, purified air quietly pumped into the bedrooms and front room.

Now it is built we are living our dream, with a simple control panel that allows us, when we have showers, or do the laundrey to turn it to “boost”, which quickly removes the extra steam, before automatically, after 15 minutes, reverting to the previous speed. If we have visitors we can press a button and gently it will turn slightly up, if we are going to be out or on holiday another button turns it to a programme that turns it on for short periods to remove any dampness but save energy. We find it simple, fool proof and giving us such a wonderful environment to enjoy.”