Mark Siddall is an award winning architect and energy consultant specialising in low energy and Passivhaus design. He also provides consultancy, strategic analysis, troubleshooting and project enabling for clients, design teams and constructors. As an architect he has a keen interest in closing the energy performance theory/reality gap that is prevalent in the UK. By utilising an integrated design ethic he seeks to deliver cost effective low energy buildings. The quality assurance systems that underpin the Passivhaus Standard serve to inform aspects of his approach. He assists with the delivery of Certified PassivHaus Designer Courses, by the CarbonLite Programme and by the University of Strathclyde. He is also a technical advisor to the Passivhaus Trust.
aim: The Technology Strategy Board funded the Retrofit for the Future (RftF) programme with the intention of refurbishing homes to achieve an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
scope: Each house types was chosen because of their relevance at both a regional and national level. Each design adopted a fabric first methodology using the quality assurance tools and mechanisms associated with Passivhaus design.
Many RftF projects retrofitted just one home for the available capital. In this case it was possible to refurbish two homes within the same budget. To achieve this a highly integrative design strategy was adopted which enabled the maximum value to be derived from each chain of decisions.
measures: Super insulation Minimisation of thermal bridging Airtightness Ventilation heat recovery Design Space Heating Demand: 39 kWh/m2/a Design Primary Energy Demand: 100 kWh/m2/a
monitoring: Pre-Retrofit Air Leakage: 11.9 m3/h/m2 (@50pa Post Retrofit Air Leakage: 0.94 m3/h/m2@50pa.
scope: This 28-unit bungalow scheme was built at the Racecourse Estate in Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear. As of January 2012 it was the largest residential Passivhaus scheme in the UK. The estimated heating and hot water bills are just £64 per year – a saving of £520 to £814 per annum.
measures: Energy consumption and carbon emissions is 80% less than that of the national average building stock. The project achieved Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) Level 4 without the need for bolt-on renewables. With the addition of solar thermal panels (for hot water) and photovoltaic panels (for electricity) CSH Level 5 was achieved.
monitoring: Independent co-heating tests, undertaken by Leeds Beckett University, demonstrated that these homes closed the performance gap (90% of the other buildings tested over 20 years of research have failed to achieve this goal).
Note: This project was undertaken whilst Mark Siddall working at Devereux Architects.