Scott Brownrigg Associate Architect Graham Carlin has received his Passive House Designer Certification from the Passive House Institute [PHI].

Based in Darmstadt, Germany, the PHI is the independent institute for outstanding energy efficiency in buildings. Since its conception in 1996, it has played a crucial role in the development of the Passive House concept. It has assumed a leading position with regard to research on and development of construction concepts, building components, planning tools and quality assurance for especially energy efficient buildings.

It is now a well-established fact that new buildings can be designed so that they consume just a fraction of the energy they used to. Passive Houses are buildings with a heating demand that is just a tenth of that of average existing buildings.

Certified Passive House Designers demonstrate to clients and occupiers that they have the knowledge and experience relevant for designing, planning or consultancy services for Passive House projects.

Graham has recently led the design of Blackridge Early Years Centre, a certified Passive House school in West Lothian, Scotland. Blackridge is the first local authority-funded Early Years education facility in Scotland to receive Passive House certification, and the building is intended by the client to be a testbed for adopting Passive House design principles in public sector buildings across Scotland.