Bowenvale

“We are very much enjoying our new home thank you, and are really pleased we went for a ‘near passive house’ build – it is by far the most comfortable and warm property we have lived in as well as being very energy efficient”.

After 7 years living in their home –

‘It’s very hard to make comparisons (on cost savings) because very few ‘standard’ homes would be heated so that every room is at a comfortable temperature. But based on the data I have recorded, the savings on heating and cooling look to be substantial’.

‘As an example , yesterday the temperature reached 23 degrees outside about 2pm and dropped to around 9 degrees at 8am this morning.  You can see from our monitoring that over the same period the temperature inside dropped very slowly to a minimum of 21 degrees before starting to rise again to 22.  Note that NO heating energy was necessary’.

‘Winters are a whole different experience compared to our old 1970’s house’!

– Dick & Cath

This two storey ‘near passive’ architectural home was designed by Karen Manson Architects.  Brent worked closely with Karen to work through design suggestions and optimise performance outcomes without breaking the bank.

The owners, a (now) retired couple with many grandchildren wishing to visit, wanted a genuinely warm and energy efficient home and concluded that the only way to truly achieve this was through the incorporation of passive house principles.

The house was built in 2017.  The walls, and ceiling are SIPs, over an insulated concrete slab. The windows were inward opening double glazed uPVC (Low E, Argon filled, thermally broken).  They were recessed into the thermal envelope to assist with minimising thermal bridging. The design also incorporated a large exterior desk and a pergola for shading for the all important outdoor living and shading. Smaller windows and exterior sliding louvres were installed in key locations to also prevent overheating.

The mechanical heat recovery ventilation system in this design, is a Zehnder.