Passivhaus Costs

Often considered primarily as the exemplar standard for producing high-performance buildings, Passivhaus does indeed minimise energy demand, but it delivers much more. We cannot discuss Passivhaus costs without considering value and benefits.

Innovation costs associated with early Passivhaus projects are now reducing as the methodology has become more widely adopted. Analysis shows that the extra costs associated with building to the Passivhaus standard in the UK has reduced over the years and, as of 2018, best practice costs were around 8% higher than comparable non-Passivhaus projects.

However, removing the costs associated with quality assurance (to eliminate the performance gap this should be done regardless) and considering further development of skills, expertise and supply chain maturity, indicates that extra costs could come down to around 4% or less. In the context of other factors which result in higher build costs (high quality, high performance building products, design form, ground conditions etc), this becomes a minor uplift for a far superior product in terms of running costs, carbon emissions, and additional co-benefits such as comfort & health levels.

Overall, this study has shown that the Passivhaus standard in the UK can be achieved now for a modest extra-over cost and this is likely to reduce to nominal levels if adopted at scale.

You may also be interested in:

• Exeter City Council: Low energy development information pack
• Passivhaus Social Housing: Maximising benefits, minimising costs
• Passivhaus Social Housing: Do the numbers stack up?
• AECOM: Debunking the myth that Passivhaus is costly to achieve – 2021

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