Services will support designers, developers, and manufacturers
This month, Passive House Canada announces the launch of a slate of new technical services: feasibility studies, 2D and 3D thermal bridge modelling, and component design and verification. The services will support the Passive House community, including manufacturers and suppliers, architects and designers, as well as housing developers, helping high performance projects get to completion faster.
“For a long time now we’ve seen a bottleneck in services and certification. These new services will help to address some of those challenges, as they get people the data they need,” said Passive House Canada chief executive officer, Chris Ballard.
Cameron Laidlaw, Technical Services Team Lead, says that some of the services in particular will help grow the manufacturing and supply of high performance component support here in Canada. That’s because one of the services, component design and verification, will open the market to more components and systems to Passive House and high performance designers.
“Designers and contractors are always looking to source locally if they can, and at the moment, a lot of the time, components instead need to come in from the U.S. and Europe. This service can help new manufacturers break into the market, established manufacturers grow their business, and designers get the components they need to balance their energy budgets,” said Laidlaw.
The verification service can be particularly helpful, says Laidlaw, when it comes to large part 3 buildings – the fastest growing segment for Passive House in Canada. Certified components suitable for part 3 buildings are hard to come by – and while other products would be suitable, often times designers don’t have all the necessary data required for PHPP modelling.
That’s where verification modelling comes in handy. By producing rigorous performance data, designers and consultants can figure out how to bring their projects in line with low energyhigh performance buildings.
Skilled technicians
The services will be performed by Laidlaw and Chris Petit, Manager of Technical Services. The two have a combined 30 years of expertise in high performance building and Passive House, and have performed many of these services for partners in the Passive House community, including feasibility studies for social housing providers and the City of Vancouver.
“We’re very fortunate to have this kind of highly skilled, niche expertise on staff here at Passive House Canada,” said Petit. “We look forward to working closely with members of the community on their various projects,” he added.
Peruse the new technical services on the Passive House Canada website. Those interested in more information or a quote are encouraged to reach out to Cameron Laidlaw at: [email protected].
