29/05/2026
I’ll take raising the number who voted false from 26% to 33% as a win given the man-el (male dominated panel) was dominated by PH advocates from Sydney and I’d just hopped of a bus from Canberra in the rain. I hopped on that bus to ensure there was at least one alternative voice with significant experience with loads of homes and the people who live in them. Seems real world results down the road in Canberra count for very little in the eye of PH advocates. It was hard to get a word in which is okay cos I’m much more interested in discussions like that raised by Tone Wheeler these days. Retrofit for the win (and not to PH levels).
Our designs (hundreds of them) perform incredibly well in the harsh Canberra climate (winter minimums of -8 to summer maximums of 44). Increasing specs to achieve PH accreditation would cost at the very least 10% more for buggerall return (most of the builders we work with, who have built both PH and LH projects think more like 15%). You can still have a HRV system in a Light House if you want one — I did! I’ve written articles for Renew and Sanctuary about our approach, condensation management, airtightness and HRV that are freely available. The many builders we collaborate with can achieve airtightness levels of 2 ACH@50Pa even in renovations. That’s without an internal air barrier membrane and with just a 90mm stud frame. Back to basics: 1. Design for site and climate 2. Build it well 3. Test it works.
Although PH people dismiss our approach because it lacks independent third party verification by someone from the PH club, I can assure you we’re testing the product we design, after it’s built by a builder (independent of us) on behalf of our clients who *expect* their homes to work… and our clients stay in touch with us.
We’ve also tested quite a few Passivhaus projects. I was using a blower door and ProClima products well before PH came to Aus.
You don’t have to start a private institute and sell training and accreditation to be credible and create positive change 👩🏻🔬
Keep in mind that I’m not selling products, processes or even architectural services these days. What was that about independence? 😊
There are many great things that came out of the Passive House debate on Tuesday night, now doing the heated rounds on social media. But among them was the dramatic lift in knowledge about this typology that has raised the temperature of debate around the ideal building systems in this country.
