Celebrating the Women of Passivhaus in Australia - 2023
This International Women’s Day we’re celebrating the contribution of women across Australia to the passivhaus movement. We asked our members to nominate who they think should be celebrated this IWD. In just our first year of this celebration, we had a fantastic response. Let’s make this an annual event! Thank you to each and every one of you for helping make our planet a better place. Future generations will benefit from your contribution. Read the nominations below.
Filomena, Beshara, Sustainability Manager, Built - Filomena brings her passion for passivhaus as a certified passivhaus designer to her work at Built, using every chance in tenders to put forward passivhaus design principles and scale the impact she has across her work. Built recently completed a passivhaus gap analysis for a government department around how they could best deliver value for money with a passivhaus design methodology for new housing. Filomena led the contractor's response from Built, ensuring architectural, structural and mechanical design considerations were all implemented within our response to deliver the best possible outcome for the exercise. Nominated by - Joe Karten,
Clare Parry, Director - Sustainability, Development Victoria - Clare has been a pioneer for the PH industry in Australia and continues to push for more adoption of the standard in every way possible. Without her contribution, the PH industry would not be anywhere close to what it is in Australia. - Nominated by - Bohemia Hookham
Talina Edwards, Director, Envirotecture- One of the most influential passivhaus advocates, Talina has blended her architectural work with generous contributions to the wider public debate and the promotion of healthy, comfortable, efficient homes. Talina was a big contributor to the APA board for several years and has been a conduit to the wider design community where her influence cannot be underestimated in raising the profile of passivhaus. Her award winning Owl Woods project was a powerful demonstration of the possibilities of passivhaus and elegant design when approached with skill, care and a little flair. Her mentorship to her team and others within the passivhaus community is testament to a generosity of spirit that is needed, yet often lacking, in wider society and speaks both to her and also the collegiate atmosphere of the passivhaus innovators.
Samantha Bruce, Events and Education Lead, APA - She has worked for APA for 4 years now and is the powerhouse behind the education offering and major event planning. She is humble, diligent, a dream to work with, and just an all-round star. She is often in the background of the limelight and I believe she is well and truly deserving of this acknowledgment. Nominated by Kate Nason
Simone Schenkel - Gruen Eco Design- She doesn't get tired to educate people about the benefits of Passive Houses and Sustainable Building through webcasts, blog posts participating in events and many more. Her enthusiasm is second to none. Nominated by Susanne Schirling - Client
Simone, a certified Passivhaus designer, has more than 15 years expertise in designing and building high-performance buildings and has actively worked to make PassivHaus mainstream (200+ homes at passivhaus standards or similar) and most importantly cost efficient - even for small budgets - because everyone should be entitled to a comfortable and healthy home. Moreso, and in the spirit of international women’s Day Simone’s practice employs 50% women, and allows flexibility into work schedules (part time, remote) to help staff to adapt their work to their own circumstances (kids, health, other) especially women who unfortunately still often shoulder most of the household responsibilities. Simone shares her knowledge with the wider industry through and talks and advocacy, and also mentors her staff members (now 15 +) to become PassivHaus experts themselves. Simone is well deserving of a nomination and encourages our Passivhaus community to celebrate her great work! - Nominated by Claire Salles Senior Designer Gruen
Pushing the standard of Australian housing and building design, advocating for Passive House and communicating the benefits of PH to Australian homeowners. - Elsie Wang, PH consultant, Building Physics Australia & Gruen Eco Design
Danielle Pacella, Cumulus - Architect of one of Australia's most prominent buildings - Gillies Hall, and continuing advocate. Nominated by Clare Parry, Development Victoria
Estelle Roman, Project Architect, Fraser & Partners - Estelle is a Certified Passive House Designer and brings valuable regenerative design intelligence to our projects. Her insights enable the team to think differently about the possibilities for the built environment and turn challenges into opportunities. Contributions include: - Industry advocacy for the Passivhaus movement - Supporting the Passivhaus association as a voice beyond the single residential sector - Implementing passive design and Passivhaus principles across several large scale multi residential and commercial buildings - Participating in the improvement of indoor comfort and air quality for thousands of apartments and workplaces, while greatly reducing Australia’s energy use and carbon emission - Educating industry peers and design colleagues to further spread the positive change around Passivhaus principles - Nominated by Mirelle Walker, Communications Manager, Fraser & Partners
Olivia Sheridan, Building Designer ENVIROTECTURE- Olivia has a passion for more healthy and equitable outcomes for everyone. She is an experienced Building Designer who has been an incredible asset to out team - designing, documenting and delivering Passivhaus homes for our lovely clients (with Talina Edwards Architecture and now with our merged entity as Envirotecture). We feel it’s important to acknowledge and celebrate women like Olivia who are hugely integral to the successful outcomes of our projects (perhaps the more “quiet achievers”) as there’s a lot of them out there who aren’t as loud about their achievements as some! Although Olivia hasn’t (yet) done the Certified Passivhaus Designer Training/Exam, she has an absolute thirst for knowledge and has been quick to understand why we’re doing what we’re doing, and how to implement this in our projects. Absorbing all the knowledge from our team, with research and CPD along the way, collaborating with builders who share our ethos - has all meant this hands-on experience has been absolutely invaluable to the delivery of Passivhaus projects. Her involvement with our “Little Pot of Gold” advocacy research project was integral to understanding the relationship between embodied- and operational-carbon with Passivhaus homes. We need to celebrate more of our team members - as these pursuits are rarely a solo-endeavour, and rely on the strength of each individual to reach the desired goal - more healthy, comfortable, sustainable, energy-efficient, resilient and beautiful buildings! Nominated by Talina Edwards
Karina Rafailov, Graduate of Architecture / Certified Passivhaus Designer ENVIROTECTURE- Karina is a strong believer in beauty when it comes to Architectural Design. When we find beauty in our surroundings (whether that’s the natural or built-environment) we’re more likely to care about it and feel a sense of loving kindness - which is crucial to the sustainability of our collective future here on Earth. Passivhaus projects have beauty that is more than skin-deep… this is not about superficial-beauty on the surface. A truly beautiful building (like a beautiful human!) has beauty that radiates from within. Karina recently added a Certified Passivhaus Designer qualification to her Architecture degree, so she can continue to develop her passion for this ethos… combining building-science with aesthetics and with all the ingredients that make a building both look and FEEL good - as this is truly a sustainable approach. We’re super proud that Karina became our seventh CPHD here at Envirotecture, as she’s designing and documenting many beautiful Passivhaus projects with us - including creative direction with our winning true-net-zero-energy home “Little Pot Of Gold”. Karina regularly participates in our Passivhaus Open Days alongside our wonderful clients - to share the love of these homes with a wider audience - to advocate for what is achievable with the right team of passionate people. Nominated by Talina Edwards
Heather McCabe, Architect/Certified Passivhaus Designer ENVIROTECTURE- Heather is not only a registered Architect and Certified Passivhaus Designer, but she’s also an active advocate for sustainable and regenerative design - to co-create a healthier planet for all beings. Alongside her work documenting Passivhaus projects at Envirotecture, she’s a Board Director at the Australian Passivhaus Association where she’s passionate about communicating the benefits of this standard to a broader audience to increase implementation in the wider industry. Heather has experience with many scales of projects across her career to date, and is forever exploring ways to be more ethical, more responsible and more caring with our approach to the built environment that won’t destroy our natural environment. She isn’t afraid to ask the hard questions, not settling for “Business As Usual”, when there are better options to consider. We wish there were more compassionate folk like Heather getting a seat at the table in larger practices to advocate for sustainability where the scale of their impact can make an incredible difference in our industry. We thank Heather for having this deep connection and understanding of our collective role in caring for the planet, and are proud to see her finding her voice. This caring mindset, with a focus on better outcomes can sometimes still be a rare trait in our industry and one that deserves celebrating! Nominated by Talina Edwards
Shaily Shah, Graduate of Architecture / Certified Passivhaus Designer ENVIROTECTURE - Shaily has a real passion for sustainability, and for continuous learning and improvement to create better buildings - which quickly led her to discover Passivhaus and she became a Certified Passivhaus Designer not long after graduating from her Masters of Architecture. In a few short years, she developed her expertise with the PHPP and with the design and delivery of many Passivhaus projects - including the implementation of Passivhaus integrated with the Living Building Challenge for a more holistic approach to regenerative design. She’s worked alongside industry leaders Simone Schenkel, Talina Edwards and now Andy Marlow too (Envirotecture). Shaily shares her sustainability experience with Architecture Students as an alumni-guest at Deakin University, she’s presented to Architectural Graduates about Passivhaus, and also presenting learnings to the Australian Passivhaus Community drawing on data and design-implications from numerous case-studies. Shaily’s an integral part of our team and we're thankful for her positive attitude and passion for Passivhaus! Nominated by Talina Edwards
Mia Carmen Radic, Architectural Graduate/Certified Passivhaus Designer, ENVIROTECTURE - Mia became a Certified Passivhaus Designer as a young Architectural Graduate five years ago - in one of the first rounds of training in the country. Since then she’s been the lead designer/documenter of many Passivhaus homes - starting with involvement with Owl Woods Passivhaus working with Talina Edwards Architecture (and now as the merged practice with Envirotecture) to many more homes completed, under construction and on the drawing board! She volunteered a huge amount of her time to help coordinate, collate and create the Case Studies in the “Passivhaus in Australia” book with APHA. She’s now delivering presentations to the Passivhaus community to share her knowledge and hands-on experience to a wider audience. She was integral in the delivery of our award-winning “Little Pot of Gold” research project/completion entry for understanding of how the Passivhaus Standard can deliver True-Net-Zero-Energy homes with low embodied carbon, low operational carbon and a small footprint. Mia was recognised for her leadership in this space by being shortlisted as an Emerging Architect/Designer at the Sustainability Awards last year. We’ve loved seeing Mia’s confidence grow and are grateful for her role in our practice, but also for the contribution to the broader Passivhaus movement! Nominated by Talina Edwards
Kate Nason, Chairperson APA- Kate works tirelessly to support the growth of passivhaus in Australia. Her passion shines and she’s able to bring anyone on side making the complex easy to understand. We are very thankful for her efforts and support, she’s an integral part of APA. Nominated by Alexia Lidas
Beth Mercieca - Beth is a third-year carpentry apprentice and a valued member of the Blue Eco Homes team, building sustainable, healthy, custom homes to Passivhaus and bushfire-rated standards. Beth’s love for the trade began early but it was watching her Mum and Dad lead the construction industry, challenging it to be more environmentally sustainable and embracing Passivhaus technology. Beth brings a welcome perspective to BEH projects, with strong attention to detail and a different approach to problem solving. Beth is passionate about promoting and encouraging more people into a trade, especially more women and others not traditionally seen in the industry. Nominated by Joe Mercieca
Sascha Davis - Operations - MVH Constructions- Sachcha is the operations manager at MVH constructions. Sascha was the lead organiser to the Surrey Hills Passivhaus open day last year for MVH Constructions and ensured that everyone visiting the site openly was well-informed about the benefits and features of a Passivhaus. Sascha’s contributions to our company’s values that Passivhaus is the only way to build helps provide a conduit between our pre-construction client base and our workings on site. What Sacha brings to MVH Constructions is invaluable and a key contributor to our business and the Passivhaus movement. Nominated by Mark van Haandel MVH Constructions
Merelyse Mercieca, Blue Eco Homes- Merylese continues to work alongside and educate the community, building industry and suppliers on the benefits of building higher energy rated homes for healthier and sustainable living. After launching Blue Eco Homes passive house display home, “The Sapphire”, Australia’s first Passive house built to the highest Bushfire rating, BAL-FZ, the amazing response from industry and community proved the demand for energy efficiency and health benefits that Passive-House provides. Whilst working with local suppliers of environmentally friendly products Merylese and the BEH team have created mutually beneficial partnerships, including innovative processes to streamline our passive pre-fab system. Nominated by Joe Mercieca
APA would like to acknowledge the following other champions of passivhaus in Australia to celebrate International Women’s Day 2023. This is the first year we have celebrated like this, with a short lead time we had a great response but we know each and every one of you deserves recognition. We wanted to add a few other must-have names to the list who work to help our Association and the passivhaus movement in Australia. We are very appreciative of your contribution.
Bohemia Hookham - Bohemia is a Board Member at APA. She has a critical eye for detail and data. Her contribution supports the association’s connection to the project world and we are thankful for her insights.
Kylie Mills - Kylie has been a previous Board Member at APA, she’s now an APA Educator and an around
Samantha Peart - Sam has contributed a great deal to passivhaus in Australia, particularly while she was employed at Development Victoria. She has recently joined the board and we are excited to work with her.
Marie Mattinson- We are thankful for Marie’s contribution to our NSW Chapter.
Hilit Einav - Thank you to Hilit for stepping in with positive energy to run our NSW Chapter.
Christie Hartfiel - Christie runs our ACT Chapter and contributes a lot to supporting this, but also towards passivhaus in the ACT generally. She’s a powerhouse.
Johanna Trikett - A brilliant leader in the passivhaus space, sharing her knowledge selflessly with our course participants.
Emilia Iacovino - Emilia we are very proud of your efforts to become a certifier- well done. This is a brilliant news story for Australia’s passivhaus movement.
Madonna Stewart - Madonna we appreciate your passion, and the way you connect with our course participants.
Thank you to all of you! - From the team at APA
We appreciate everyone who took some time out of their day to submit nominations - thank you.