Our Passivhaus Designer course is grounded throughout in real world examples and first-hand industry knowledge, and is part time to allow you to balance learning with your working schedule. The total study time commitment is around 100 hours, divided between live teaching and self-study.

By the end of the course you will understand:

• Why the Passivhaus standard is the route to achieving high building performance.
• How core design choices impact on performance, exploring form factor, airtightness, thermal bridging, insulation, glazing.
• What the impact of different construction choices is and how to detail common construction elements.
• Implications of summer overheating and how to design to avoid it.
• How critical good ventilation is and how to achieve it in Passivhaus.
• What needs to be considered when designing heating and hot water distribution systems.
• Learn how to complete PHPP worksheets, understanding what to input and exploring the implications of changing the parameters as a design tool.
• What is a Passivhaus Designer/Consultant's responsibility on a project and how do you best work as a team to deliver successful Passivhaus builds.
• Essential exam techniques and revision for the Certified Passivhaus Designer/Consultant exam.

The course is split into modules to guide your learning and build knowledge as we progress through the syllabus. We support you with course manuals, tutorials and further resources throughout.

Passivhaus Bitesize: (study time: 20 hours)

Foundation learning to bring you up to speed with low energy design principles and essential concepts. There are 15 hours of self-study to complete in your own time over two weeks, plus additional live online workshops to check and deepen learning.

NOTE: If you have already completed the Passivhaus Bitesize course separately please get in touch with the team to discuss.

Module 1: Building Physics Basics (study time: 3 hours)

You may be feeling rusty on your maths skills, so this mini-module will give you a recap to build your confidence for the rest of the course. This is a self-study short introduction to building physics, working through the essential equations you will encounter on this course.

Module 2: Fabric (study time: 30 hours)

Explore building physics concepts including heat transfer, the energy balance of buildings and what is necessary to ensure thermal comfort and avoid summer overheating, and explore how each of the required values can be calculated and what this means in practice for building design. At each stage, practical construction examples and guidance provide context to the science. We discuss how Passivhaus construction differs to standard practice, with a focus on achieving airtightness and thermal bridge free construction, and understand how successful design follows through to what happens on site.

Module 3: Building Services for Passivhaus (study time: 15 hours )

You'll cover concepts, calculations and commissioning for ventilation design, heating systems and hot water distribution and a review of Primary Energy Renewable. We'll explore different elements of building services used in Passivhaus, essential learning regardless of whether you are a services engineer or not. If you're not a building services engineer we want you to be able to interrogate services design at a high level and understand how services requirements can influence the building design. If you are involved in services design you'll learn what's different to business as usual.

Module 4: PHPP - Introduction to Passivhaus Planning Package software (study time: 18 hours)

Bringing together learning from the previous modules, we will guide you through completing a whole PHPP spreadsheet through a mix of live teaching and self-study, allowing you to develop your understanding of the inputs, parameters and implications for building design.

Module 5: Exam Preparation (study time: approx. 16 hours)

The final module prepares you fully for the exam. We'll teach you essential economics in preparation for the Passivhaus exam, followed by a live revision session to recap on the core concepts and guide you through what to expect during the exam itself and exam technique and tips. We provide plenty of support, practice questions and a mock exam. There will be small-group tutorials at the end to cover any specific areas of concern.

Final exam (3 hour online exam, open book)

Early Bird Price: £2,100 excl VAT *

Membership Price: £2,500 excl VAT **

Standard Price: £2,800 excl VAT

*To qualify for the Early Bird price, you must be a member of the PHT or AECB and book and pay more than 4 weeks before the start of the course.

**Membership Price is available to members of the PASSIVHAUS TRUST or AECB. Visit their websites for further information on membership benefits and prices.

Additional Costs: PHPP Software: Required for the PHPP module and exam. Costs start at £180.00 excl. VAT. Purchase from the AECB website (discounts available for multi-buyers and members).

Group Discount: 10% off for booking 3 or more places on the same course.

Precious Bitesize Course Participants: Our PASSIVHAUS BITESIZE course is included in the Designer course. Contact us for a discount if you have already completed this course previously.

Social Impact: As a Community Interest Company, any profits are reinvested to enhance our courses and support the upskilling of built environment professionals in the UK.

For more details on course dates, times, and enrollment, click on the courses below.