2,000 New Passivhaus Student Residences

11 December 2019

QODA are delighted to be part of the design team, alongside Stride Treglown Architects, leading the sustainability design for the new 2,000 student residences at the University of the West of England. We plan to incorporate Passivhaus as a key stepping stone to meet the 2030 zero carbon target. 

The Passivhaus Standard is increasingly popular in the UK and globally. It is particularly popular when a client wants a defined level of energy performance from their building, and no ‘performance gap’ (when a building uses more energy than intended) and as a bonus, the client gets best-practice occupant comfort levels too. UWE are a forward-thinking client who have chosen their design team with a clear commitment to exemplary environmental performance. QODA are looking forward to working with the team to see this ambition realised in practice.

This project will be a fantastic demonstration of the best environmental performance, and at present we believe it to be the largest student accommodation project in the world to be designed and constructed to the Passivhaus Standard. The next largest currently listed is ‘The House’ at Cornell Tech in New York. Size isn’t everything but demonstrating that large projects can have high ambitions is important, and QODA are proud to be heading towards net zero carbon with world-leading clients and designers.