Passive Homes are our Future

Description

Mark and Katja are so passionate about passive homes that they are sponsoring this lunch, bringing Jason Quinn from Sustainable Engineering Ltd to the region to share his insights and knowledge with our community.  

Jason Quinn is the founding director of Sustainable Engineering Ltd. His work focuses on the intersection of physics and building design and he has outspoken views on New Zealand housing. He has degrees in mechanical engineering (George Washington University, USA) and aerospace engineering (Florida Institute of Technology, USA) and is a registered International Professional Engineer (USA) and a Chartered Member of Engineering New Zealand.

Jason spent a decade as a rocket scientist at NASA before he and his family relocated to New Zealand in 2009. He soon became one of New Zealand’s first certified Passive House designers and in 2016 travelled to Germany for further training and exams to become the country’s first Passive House certifier. Jason is an in-demand speaker at Passive House conferences in Australasia and has taught courses for PHINZ, the Passive House Academy and the NZ Green Building Council. 

The Fairfield Construction team are pretty passionate about building, but even more so when it comes to building passive homes to build a better quality of life for our families and community.

The team spent months planning, designing and building their new office in Marlborough. It is the first commercial building in the South Island and also the first building in Marlborough to gain Passive House Institute certification as Low Energy Building. 

The office was designed by local architect Keryn Thompson from KLT Architect, and together with Sustainable Engineering have made the dream reality to build an interesting, innovative office/ show room that pushes the boundaries of efficiency and sustainability. 

The Passive House Institute Low Energy Building Certification means that the building will be about 7 times more efficient than standard building code. Running cost will be minimised and air quality improved, thus creating an amazing atmosphere for living and working in.

"Being certified for us isn't about the plaque, although that is nice to have, it is more the knowing that the design we have put into the office is worth it, will work and will create an absolutely amazing space that requires little energy to heat or cool, is quiet to outside noise and has fantastic air quality."