Abstract
The reliance on fossil fuels and the high amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remain to be the most critical barriers for the European region to achieve its net-zero targets. Energy used in the household sector contributes to more than a quarter of the total energy consumption. The high energy demand and poor housing quality also lead to other issues such as fuel poverty and residents’ ill health, preventing the UK from reaching key objectives set in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The social housing sector, in particular, is in urgent need of an upgrade in both the quantity and quality of new build and existing homes that could also deliver a significant carbon reduction in energy use. The Passivhaus standard provides a potential solution to the above issues, offering design strategies that benefit the health and well-being of end users, reduce fuel poverty, and minimize energy consumption. Yet the social, technical, and economic barriers to more widely implementing this low-energy building methodology are still under-explored. This chapter reviews previous research and practice of Passivhaus projects in the UK and explores Passivhaus methodology from the perspectives of social housing providers, the design and construction team, and the end users’ behavior and experience. By doing so, it identifies the barriers and opportunities and summarizes guidelines and mitigating strategies in key procurement, design, construction, and operational stages of implementing Passivhaus as social housing model, in accordance with the RIBA Plan of Work 2020.
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Zhao, J. (2023). Passivhaus Standard as a Social Housing Model in the UK: Barriers and Opportunities. In: Leal Filho, W., Dinis, M.A.P., Moggi, S., Price, E., Hope, A. (eds) SDGs in the European Region . Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals – Regional Perspectives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91261-1_87-1
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