P-15 Passive Housing Systems: A Comparative Analysis against Timber Manufacturing and the Feasibility of Implementation in the United Kingdom

Passive Houses are a new sustainable development option that has been appearing more frequently across the UK in the last 25 years. The houses offer huge benefits in terms of energy saving, comfort and host a multitude of sustainable technologies within. The houses use an increased amount of timber in the structure and there is a question on whether this increased use of timber combined with the current UK timber shortage could potentially mitigate the sustainability of the house. The research assesses the problem from both the worker and consumer viewpoints using collected primary data and analyzes the feedback well as this alternate solution Passive Houses are explored and compared and the market for these kinds of technologies is researched to conclude whether these houses could potentially become a widespread product across the UK. This research concludes that making passive houses more widespread is possible, but it would rely on a countrywide push to make it happen. Standards need to be raised and an increased level of continuing professional development in this specialised field would need to be put in place to allow for sustainable innovations to become more common.