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FEBRUARY 09 - PASSIVELY DEVELOPING AFFORDABLE HOUSING

A passive approach taking ‘lifetime’ costings into account is helping one social housing provider meet both the growing demand for affordable housing and the tighter legislative requirements for sustainable homes.

Passivent intelligent Passive Stack ventilation (iPSV) has become the standard specification for Bedfordshire Pilgrims Housing Association (bpha) in all its new build affordable properties, including its two latest developments, at Fairfield Park in Oxfordshire and Loves Farm in Cambridgeshire.

Passivent ‘whole house’ Passive Stack Ventilation (PSV) is driven primarily by the natural stack effect, whereby warm air rises, to extract moisture laden air directly from ‘wet’ rooms and uses planned air routes to ensure a fresh, damp- and draught-free environment within the home. Humidity sensitive extracts in the ‘wet’ kitchen, bathrooms open and close automatically in response to changes in relative humidity allowing moist air to rise up the stack, enhanced by wind blowing across the roof (the venturi effect), thereby exhausting the warm, moist air directly to the outside. Bpha further specifies Passivent Energy Saver tricklevents to provide fresh, replacement air without draughts: the window ventilators open and close in response to humidity levels within each room, saving energy by only allowing cooler, external air into the home when conditions within demand.

The system uses only natural air movement and changes in humidity to function. There are no noisy fans, no need for occupants to turn mechanical ventilation on and off, and no reliance on the system being manually operated to ensure damp is removed.

Independent testing using SAP software on a typical three-bedroomed house with four ‘wet’ rooms (kitchen, utility, bathroom, en-suite) shows Passivent iPSV gives an improvement on the TER(Target Emission rate) of almost 13%- better than Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR), and thus helping attain the necessary credits for CSH Level 3.

Andy White of bpha comments, “We have a philosophy of providing homes that people want and can afford. Passivent is our preferred ventilation system for all our rental, affordable and shared ownership new build housing, because it is durable and reduces maintenance responsibilities during the life of the dwellings. It has no mechanical parts to go wrong, and eliminates reliance on tenants operating the ventilation, to keep the homes damp-and condensation free.

“We have always endeavoured to include Passivent ventilation for those reasons, although it does simultaneously helps contribute towards attainment of the Code for Sustainable Homes level 3.”

bpha has built 27 affordable homes, ranging from two- to four-bedrooms, at Fairfield Park. Formerly a 19th century Grade II listed hospital set in mature woodland, the development will provide over 1000 homes, with the surrounding area also benefitting from the creation of a new school and community centre. The scheme has already been awarded Green Leaf Standard status for its commitment to preserving and enhancing the natural environment.

At Loves Farm, bpha has commissioned Kier to build 145 homes, with a further 133 under Phase 2, as part of 1200 new properties on the development in St Neots. When complete, Loves Farm will provide a total 400 affordable homes.

In addition to its BBA certified natural and assisted ventilation systems, Passivent supplies a comprehensive range of background trickle ventilators, the Fresh range of through wall ventilators, with or without acoustic options, all of which contribute towards efficient ventilation of the home with little or no energy consumption. Passivent is part of the Building Product Design Group, which specialises in developing innovative yet practical ventilation and roofing products in line with changing market requirements.

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