Beach Haus
Residential: Single Dwelling
Passivhaus Plus Certification
North Beach, WA, 2018
Concept-designed in full by the client Carlos Acuna and his company Energy Efficiency Perth, this beautiful home is the first of its kind in Western Australia.
Nestled in the northern suburbs of Perth, a short walk from the beautiful beach and ocean breeze, this North Beach home embraces all the required elements of a passive home; net positive energy and high energy efficiency throughout its life. The upper floor, roof and raking ceilings are insulated using R-6.0 Bradford Gold ceiling batts, providing exceedingly highly efficient thermal performance and an optimal level of comfort to the home. Bradford Gold wall batts were used to all external walls and high performance acoustic batts insulation to the internal walls drastically reducing the amount of energy transfer through the walls.
The clever design and orientation of the second storey features windows to maximise the northern aspect. The north facing skillion roof design (with consideration for optimal PV installation), high-performance double-glazed windows, thermal bridge free construction, high levels of airtightness and heat recovery ventilation are also some key features which bring this home to life.
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AIRTIGHTNESS n50 ACH@50pascals: 0.6
HEATING DEMAND (kWh/m².yr): 15
COOLING DEMAND (kWh/m².yr): 13
HEATING LOAD (W/m²): 13.1
COOLING LOAD (W/m²): 17.8
PRIMARY ENERGY RENEWABLE DEMAND (PER): 68
PRIMARY ENERGY RENEWABLE GENERATION (PER): 30.4
RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION (in relation to projected building footprint area) (PER): 79 -
PROJECT NAME: Beach Haus
LOCATION: North Beach, City of Stirling, WA
NCC CLIMATE ZONE: 5 – Warm temperate
NATHERS CLIMATE ZONE: 52
YEAR OF COMPLETION: 2018
TREATED FLOOR AREA (PHPP sqm): 205.8
PROJECT TYPE: New Build
BUILDING TYPE: Residential: Single Dwelling
CONSTRUCTION TYPE: Timber Frame
CERTIFICATION LEVEL/ ENERGY STANDARD: Passivhaus Plus -
PREFAB ELEMENTS: Walls, floor, roof - ISMART Building Group
MHRV SYSTEM: Brink Renovent 400
DOMESTIC HOT WATER SYSTEM: Stiebel Eltron WWK302 Heat pump
EXTERIOR WALL TYPE, U-VALUE: Timber frame R2.38,U 0.42
FLOOR SLAB U-VALUE: 0.0
ROOF INSULATION TYPE, MANUFACTURER: CSR Bradfords gold batts R6.0
ROOF CONSTRUCTION: Timber frame truss
ROOF ENVELOPE U-VALUE: 0.16
WALL FRAME TYPE, U-VALUE: Premanufactured timber frame, 0.41
GLAZING TYPE, MANUFACTURER, G-VALUE, U G-VALUE, U W-VALUE: Double glazing radiant light bridge grey, Viridian, 0.4, 1.37, 1.63
EXTERNAL DOOR TYPE, MANUFACTURER, U D-VALUE: Thermally broken upvc, Kommerling, 1.63 -
NUMBER OF MODULES: 20
HEIGHT, WIDTH OF ONE MODULE (m, m): 1.558, 1.046
HEIGHT OF ARRAY: 3.2
EFFICIENCY (%): 98
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The project budget was relatively conservative so most of the financial decisions were focused around maximising the thermal performance and energy efficacy of this home. There is a 6.5kW solar array on the home with a battery and car charger which in 2018 was extremely rare in Western Australia.
One of the most beautiful and unique features is the copper splashback in the kitchen. Provided by a friend of the client this has been oxidised magnificently and looks breathtaking. We used the small portions of waste to line the risers of the stairs to the garage which looks fantastic and saved these from going to landfill.
The kitchen also boasts a beautiful servery window directly to a hardwood servery under the alfresco area. This is also quite a unique but functional addition to the design.
The hardwood architectural stairs with stainless steel wire balustrading cut through the centre of the two storey void in the centre of the home, rising away as you walk in the front door; a magnificent greeting as you enter the home.
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This amazing project was not without its challenges. While many were minor, there were a few which created required some out-of-the-box thinking.
The first challenge we met was through the design phase. In an effort to maximise the potential for the build we agreed on a stepped down garage which then created a minor issue with respect to thermal bridging but also budgeting. Being involved as a builder very early on in the design process ensured there was a very collaborative approach, and between us providing engineering options and the rest of the deign team providing solutions we quickly came to an amicable resolution to solve this issue.
Our next major issue was not necessarily to do with the build but more to do with Earthworks. Once we started excavations, we discovered old asbestos through the site which created a substantial financial and scheduling burden for us as the builder and the client also. Unfortunately, this is an issue which only has one resolution and this then impacted some of the back end decisions on the project.
We then moved through construction relatively quickly given largely due to the fact that we manufactured the home in our own factory, using a closed panel system which was extremely beneficial to project scheduling and quality control. There were some minor challenges on site with air tightness junctions, which took some site meetings and collaboration on site, but all of which were resolved.
Our next challenge was presented during the installation of the HRV ducting from one side of the home to the other, considering there was a two storey void splitting the home right through the middle. Although we had planned this meticulously, we simply couldn’t make it work on site so we had to once again collaborate and come up with an alternative solution - simply building out the entry wall to accommodate additional piping in this area. This was a fantastic solution and worked extremely well.
We then moved into the final weeks of construction and handover, where we met our biggest challenge. During one of our final blower door tests we has a sudden drop in performance, which we could only attribute to a failed membrane junction somewhere in the building. After several hours, some smoke testing and even some thermal imaging we were extremely lucky to find the failed junction. We simply re-sealed this and carried on with the final testing.
Project Members
ARCHITECT/ PASSIVHAUS DESIGNER: Carlos Acuna, Energy Efficiency Perth
BUILDER/ CONTRACTOR: Ismart Building Group
PASSIVHAUS CERTIFIER : Grün consulting
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Dorian Engineering Consultants
PROJECT MANAGER: Brian Guinan
WINDOW SUPPLIER: ClimateFrame
HRV SUPPLIER: Stiebel Eltron
INSULATION SUPPLIER: CSR Bradfords
AIRTIGHTNESS MEMBRANE SUPPLIER: Pro Clima
ROOFING SUPPLIER: Total Roofing Solutions
BLOWER DOOR TESTER: Gillian Joyner
PHOTOGRAPHER: Nathan Sixsmith