Feature introduces implications of the Passivhaus standard for Australian and New Zealand aquatic facilities

With aquatic and recreation facilities known for their extremely high energy usage - the highest energy use intensity of any public building - a major feature in the latest issue of Australasian Leisure Management explores the potential of Passivehaus energy efficiency standard for aquatic facilities.

Written by Alex Head, an Associate at Christchurch-based Architecture HDT, and Jason Quinn, the founding Director of Wanganui-based Passivhaus experts Sustainable Engineering Ltd, the article looks at the Exeter St Sidwell’s Point Leisure Centre in the UK city of Exeter which opened in April 2022.

Looking at the facility, which has gained worldwide attention, the authors look into how new facilities can be designed to be adaptable, flexible and efficient to own and operate - not just over the next 10 to 15 years but over the next 50 and more years, and how aquatic asset owners and operators can realise maximum value across the facility’s whole of life.

In the article, the authors outline how Passivhaus offered Exeter City Council more than just a way to reduce its carbon footprint, but also a way for it to deliver and operate a community leisure facility with significantly reduced operating costs which, combined with the revenue generated by the café and fitness centre, enables it to operate at breakeven point, with no impact on rate payers. As well as being resilient financially, the facility is also climate resilient with the facility’s planned 80-year lifespan being informed by modelled climate change data.

What is Passivhaus?
The German word Passivhaus (Passive House) is a voluntary standard for energy efficiency in all kinds of buildings that reduces the building's ecological footprint, resulting in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or cooling.

Seen as “the world’s leading standard in energy efficient design”, the Passivhaus Standard is a rigorous, scientifically based, performance standard applied in an extensive variety of Passivhaus certified buildings around the world: detached houses, apartment blocks, schools, offices, churches, civic buildings, archives, museums, laboratories, fire stations, as well as leisure centres and swimming pools.

In addition to setting out the technical requirements of energy efficient design, the Passivhaus Standard also provides guidelines for occupant comfort and for quality assurance.

Passivhaus has largely been a voluntary standard since its inception in the early 1990s. However, many municipalities and jurisdictions around the world have been adopting Passivhaus as a means of compliance with building code energy efficiency requirements. This is particularly the case in cities and regions that have declared a climate emergency.

At a global scale, the United Nations has endorsed Passivhaus as a way to achieve multiple Sustainable Development Goals and proposed that member states should adopt its metrics for building code energy efficiency.

Click here to read the full article in Australasian Leisure Management issue 152. You will need to be a subscriber to access the issue.

Image: The acclaimed St Sidwells Point Leisure Centre in the UK city of Exeter.