Can the Passivhaus standard be applied to provide high-quality housing at a competitive cost level, utilising the local Scottish supply chain and taken to mass market?

To address this question, in 2016 housebuilder Dandara was awarded a BE-ST grant to fund research into whether volume housebuilders could design and build to Passivhaus standard using a Scottish supply chain. Working alongside Robert Gordon University (RGU) in Aberdeen, Dandara has developed a new product, which has created a deeper understanding and market adoption of an ‘affordable Passivhaus’ standard based on establishing, as far as possible, a Scottish-based supply chain. One has been built to to the Passivhaus standard, using certified Passivhaus products and processes, and one that would replicate the process using locally-sourced components and materials wherever they were available (the ‘Scottish Passivhaus’). Both dwellings are now certified.

The project focuses on Dandara’s Hazelwood development in Aberdeen. The ‘Rowan’ home type was selected for adaptation as a representative of a standard home in terms of specification, buildability, build cost, energy efficiency, running cost and open market value. Both homes utilised a timber frame designed and manufactured in Scotland, and erected by a locally-based timber frame installer.

As well as establishing whether a Scottish supply chain could be created, this would identify technical and project management modifications needed to achieve compliance, and allow Dandara effectively to cost future builds created to emerging regulatory standards. As well as assessing effectiveness and affordability, the project sought to maximise employment of local companies along the supply chain and help them gain Passivhaus certification for their products.