Melissa Pringle and David Da Costa Enes are now Passive House Certified

Being at the cutting edge of sustainable, forward-thinking building design, we’re incredibly proud of our team members Melissa Pringle and David Da Costa Enes who have become Passive House Certified.

Passive House is a voluntary standard for energy efficiency in the design and construction of buildings – a forward thinking movement originating in Germany that increases efficiency through clever design while minimising environmental and ongoing financial impacts to building owners and residents. 

i2C Project Leader, Melissa Pringle and Project Coordinator, David Da Costa Enes undertook the seven-week elective program and examination covering crucial aspects of building design required to facilitate the Passive House principles; achieving thermal comfort with minimal heating and cooling through the use of insulation, airtightness, appropriate window and door design, ventilation systems with heat recovery and the elimination of thermal bridges. 

Traditionally thought to be a small-scale residential application, Passive House is quickly gaining traction with larger developers in commercial, retail, hospitality and build-to-rent markets. 

“We are seeing a lot more interest in the concept in recent times,” says Melissa. “Especially as we are all becoming more aware of our environmental impacts and sustainability needs, Passive House is now being seen as a pathway to achieve a responsible, considered outcome in our built-environment.” 

By focusing on finer building design details, careful planning and front-end intervention, builders are able to not only increase heating and cooling efficiencies and thermal comfort, but improve indoor air quality as well. 

“The impacts in particular of air quality on the health of the user, along with the ease in which this methodology can be implemented felt like Passive House is a no-brainer for any building designer/architect to be involved with,” she said. 

Through the program, both Melissa and David were surprised to find how poor indoor air quality is in developments as a result of current building standards. “This was a massive shock to me, as it’s something I hadn’t really considered or seen quantified before. Seeing the numbers on this was a real eye opener and I would encourage people to dig a little deeper and educate themselves on it,” explained David. 

Speaking about how learnings from Passive House will drive her work moving forward at i2C, Melissa says, “My attention to the small details at the outset of a project will be forever influenced by my learnings from this course, along with financial implication discussions with clients, and the usage of buildings for future generations.”

David also left the program with amazing insights and learnings transferable to his role as at i2C. “Being Passive House certified means that I have the confidence, skills and requisite knowledge to lead a team in successfully developing and delivering a Passive House certified design.”   

Congratulations to both Melissa and David, we can’t wait to integrate the learnings into future i2C projects.