A Northern Ireland property developer championing ‘Passivhaus’ standards says their homes cost around just £500 a year to heat and light.
The ‘Passivhaus’ concept has been around for over 30 years and aims to provide comfortable and cosy homes with as little energy use as possible.
This is done using five key design and construction principles to make such homes super insulated envelopes, airtight, with *high performance glazing, heat recovery ventilation and eliminating thermal bridging.
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Without policy or regulations to push developers down this more climate and pocket friendly route - few have taken up the mantle.
But Northern Ireland property developer, Fraser Millar, has taken the leap and trained their staff to build these eco friendly homes to help Northern Ireland meet its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 48% by 2030.
Scotland, which sent a delegation to see a Fraser Millar ‘Passivhaus’ just outside Belfast, will introduce legislation in 2024 for all new housing to meet Passivhaus standards.
Now the company want Northern Ireland leaders to adopt the same standards here.
Company director, Charles Millar, told us: “I’m the third generation in the business and we thought it was time to adapt and modernise the company in line with energy efficiency and sustainability.
“That’s what we’ve done with our new development in Lancaster Park in South Belfast.
“We brought in specialist 'Passivhaus' architects and discussed low energy building - and that’s the decision we made for this and we are sticking by it going forward.
“We’ve got 219 houses up at Lancaster and we’ve still got about 192 to build so we’ll be there for another three or four years.
“But on the success on the back of that, we are going to start another development in Carryduff for 79 units and it’s going to be a Passivhaus scheme as well.
“It’s taken a bit of time to get everyone up to speed to build passive - but we are ahead of the curve now and we are full steam ahead on that.”
Charles says these homes meet all five principles of passive homes but that the firm has gone one step further and turned their back on fossil fuel boilers to heat them.
He added: “We are just fully electric now which is another good point in terms or eradicating reliance on fossil fuels.
“It good for the homebuyers [as] they don’t have gas or oil bills.
“We try and keep the running costs to about £500 a year... that’s your electricity and heating costs - but that’s obviously dependent on electricity costs which have fluctuated.”
As a developer whose made the leap to passive houses, Charles says it does “cost a bit more” as different materials are needed and staff have to be trained.
“Initially we had to spend a bit of time with our build team educating them about materials and training them properly.
“Now we’ve been building them for the last couple of years we are now at an advanced stage and they know exactly what to do.
“By 2030 most people will be going down this path,” he continued.
“It’s a better way of building, it’s comfortable for people living in the houses, it’s healthier and it keeps their cost down so it’s a win-win.
“All our houses are EPC A ratings, which is the largest development in Northern Ireland to have that, so that’s a big plus for us as well.
“These houses are built so they will be the same in 50 years time.”
A four-bed detached home in the development is advertised at £382,500.
With a £75,000 (almost 20%) deposit and a 25 year mortgage with an interest rate of 6%, that would cost just under £2,000 a month which will price out many.
For £2,000 a month you could also rent a much older four bed detached home in the south of the City that’s heated with gas, or a second floor gas-heated apartment in BT7.
Charles says they have not passed the cost of making their homes passive onto the buyer.
“The houses are probably a bit more expensive but we don’t pass the prices onto the homeowner,” he added.
“Location wise they are only 10 minutes from Belfast city centre and some of the houses are quite big in terms of square footage.
“We’re obviously guided by the agents.”
And he says the homes will also save their owners from oil and gas prices that are “going through the roof”.
Scotland, which sent a delegation to see a Fraser Millar ‘Passivhaus’ just outside Belfast, will introduce legislation in 2024 for all new housing to meet Passivhaus standards.
Charles says he would like to see Northern Ireland to “do the same”.
The Department of Finance, which oversees Northern Ireland building regulations, say standards for new homes here don’t meet those in the rest of the UK.
They told they are working on a “discussion document” about building standards and that Scotland’s move to Passivhaus standards will be included “with a view to consideration of any outcomes from Scotland”.
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