Passivhaus Standard

The Passivhaus or Passive House standard is a voluntary building standard that relies on the building envelope to be thermally efficient with negligible air leakage and minimal thermal bridging, that’s why SIPs are such a great solution.

The insulation part is obvious. SIPs are fully filled insulated elements. No sag, no gaps just injected polyurethane insulation. Additional layers of insulation can be applied to achieve whatever U value is necessary on the project. The Kingspan Tek specifications manual has a simple table that illustrates various solutions.

Sealing against air leakage can be simplified at the design stage and of course we would advocate this. At Mcveigh we can guarantee an air sealed superstructure pre plaster and this gives our clients assurance that the finishing trades can commence with minimal risks.

By using composite panel technology SIPs inherently minimise the need for structural elements hence thermal bridging is marginal. Where structure is required we have developed some solutions that assist in achieving this stringent standard.