Crawley Borough Council’s first Passivhaus development, designed by Green Register members Accredited Passivhaus Design, was completed and certified to the Passivhaus Standard in 2017.
Gales Place in Three Bridges provides 13 new affordable homes – six flats and seven houses – for local residents. Each property is so thermally efficient that a radiator and two towel rails will heat it even in mid-winter.
The development is located on a complex site and provides a new urban space next to an existing community centre, safe routes to the adjacent primary school and car parking for residents and other local people.
With triple glazing, high insulation levels and low air leakage to minimise heat loss, and a ventilation system providing filtered pre-warmed air, the heating bills for a typical 2-bedroom house are predicted to be about £15 per month or less than 50p per day.
APD’s Certified Passivhaus Designer Peter Ranken said: “As council housing is provided for people in housing need, the low energy use of these Passivhaus homes will make a strong contribution to reducing fuel poverty. Also, the good construction quality of these dwellings will ensure durability and comfort for the future.”
Councillor Stephen Joyce, Crawley’s Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “This is a brilliant development that not only provides high quality housing, but also lowers energy bills and has less of an environmental impact. I am so pleased that we have these to offer our tenants and I hope that we are able to offer more Passivhaus homes in the future.”
Accredited Passivhaus Design has been appointed to design Crawley Borough Council’s second Passivhaus project: Dobbins Place, a development of four houses and two flats in Ifield, Crawley.
Peter Ranken is an Architect and Certified Passivhaus Designer at Accredited Passivhaus Design, part of The Tooley & Foster Partnership – one of the UK’s longest-established RIBA award-winning architectural and interior design practices.