New legislation aimed at enacting a countrywide mandate for the use of passive house design standards in all new housing developments is gaining traction in Scotland after Labour MSP Alex Rowley’s bill was endorsed by the national government earlier this month.
The new Domestic Building Environmental Standards (Scotland) Bill will now be fast-tracked through secondary legislation in order to be fully enacted by the end of 2024, according to a letter sent to Rowley by Scotland’s Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings Patrick Harvie.
In a statement, the UK’s Passivhaus Trust said: “It is a truly forward-thinking approach by the Scottish government and a positive response to the 2021 Scottish Climate Assembly recommendations. They are to be applauded for taking this crucial step towards meeting their net zero/climate emergency goals. Now we must ensure that the bill is well developed and implemented to deliver the greatest impact on the actual performance of new homes in Scotland.”
The country’s first-ever passive house social housing development was recently completed in Stirlingshire and will be followed soon by a larger construction in Glasgow that will be ready in time for the first set of mandates to take effect in late-2023.
Scotland has targeted 2045 as a deadline to make all its buildings net-zero, though Rowley has said he would like to see efforts move a little faster.
“While I appreciate the moves the Scottish Government has taken so far to make new houses more energy efficient, I do not believe the action they are currently taking will get us to where we need to be quickly enough with regards to our net-zero targets,” he said in a statement. “[So] it is very welcome that they will move forward with the higher standards required by the Scottish equivalent of Passivhaus that I have proposed.”
A good move, no doubt.
It would be nice to have more windows though. Passivhaus tends towards claustrophobic designs when it is not done thoughtfully, and so easy to create horrible architecture for the sake of efficiency. Would be nice if they also mandated minimum sunlight and QOL standards. Maybe impossible for the budgets they are working with...
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Oh my. Cunningham House looks like a prison: bleak, too few windows, deadly monotonous. Clearly change is indeed necessary! How sad for the people of Glasgow, let alone for the people who live there. We must do better to stop this kind of dismal, sub-standard housing.
Function over form perhaps? I mean "a passive house-standard residential retrofit of a derelict church building" reads like a win to me. Regardless of personal aesthetics?
Just like food can be nutritious AND delicious AND look good, good architecture does not choose between only function OR only aesthetics. Unless you feel you don't deserve nice things, but that's another story.
A good move, no doubt.
It would be nice to have more windows though. Passivhaus tends towards claustrophobic designs when it is not done thoughtfully, and so easy to create horrible architecture for the sake of efficiency. Would be nice if they also mandated minimum sunlight and QOL standards. Maybe impossible for the budgets they are working with...
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