Conference on affordable housing and public buildings comes to Glasgow

The event - Passivhaus Social: Glasgow - will take place at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall's Strathclyde Suite on 29 May, and attendees will be representatives of local authorities and housing associations, and others working in fields such as architecture, planning and construction as well as people with an interest in the subject.

The Scottish Government has set carbon emission reduction targets (42% by 2020 and 80% by 2050) and Passivhaus is seen as one way of making substantial reductions in energy consumption.  The event offers a platform for those interested in using the Passivhaus approach to find out more about how best to use it.

The Passivhaus approach to designing and constructing homes and buildings was developed by the Passivhaus Institute in Germany, and uses very little energy for heating and cooling, with an average 75% reduction in consumption achieved.  Some of the social benefits to householders include significantly lower energy bills, lower rent arrears for tenants and improved health benefits.

During 2017, Passivhaus Trust launched their Passivhaus:Social Campaign which was focused on introducing local authorities and housing associations to the Passivhaus concept.  They did this through a series of events across the UK with Passivhaus Social: Glasgow being the only Scottish venue. 

Councillor Kenny McLean, City Convenor for Neighbourhoods, Housing and Public Realm, said: "Some of the council's key priorities are the tackling of fuel poverty, the reduction of emissions and improvingenergy efficiency, and this event offers organisations working to deliver affordable and sustainable public housing and buildings the chance to find out about advice, support and best practice.  There is currently no passivhaus social housing in Glasgow but we are very interested to find out if this can help us tackle fuel poverty in the city and provide extremely energy-efficient housing for our residents."

The conference will be opened by Councillor Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, with contributions from leading professionals in this sector.