Passivhaus at Life, Point Cook

Passive House

Originating in Germany, Passivhaus (or Passive House) is a sustainable, high-performance building standard that reduces a building’s ecological footprint. Passive House certified buildings are designed to achieve outstanding energy efficiency through features such as:

• Double (or triple)-glazed windows
• Continuous thermal insulation
• Airtight measures to reduce air leakage
• Provision of a heat recovery ventilation system to ensure a continuous flow of fresh air.

These features help to better regulate temperature control in the house and drastically reduce heating and cooling costs, saving energy while improving air quality and comfort levels.

There are currently about 40 Passive House buildings in Australia, however most are highly individualised private residences that are not accessible to the masses.
Frasers Property Australia is the first major property developer to achieve Passive House certification and the first to make Passive House accessible to the national residential property market. Furthermore, it has achieved a Passive House Plus certification level, meaning it generates more energy through onsite rooftop solar PV than it consumes over the course of a year.

Starting in early 2022, the Point Cook Passive House will take part in a housing-design experiment whereby it will be compared to a nearby house of the same size and similar design – built to a traditional ‘non-Passive House’ design. Two families will move into the respective homes and take part in the experiment, where Frasers Property Australia will gather data on energy consumption, comfort levels and building performance.

It is hoped the results will show that the long-term energy savings, combined with improvements in home performance, comfort, and wellbeing, will make Passive House design something the volume construction sector will want to embrace in the future.

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