Passivhaus Design Consultancy
Passivhaus (or Passive House) is the world’s leading standard for ultra-low energy buildings, guaranteeing superior indoor air quality and consistent thermal comfort with minimal heating demand. Achieving the standard requires precise, integrated design from the outset. At Focus 360 Energy, our certified Passivhaus Designers and Consultants provide expert guidance from concept to completion, ensuring your project meets the rigorous criteria—focusing on exceptional fabric efficiency, thermal bridge-free construction, superior airtightness, and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR). We translate this ambitious performance standard into a realistic, constructible design.
What is Passivhaus Design Consultancy?
Passivhaus Design Consultancy is a specialist service that guides a project through the rigorous technical requirements of the Passivhaus standard, certified by the Passivhaus Institute (PHI). The consultant uses the Passivhaus Planning Package (PHPP) software to model, calculate, and verify the building’s energy performance against strict limits for heating demand, cooling demand, and primary energy use. This consultancy is essential for ensuring that design choices, like insulation thickness, window U-values, orientation, and thermal bridge detailing, are optimised and correctly implemented to secure final Passivhaus certification.
What Does the Passivhaus Design Service Include?
PHPP Energy Modelling: Developing the official Passivhaus Planning Package model to predict energy performance and verify compliance with all standard criteria.
Thermal Bridge Detailing: Providing specialist advice and calculations to eliminate all unnecessary thermal bridges, preventing heat loss and internal condensation risks.
Airtightness Strategy: Designing a continuous airtight layer and defining the construction methodology and site testing regime required to meet the challenging N50 air change rate.
MVHR System Sizing and Integration: Specifying and integrating the optimal Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) system for maximum efficiency and indoor air quality.
Quality Assurance and Certification Management: Acting as the link between the design team and the Certifier, managing the evidence and ensuring PHPP documentation is robust for final sign-off.
Why Passivhaus Design Matters
Passivhaus guarantees a building that is not only ultra-low energy but also provides superior occupant comfort and resilience against rising energy costs. Crucially, due to its demanding standards, Passivhaus provides a proven pathway to meet or exceed many local authority Net Zero carbon and future Building Regulations targets (like Future Homes Standard) well ahead of schedule. Investing in certified Passivhaus consultancy early dramatically reduces the risk of expensive technical failures post-construction and unlocks the significant long-term value of a truly high-performance asset.
How Our Accredited Assessors Support You
Our consultants are certified Passivhaus Designers and highly experienced energy engineers. This accreditation is mandatory for the design team to produce a certified Passivhaus building. We integrate the PHPP model directly into your design process from RIBA Stage 1, allowing us to make critical, low-cost design decisions that lock in high performance—such as optimal orientation and massing—before costs escalate. We bridge the gap between architectural vision and technical compliance, providing the precise engineering detail required to achieve the highest performance standard in construction.
Related Services
Passivhaus Design Consultancy is frequently combined with the following additional services:
Passivhaus PHPP Modelling
Find out moreU-Value Calculations
Find out morePsi Value Calculations
Find out moreCondensation Risk Assessment
Find out moreAir Tightness Testing
Find out moreVentilation Design
Find out moreOur Process
Book your Passivhaus Design Consultancy service today.
Start your journey to ultra-low energy, high-comfort design with confidence. Contact Focus 360 Energy today to commission our certified Passivhaus Designers and secure a robust, high-performance, and future-proof building standard for your next project.
Click the Get a Quote link to access our online portal, or use the form to share brief details about your project and we will respond promptly.
Why choose Focus 360 Energy
Certified PHI Expertise: Our team includes certified Passivhaus Designers, ensuring compliance with the globally recognised standard.
Integrated Energy Focus: We use PHPP alongside our other energy modelling tools (SAP/SBEM) for holistic, robust performance verification.
Early Risk Mitigation: Our involvement from RIBA Stage 1 ensures optimal design choices are made early, avoiding costly redesigns later.
Thermal Bridge Mastery: Specialist in eliminating complex thermal bridges, the most common point of failure in low-energy construction.
Achievable Solutions: We focus on translating the stringent Passivhaus standard into practical, constructible details for UK contractors.
Frequently Asked Questions
PHPP (Passivhaus Planning Package) is the specialised software tool used by designers to accurately model, calculate, and verify the energy balance and compliance of a Passivhaus building.
No, it is a voluntary standard, but many ambitious developers adopt it to meet high internal sustainability targets or exceed stringent local planning policies.
As early as possible, ideally at RIBA Stage 1 (Concept), as building orientation and massing are critical design factors for performance.
No, but it drastically reduces the requirement, meaning a traditional boiler is replaced by a minimal heat source, often integrated into the MVHR system.
Failure to achieve the required airtightness (often due to poor on-site detailing) and unresolved thermal bridges are the biggest risks.
No. Certification is performed by an independent, third-party Certifier to maintain impartiality. We manage the process and prepare the final documentation for the Certifier.
Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) provides fresh, filtered air while recovering up to 90% of the heat from the outgoing stale air, which is vital for energy efficiency and indoor air quality in an airtight building.
Yes, we provide consultancy for all applicable schemes, including Passivhaus Classic, Plus, Premium, and the EnerPHit standard for retrofits.
The design specifically models cooling demand and integrates solutions like external shading and insulated shutters into the PHPP model to prevent summer overheating, meeting the Part O goal intrinsically.
