Embracing PassivHaus Design & Energy Efficiency
The concept of passive design focuses on optimising natural resources to maintain a comfortable indoor climate, which reduces reliance on artificial heating and cooling. While there are similarities to a passive solar design, passive house design requires meticulous planning to ensure effectiveness and maximum thermal comfort.
A crucial element is avoiding direct sunlight entering the home during summer. This involves strategic window placement, utilising natural shade from trees, and installing awnings to reduce the impact of direct sunlight. Attention to design details like these is essential for achieving energy efficiency.
Depending on the house size and the number of sun-facing windows, it’s recommended to have a closed-system air-conditioning unit for additional heating or cooling on extreme days. However, the necessity of this system varies based on your design choices, including thermal insulation, window placement, and external shading.
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PassivHaus Standard
A passive house takes the principles of passive design further, focusing on creating airtight, well-insulated buildings that maintain a stable indoor climate. The key features of the Passive House Standard include:
Airtightness
Achieved by using an airtight membrane around the entire building envelope, which prevents unwanted air leakage.
Insulation
High-quality insulation materials is used to minimise thermal bridges, which could otherwise transfer heat or cold from the outside.
High-Performance Windows and Doors
Specially designed to avoid thermal bridging and maintain indoor temperature.
Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (HRV)
This system extracts stale air from rooms like the kitchen and bathrooms and replaces it with fresh air, transferring heat from the outgoing air to the incoming air and filtering it for pollutants like pollen and dust.
By utilising an HRV system, passive houses ensure a stable temperature and high indoor air quality. The design and construction of a passive house also have implications for window and door choices to maintain the building’s airtightness and insulation.
Norde Homes
Choosing between a passivhaus and a passive solar design, or a more conventional energy-efficient build, depends on the size and orientation of your block, as well as your personal preferences, values, and budget.
Norde Homes is experienced in constructing both passive solar houses and passive houses. They can help you navigate the choices and decisions involved in building a sustainable home. Additionally, they can assist with any questions regarding passive house certification, which is awarded when the highest standards of design and construction are met, including achieving minimum air changes per hour through natural ventilation.
Norde Homes is a specialist in energy-efficient, custom homes. We love Passive Solar and Passivhaus design, and are driven by a commitment to design excellence, high quality materials and craftmanship in construction.
Building with Norde Homes, leads to long term financial and well-being benefits for your family. Love The Home You’re In ® is our motto, and we live by it.
F.A.Q. about PassivHaus
What our clients have to say
Our home was not one we loved to live in before Marco, and his team worked their magic. Marco saw our vision & executed the renovation with the utmost professionalism. His team was always friendly & professional & were here Monday to Saturday for five months until we had our new home. We highly recommend this company to anybody looking for a professional, honest builder. Thanks, Norde Homes!
I love my new kitchen! It is so much more functional. I love cooking in my new kitchen as I can have several dishes on the go with much more bench space to spread out. I love that my kids can sit at the breakfast bar and do their homework or chat with me while I’m cooking dinner. I love how much more storage space I have and how the drawers make it so easy to access things while I’m cooking. Thanks again to you, Marco & team.
Thank you to Marco, Laila and their team for a job well done. From our first phone call to Norde Homes to the final works to our home, we consistently experienced the team as responsive, efficient and professional. Marco was accommodating and ensured that we were satisfied with the work completed. We recommend Norde Homes to anybody looking for a productive and attentive custom home builder. Recommended!
Throughout the renovation process, Norde Homes have kept our family as their prime consideration. Communication, Consideration and Professionalism are the three words that come to mind when I think of Norde Homes. I tell everyone that I will never leave our wonderful new home now that the renovation is done. Our house had good bones and a good location, but it was dark, cold, outdated and had some structural issues. Now it is light-filled, open, is structurally strong and shows our personality.
We were referred to Norde Homes after a disappointing experience with another building company. After meeting Marco, we felt confident in his genuine partnership approach. An invaluable benefit was Marco’s wife, Laila, a leading interior designer. Her eye for style and elegance gave our bathroom a finish we couldn’t have achieved on our own. The renovation process was smooth; Marco’s hands-on approach, excellent tradespeople, and high craftsmanship were outstanding!
After competitively tendering a sizeable renovation while still living in our home, we can honestly say our project was very successful. We set Marco a tight schedule with high-quality expectations and active project management. Marco kept us fully informed, maintaining high standards and working seamlessly around our needs. We have used Norde Homes for two sizeable renovations recently, and they deliver on their promises. We sincerely recommend Marco and his team.
My wife and I discovered Norde Homes through a friend of our building designer and were impressed by their professionalism. The project started quickly with demolition, site clearing, and new foundations completed in just a week. MK delivered high-quality results within our budget, and any variations only enhanced the final finish. We would definitely use Norde Homes again and recommend them to everyone. They are open, honest, and dedicated to achieving the best outcome for your project.
Norde Homes were excellent to work with to build the Garden Studio I had designed for my backyard. They provided the best quote and added a great range of extras for the bathroom. They were always available at the end of the phone to problem solve any issues. It was a great experience working with Marco and the team, and I would recommend Norde Homes to people seeking good quality, friendly service. Highly recommended!
Norde Homes were the ideal builder we spent quite some time looking for. As we were looking for a tailored solution to our difficult block/situation, Marco was on-site managing the trades and ensuring a top finish was achieved. We are happy with the result and can hopefully use them again on future projects.
Marco and Laila worked excellently as a team, always concerned about achieving the best price for products and labor. Their honest and open communication was refreshing. They went to great lengths to understand our wishes and offered creative suggestions for the best outcome. We chose to work on a cost-plus basis. After a couple of months, I raised Marco’s margin due to his excellent suggestions that saved us money and improved the project.
Marco and the team at Norde Homes did an outstanding job with our new build in Floreat, completed during Covid in 19 months (May 2021 – January 2023). Despite the high-end, custom nature of the project and a strict budget, the process was far less stressful than expected. I highly recommend Norde Homes. After living here for over a year, we are delighted with the result!
You can tell Marco Klous from Norde Homes knows what he’s talking about. Of the many specialist builders that we have spoken with for our Passive House project, we’ve chosen to work with Marco because of his expertise in this area. It’s a great house to live in. Wonderful style, great finished and craftsmanship, and a comfortable indoor climate year-round. They have a refreshing no-nonsense and transparent approach. Highly recommend.
We highly recommend Marco and the team at Norde Homes for a high-quality, energy-efficient build in Perth. We came to Norde Homes with a rough sketch, a tight budget, and an awkwardly shaped triangular block. Despite the challenging period in the Perth building industry, they worked hard to make our build a success. We are thrilled with our 8.5-star rated home, achieved within budget through clever design and MK’s guidance. MK’s honesty, reliability, attention to detail, and care set them apart.
How lucky were we in choosing Norde Homes to build and design our very special space… boy did we hit the jackpot. They were so honest and patient with our slow pace and decision making. We wanted to get things right and they accommodated us extremely well. The final product is a dream come true and everyone who visits asks who the builder was. We are super proud of everything we have achieved together!de sure they delivered the best to me. Highly recommended!
A selection of the passive houses we built.
Custom energy efficient homes that are second to none.
SQ Mtr
375
Beds
5
baths
5.5
Cars
3
Floreat, WA
This stunning, custom home has all the features and design elements that we love. High ceilings, spacious rooms connected through a central stairs with a large open vide.
SQ Mtr
175
Beds
3
baths
2.5
Awards
1
North Perth, WA
This beautiful custom designed addition is based on passive solar design principles and has an energy rating of 8.6 NatHers. The owners wanted an open space, with kitchen, living, dining.
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