How this 1960s ex-council house is managing to stay cool without air con
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- Marion Baeli's 1960s ex-council house in south London stayed 10°C cooler than outside during a 35°C day, without air conditioning, after a Passivhaus retrofit carried out over 10 years.
- The retrofit of her four-bedroom home cost approximately £80,000 — windows the most expensive item at £30,000, airtightness the cheapest at £5,000 — cutting energy demand by an estimated 88% and saving nearly £750 a year.
- Passivhaus homes consume up to 90% less energy than typical houses, per the article; the international standard was developed about 35 years ago in Germany and works by sealing a building against the elements.
- The Future Homes Standard takes effect in March in England, bringing regulations closer to Passivhaus requirements; Scotland is consulting on equivalent rules, with new guidelines potentially published next year.
- Barratt Redrow is building a 900-apartment Passivhaus development at Bollo Lane in west London with heat pumps for heating and cooling, calling the project a move to future-proof the company against rising regulations.
- Roughly 1% of new UK homes are built to the voluntary Passivhaus standard; the Passivhaus Trust estimates this could reach 10% within a decade, but 80% of 2050's housing stock already exists, meaning millions of homes must be retrofitted.
- The previous government insulation support scheme for low-income households closes later this year with no announced start date for the replacement, and City of York Council struggled in April to attract construction firms for 315 Passivhaus homes.
Why it matters: With more than half of UK homes already at risk of overheating and that figure projected to hit 92% by 2050 without adaptation, the Passivhaus model proves deep retrofits can deliver an 88% energy-demand cut — but the £80,000 price tag means most homeowners cannot replicate it, especially as the government support scheme for low-income households closes this year with no replacement start date announced.
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