Passivhaus Design & Retrofit Experts in London
At Studio CMA, we believe great architecture respects the past, engages the present, and anticipates the future.
We specialise in designing and retrofitting homes to the Passivhaus standard – the gold standard in low-energy architecture. Whether you’re building new or upgrading an existing property, our practice thoughtfully implements the principles of the Passive House, tailored to each project's unique requirements, to help you create a home that is ultra-efficient, comfortable year-round, and future-proofed against rising energy costs.
Little Venice Townhouse - EnerPHit retrofit
Transform Your Home with Certified Passivhaus Design for Comfort, Efficiency & Sustainability
Imagine living in a home that stays comfortable year-round while drastically cutting your energy bills. This vision is made possible through Passivhaus architecture, a design philosophy focused on energy efficiency and comfort. It has gained popularity worldwide for its innovative approach to sustainable building design.
At its core, Passivhaus design revolves around five key principles prioritizing energy conservation and occupant wellbeing. By adopting a fabric-first approach, this architecture not only emphasises climate adaptability but also incorporates specific materials and techniques that enhance performance. Understanding these elements is essential for anyone interested in building or renovating with sustainability in mind.
Passive House architecture has many benefits, from reduced energy bills to enhanced comfort. Discover how this design methodology is transforming modern living spaces.
The Top Five Benefits of Passivhaus are:
1. Lower Energy Bills
Passivhaus buildings have low carbon emissions and use very little energy for heating and cooling, thanks to airtight construction, insulation, and renewable energy strategies—leading to significant cost savings.
2. Superior Comfort & Air Quality
These homes maintain a consistent indoor temperature, free from drafts and cold spots, and offer fresh, filtered air year-round, supporting health and wellbeing.
3. Outstanding Build Quality
Meticulous design and construction standards result in highly durable energy-efficient buildings that perform as intended and need less maintenance.
4. Proven Reliability
Passivhaus buildings consistently meet performance targets, ensuring long-term efficiency, comfort, and resilience.
5. Increased Property Value
Energy-efficient, sustainable design makes Passivhaus homes more attractive on the property market, appealing to eco-conscious buyers and investors.
Let’s Design a Comfortable, Energy-Efficient Future Together
Thinking about building or retrofitting to the Passivhaus or EnerPHit standard? Whether you’re planning a new home or looking to upgrade your existing one, we’re here to help you explore what’s possible, practically and beautifully.
Book a Free 30-Minute Passivhaus Consultation
We’ll discuss your goals, answer your questions, and help you understand the next steps.
Certified Passivhaus Designer | 5★ Client Reviews | Local, Trusted Architects
1 - Understanding Passivhaus Architecture
Passivhaus architecture, originating in Germany in 1991, represents a rigorous performance standard for energy efficiency in buildings. Unlike traditional methods, it emphasises meeting specific energy targets while permitting flexibility in construction techniques and architectural styles. This approach results in exceptionally low energy demand for heating and cooling.
Key features of Passive House include an airtight building envelope, minimized thermal bridges, and high levels of insulation. These elements ensure excellent levels of indoor air quality and stable internal temperatures. By optimising solar gains and implementing renewable energy sources, Passivhaus buildings significantly reduce energy bills and environmental impacts.
The design process for Passivhaus involves a meticulous consideration of the building fabric and the specifics of the building and site. The ultimate goal is an energy-efficient design that contributes to sustainable architecture and minimises heating costs. With buildings covering varying square meters, Passive House standards can be applied to both commercial and residential projects, as well as new buildings and building retrofits, setting a benchmark for the construction industry in carbon-neutral and environmentally friendly buildings.
The International Passive House Association sets forth clear criteria that buildings must meet to be certified as Passivhaus. However, certification is an option, and many savvy homeowners choose to incorporate Passivhaus principles without pursuing formal certification. This flexibility allows homeowners to benefit from improved comfort and reduced energy consumption without the added expense of the certification process.
2- Five Key Principles of Passivhaus Design
Passivhaus design focuses on achieving consistent internal temperature and excellent indoor air quality with minimal heating or cooling. Key to this is high levels of insulation and exceptional airtightness, which greatly reduce air leakage and energy loss. This helps maintain comfort without the high energy demand seen in traditional buildings.
High-quality triple-glazed windows and doors are integral, significantly reducing heat loss and enhancing energy efficiency. By addressing thermal bridging, Passivhaus architects eliminate pathways for heat transfer, further boosting the building's insulating performance.
Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) systems play a vital role, ensuring excellent levels of air quality while keeping energy consumption for heating and cooling at a minimum. This design approach not only leads to lower energy bills and heating costs but also contributes to a sustainable building standard, with reduced environmental impacts.
In summary, the five key principles of Passivhaus design are:
Superior insulation and airtightness.
High-quality triple-glazing.
Elimination of thermal bridges.
Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery.
Consistent internal temperature and air quality.
These principles create an energy-efficient, comfortable, and environmentally friendly building envelope, ideal for residential and commercial projects alike.
3- The Fabric-First Approach to Construction
The fabric-first approach prioritizes the building envelope to enhance energy efficiency and sustainability. By focusing on superior insulation, airtightness, and thermal bridge elimination, this method minimizes heat loss and reduces energy demand from the start. It ensures that homes and commercial buildings operate efficiently with lower environmental impacts and heating costs.
Adaptable to Climate and Style
Passive House architects tailor their designs to suit various climates and architectural styles. The adaptability of the passive house principles allows for modifications that cater to local environmental conditions and aesthetic preferences. This ensures that both traditional and contemporary building styles can achieve high energy efficiency and sustain comfort all year round.
Materials and Techniques
The choice of materials is crucial in the fabric-first approach, with an emphasis on sustainable and high-performance options. Techniques include the use of advanced insulation materials, precision in cutting and fitting, and integrating renewable energy sources, such as solar gain, to enhance design efficiency. These materials and methods contribute significantly to lower energy bills and improved internal temperature control.
4 - Benefits of Passivhaus Architecture
Passive House architecture offers a sustainable approach to building design, significantly reducing environmental impacts while providing superior indoor conditions. This building standard focuses on minimizing energy loss and promoting energy-efficient design. Key elements like thermal bridges, a well-insulated building envelope, and strategic solar gain contribute to the low energy demand and high comfort levels in these structures.
Reduced Energy Bills
Passive House buildings are designed to drastically cut energy for heating, which leads to reduced energy bills. With a focus on airtight construction and renewable energy sources, these homes maintain internal temperature with minimal effort. This energy efficiency translates to substantial savings for homeowners and housing associations alike.
Enhanced Comfort and Wellbeing
The Passive House standard ensures excellent levels of indoor air quality, maintaining consistent internal temperature throughout the year. The lack of thermal bridges and optimized building fabric prevents drafts, creating a comfortable living environment. This enhanced comfort is conducive to the wellbeing of occupants, offering a cleaner and more stable internal atmosphere.
Exceptional Build Quality
Passive House projects focus on exceptional build quality starting from the design phase. The rigorous design process ensures no detail is overlooked, including the integrity of the building stock and energy-efficient design. This results in durable structures, whether they're commercial projects or private homes, that require less maintenance over time.
Reliability
The reliability of Passive House structures stems from their adherence to stringent building standards established in the design process. This reliability is not only in terms of energy efficiency but also in constructing long-lasting buildings with minimal energy demand for heating, reducing heating costs significantly.
Increased Property Value
The sustainable architecture and energy-efficient features of Passive House buildings often lead to increased property value. As the construction industry shifts towards carbon-neutral and environmentally responsible designs, homes that meet these standards are likely to be in higher demand. This value increase benefits both private individuals and commercial property owners.
5 - Compliance with Passivhaus Performance Criteria
Passive House architects focus on creating buildings that exceed energy efficiency and sustainability benchmarks. The building standard emphasises minimizing environmental impacts through the reduction of heat loss and optimising energy bills, while maintaining indoor air quality. This is achieved by adhering to stringent guidelines that address building envelope integrity and overall building fabric.
Air Tightness and Thermal Insulation
Achieving exceptional air tightness and thermal insulation is crucial in Passive House design. These architects strive to eliminate thermal bridges, ensuring a consistent internal temperature. This level of construction reduces energy demand for heating and cooling, highlighting the importance of an energy-efficient design process during the design phase.
Comfort and Energy Demand Levels
Passive House architects prioritize occupant comfort while managing energy demand. By optimizing indoor air quality and solar gain, these sustainable buildings maintain excellent levels of comfort with reduced energy consumption. The careful integration of renewable energy sources further supports the goal of reducing heating costs and meeting the desired energy for heating throughout the year.
6 - Our Passivhaus Services for Retrofits and New Builds
At StudioCMA, we provide tailored Passive House design and consultancy services for both new-build homes and existing properties across London. Whether you’re starting from the ground up or upgrading a beloved period property, we guide you with technical expertise and creative sensitivity.
EnerPHit Retrofits for Existing Homes
We specialise in EnerPHit – the Passive House retrofit standard – ideal for improving the performance of older London homes.
Our retrofit service includes:
Initial building assessment and retrofit strategy
Thermal envelope upgrade using breathable, natural materials
Airtightness and ventilation design (including MVHR)
Phase-by-phase retrofit planning for live-in renovations
Passivhaus New Build Design
Designing a Passive House from the outset allows for the highest level of energy efficiency and comfort.
We provide:
Architectural design from concept to construction
Detailed PHPP energy modelling and iterative design
Guidance on materials, shading, glazing and orientation
Full coordination with structural engineers and MVHR specialists
Passivhaus Feasibility Studies
Not sure if Passive House is right for your project? Our feasibility studies provide:
Energy modelling of your existing home
Upgrade options comparing cost, performance, and disruption
Risk assessments for airtightness and moisture management
Strategic advice on phased vs. full retrofit
Design-to-Build Support
We stay involved through construction to ensure the Passive House principles are delivered on site.
You benefit from:
Full technical design and detailing
Contract administration
Contractor briefings and on-site reviews
Thermal bridge analysis and construction detailing
Airtightness testing and QA coordination
Final certification support, if required
Let’s Design a Comfortable, Energy-Efficient Future Together
Thinking about building or retrofitting to the Passivhaus or EnerPHit standard? Whether you’re planning a new home or looking to upgrade your existing one, we’re here to help you explore what’s possible, practically and beautifully.
Book a Free 30-Minute Passivhaus Consultation
We’ll discuss your goals, answer your questions, and help you understand the next steps.
Certified Passivhaus Designer | 5★ Client Reviews | Local, Trusted Architects