Maximising the Benefits of Passivhaus: A Guide to Supporting Older Occupants

This guide by the University of Manchester Institute for Collaboration on Ageing, Eastlands Homes and the Housing LIN is aimed at housing providers and architects.

It provides recommendations on how to enable occupants to adapt to living in Passivhaus dwellings and gain the maximum benefits available. In particular, the guide considers what support should be given to older occupants.

Relatively low income can prevent many older people from adequately heating their homes. As recently evidence by the BRE in 'The cost of poor housing to the NHS' (opens new window), living in cold environments can exacerbate health problems such as heart and respiratory disease, which are prevalent in the older population. Cold dwellings are believed to contribute to the 27,000 excess winter deaths that occur in the UK each year.

Housing constructed to Passivhaus standards offers a potential solution, providing warm and dry environments with stable internal temperatures requiring little energy to heat.