Macha, B;
Mavrogianni, A;
Raslan, R;
Lomas, SL;
Lumley, M;
(2025)
Winter thermal performance assessment of the UK’s first Passivhaus-certified extra care home.
In:
Journal of Physics: Conference Series.
(pp. 072015).
IOP Publishing: Bristol, UK.
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Abstract
This study presents an in-use winter thermal performance assessment of the UK’s first Passivhaus-certified extra-care home, focusing on three representative zones (entrance area, staff room, and manager’s cabin). Through stakeholder interviews and continuous indoor environmental monitoring during summer 2024 and winter 2024-25, indoor dry-bulb air temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 concentrations were evaluated against thermal comfort and air quality thresholds. Results show interior spaces maintained stable winter temperatures (mean ∽22°C) with <1% of readings outside 20–24°C, indicating consistent thermal conditions suitable for older occupants. The entrance area experienced greater heat loss during door-opening events, with temperatures dipping below 20°C about 59% of the time. Winter indoor relative humidity generally remained within the comfort range (30–50%), while CO2 levels stayed within acceptable limits year-round (median ∽550–700 ppm). Summer monitoring showed minimal overheating risk under the current climate, although indoor relative humidity frequently exceeded 50%. Stakeholder insights revealed operational factors (door/ window usage, ventilation settings) underlie spatial and seasonal variations. This first empirical winter evaluation of a Passivhaus extra care facility confirms the potential for such designs to deliver comfortable indoor environments for its occupants using ∽90% less energy than conventional care facilities, while identifying opportunities for improvement (e.g. localised thermal management strategies in transitional spaces) to enhance year-round performance under a changing climate.
| Type: | Proceedings paper |
|---|---|
| Title: | Winter thermal performance assessment of the UK’s first Passivhaus-certified extra care home |
| Event: | CISBAT 2025 International Scientific Conference on the Built Environment in Transition |
| Location: | Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Dates: | 3 Sep 2025 - 5 Sep 2025 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1088/1742-6596/3140/7/072015 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/3140/7/072015 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10218022 |
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