First 'Passivhaus' in Hampshire to be built in Winchester (From Basingstoke Gazette)

First 'Passivhaus' in Hampshire to be built in Winchester

8:00am Friday 28th September 2012 in Winchester By Andrew Napier

The proposed Passivhaus design

A FIRM of Winchester architects has won planning permission for the first ‘PassivHaus’ in Hampshire.

Architecture plb, based in St Thomas Street, is oversseing the building of the highly energy-efficient home.

The house is set to be built in Wharf Hill, Winchester, in a garden off Domum Road.
The design of a Passivhaus on this site set the architects a significant challenge. Planning and heritage concerns of the potential impact meant the building had to be largely set back within the existing chalk bank.P

art of the client’s brief, was for a building that was ‘quirky’ and ‘not-quite conventional’.  So an ‘upside-down’ approach was taken to the internal layout, with the main living spaces and master bedroom at first floor level, arranged around a terrace balcony.

This also allows the west-facing house to have fine views across Winchester’s Water Meadows and the River Itchen, while extensive views of the city centre are available from a second terrace at the top of the bank.

There are some 20,000 Passivehauses around the world, mostly in Germany and Scandinavia.