Many organisations are now looking at more sustainable ways to reduce their energy consumption and reduce their carbon footprint. Passive House design is a proven solution that provides a range of approaches to deliver new and existing buildings optimised for low energy usage and focused on occupant health and wellbeing.

Backed with over 30 years of international evidence, Passive House buildings provide a high level of occupant comfort using very little energy for heating and cooling. As the construction industry is responsible for 25% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, GSSArchitecture are keen to help reduce this statistic, and as a result, we are celebrating the latest member of our team becoming a Passive House Designer.

Phil Hunt, Senior Associate at GSS, has recently completed his training and passed his examination to become a Passive House Designer, which means that GSS can apply Passive House standards to our new and current schemes, together with fully Passive House projects in the future, therefore increasing the benefits for our clients across the country. In addition to reduced energy consumption, the benefits of Passive House also include increased comfort for the occupants as they are free from draughts, cold spots, and excessive overheating, providing a constant supply of fresh, clean air. In turn, this increases the wellbeing of occupants, especially as people are spending more time indoors than ever before.

Tom Lyons, Senior Partner at GSSArchitecture said, “We are very privileged to have Phil and his extensive knowledge of the industry on board our team. As a Practice that has been operating for over 144 years, we are always researching new technologies to understand what can be done to be more sustainable, not just in the way we work, but also the designs we produce. GSS are proud to be offering this service to our clients and taking another step forward to producing truly sustainable designs.”

Phil Hunt comments, “Passive House is a building standard that is truly energy efficient, comfortable, and affordable at the same time. I’m really pleased to have this opportunity to apply what I have learnt to both new builds and refurbishment projects and am excited to take this forward in future projects.”

Alongside our in-house SKA assessor, Eleanor Lee, and our Sustainability, Net Zero, and Health and Wellbeing teams, we have been steadily building our portfolio of sustainability services and are well-placed to offer environmentally conscious design solutions to our clients across the country.