Two years post occupancy monitoring
Plummerswood Activ House
Client: Technology Strategy Board
Plummerswood Activ House combines the internationally recognised PassivHaus Standard specification with Gaia’s integral and groundbreaking approach to a healthy indoor climate. It is the first house to be constructed in Scotland to the PassivHaus Standard using an innovative off site glue-less mass timber technique known as Brettstapel.
A proposal to the Technology Strategy Board to monitor and optimise Plummerswood Activ House was successful. The monitoring was undertaken by Gaia Research in collaboration with Gaia Architects and Arup Scotland over a two-year period (January 2012 to December 2013).
The comprehensive monitoring programme appraised technical and human aspects of the design development, handover and operation of the building in line with protocols of soft and hard monitoring prescribed by Technology Strategy Board (TSB). In addition the monitoring team set out to investigate specific aspects of the project in order to pursue and enhance innovation specific to sustainable building design.
- This included:
- Review of research developments and practical activity in UK Brettstapel manufacture.
- Comparison of MVHR and NV operation in terms of the impact on energy consumption and indoor air quality.
- Thermal and moisture buffering of exposed timber and the effect on indoor climate and how this information can contribute to environmental modelling capability.
The full report is available from Gaia Research.