The Passivhaus Incubator launch will be on April 30 and run from 10:00 - 11:30 am local time. Local events linked below.

Sydney

Melbourne

Adelaide

Brisbane

Perth

Canberra

Session one will be held online on May 9th from 6:00 - 8:00 pm (AEST).

Introduction To the Principles of Passivhaus:
• What makes a Passivhaus, a Passive House? We’ll take an introductory dive into the 5 main principles which defines a Passivhaus and how they are applied.

• What are the end goals of a Passivhaus and what impact does this have on both the people inside the buildings and out.

• The overarching global context which necessitates Passivhaus and why it is an integral part of facing the challenges we are up against today, including its relevance in the Australian climate!

• A brief look of the history of Passivehaus internationally and where it sits today in Australia, in terms of its current adoption and standing within code and rating tools.

• What are the cost implications of a Passivhaus?

The Passive House Criteria:
• What are the different criteria we use to determine if a building is up to Passivhaus performance?

• How does this stack up against the current Australian code?

Building Physics 101:
• What are the main considerations we need to consider when designing a healthy, high performing building? I.e. How does energy move through our buildings, what makes a building comfortable and healthy and what impact does climate, the form of our building, materials and more have on them.

• How to consider the energy balance of our buildings and how can we truly understand what units like the R-Value and U-value of materials mean and how can we take advantage of them through the application of a continuous insulation barrier.

Case Study - Glenroy Community Hub

Glenroy Community Hub provides the City of Merri‑bek community with a welcoming, nature-inspired environment to learn, grow, celebrate and heal. Connecting the community through a garden experience, biophilic design principles are utilised to create meaningful, restorative and uplifting connections with nature.

The Hub’s centrepiece is the contemporary library, with Glenroy Memorial Kindergarten, maternal child health, a community health provider, neighbourhood learning and childcare co-located with the library. Framing the hub as a ‘social connector’ is a key strategy to increase community awareness of the range of council services and interaction.

In a first for community buildings in Australia, the Hub is Passive House certified and Living Building Challenge Petal ready, including Zero Energy. Each one a rigorous sustainability certification that measures not only environmental performance, but also demand high-comfort standards that support the health, happiness and wellbeing of users.

This case study will be provided by Kieran Leong of APA Member - DesignInc.

Session two will be held online on May 16 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm (AEST).

This session will explore the following topics.

Thermal Bridging:

• Why just considering high levels of insulation isn’t enough to guarantee great performance in our buildings.

• What is a thermal bridge, how do we measure them and what are some of the different types of thermal bridges we may encounter.

• How can we avoid thermal bridges through our designs and the construction methods we specify; and where they are unavoidable, how we mitigate their impact.

Airtightness:

• Why is airtightness so important to the health and performance of our buildings, and where does Australia currently sit in terms of considering this metric?

• What are some of the various materials, construction methods and design processes we can use to help ensure a high level of airtightness in our buildings?

• Common pitfalls which could lead to a poor outcome in airtightness, and how do we measure our performance?

Ventilation:

• In an airtight building, why is effective ventilation absolutely necessary to ensuring great levels of comfort, health and high performance in our buildings.

• A look at some of the dangers of poor ventilation including condensation, mould, and high levels of CO2.

• How we can use a heat-recovery ventilation system to minimise the impact of constantly exchanging indoor air with outdoor air.

• What are the different forms of ventilation we can rely on, and how can we design buildings to maximise the use of all of them concurrently.

Health Case Study by Merylese Mercieca

A story documented by a Respiratory Nurse & Passivhaus Builder, Merylese Mercieca.

Kristy a 31-year-old moved into her 6-month-old Western Sydney rental to escape a leaky, mouldy rental which negatively impacted her respiratory system.

She never guessed that the move to a relatively new building built to code would leave her health still impacted. Fortunate enough to have an unoccupied display home, Blue Eco Homes was able to offer Kristy an alternative Passivhaus home to reside in temporarily.

Over 2 months both properties were monitored for indoor air quality, in addition to Kristy's physical response to the contrasting environments.

It was a revelation to see the dramatic changes in Kristy's health when residing in the Passivhaus. The long-term symptoms she was suffering: runny nose, sinus infection, headaches, persistent coughing- disappeared almost immediately.

But within two days of moving back into her code home, all symptoms came back.

This presentation will include:

1) Comparative symptom diary and respiratory questionnaire.

2) Weather data.

3) Indoor air quality data from both properties.

4) Building biologist's report.

Session 3 will be held online on May 21 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm (AEST).

Windows:

• Why windows, and the frames that we choose, are some of the most important elements in managing the energy transfer in our buildings.

• How can we rely on passive solar design principles i.e. orientation, placement and shading to maximise the performance of our windows and give us free energy.

• Look a variety of different window constructions and installation methods, and how we can calculate their performance and impact on the overall energy balance.

Energy & Renewables:

• An overview of the major energy consumptions in our buildings and how we can reduce them.

• Why it matters where our energy comes from, how and we can significantly impact this through the use of renewables!

• How the Passivhaus Standard considers energy metrics and the strategies we can use through design, construction, and service choices to improve our performance.

The Passivhaus Planning Package (PHPP):

• An introduction to the Passivhaus Planning Package, the design tool used by Passivhaus designers to ensure their buildings are meeting the required criteria.

• Why it is such a useful tool for testing design options and the key inputs it requires and the outputs it can provide us.

Session four will be held online on May 30 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm (AEST).

Passivhaus Classifications:

• An overview of the different Passivhaus classifications which are available, and the criteria specified for each of them.

• An introduction into the Passivhaus retrofit standard, EnerPHit, for existing buildings and how we can up-spec existing buildings into the realm of a Passivhaus.

Certification:

An overview of the different types of certification of buildings, professionals and products
• A discussion on the certification procedure for obtaining Passivhaus recognition, including when to engage consultants and certifiers in the design process.

• Steps that you can employ into your process to give you the best possible chance of certification and ensure all relevant streams are onboard the Passivhaus journey.

Certification Deep Dive Behind the Scenes

Passivhaus Certifier Emilia Iacovino will provide course participants with a behind the scenes practical overview of the certification process. This is a chance to understand the rigour in the independent review, and see the level of documentation provided to provide the quality assurance process being pasivhaus certification.

Session five will be held online on June 13 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm (AEST).

Procurement and Contracts - Jonathan Mills

• Best practice principles in PH procurement

• Specific clauses/issues to be cautious of

• Contracting methodology

• Risk profile for PH Projects

• Scope of works inclusions for the build, design and certifier

• Contract considerations for PH Retrofit - in small, tranches of work

Project Costs - Alex Feng

• Overview of the components that make up the additional costs to build to the passivhaus standard

• What other factors influence the cost of passivhaus that are different to typical construction?

• How are the cost blow out risks different in passivhaus and what are they?

• Looking at cost trajectories around the world, what can we learn.

• How to avoid things going wrong?

Project Finance

Session six will be held online on June 20 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm (AEST).

More details to come regarding this session.

Damin Crough of Prefab Aus will deliver a one hour presentation about Prefabricated PH opportunities

From June 28 - 30, we will hold International Passivhaus Open Days, which involves numerous site tours nationwide.

PH Incubator participants are encouraged to attend these site tours and a list of these events will be emailed to participants.

Details TBA