Date: February 14, 2024

A newly constructed teaching facility in Shrewsbury has become the first Passivhaus Trust certified masonry cavity education project in the UK.

Designed and delivered by Read Construction, the Vanguard Building which previously won the inaugural Constructing Excellence Net Zero National award, has now gained it’s official Passivhaus certification.

Passivhaus is one of the most rigorous design standards for new build construction projects, adopting a whole-building approach with measured targets and certified through an exacting quality assurance process. The building not only reduces energy use, but also produces as much energy as its occupants consume.

According to the Passivhaus Trust website (The UK Passive House Organisation), the Vanguard Building is the UK’s first Passivhaus Masonry Cavity Education project, and will be the latest addition to the 13 currently certified Passivhaus Schools in England.

Designed and built to be zero-carbon, this innovative approach to sustainability has resulted in a highly efficient build, and Shropshire’s first accredited Passivhaus building.

Alex Read, Director, said:

“Obtaining the Passivhaus certification is a significant achievement both for Read, and all the other parties involved in this complex scheme. The Net Zero landscape has rapidly moved on over the past 12 months, and alongside delivering the operational Net Zero impacts, we are now also focused on exceeding embodied carbon reduction targets to ensure future built assets are constructed as sustainably and considerately as possible.”

Read more about the scheme here: https://readconstruction.co.uk/project/meole-brace-teaching-hub/