Overview of creating at Active House 

If you are a designer, builder or customer looking to design and construct a building to the Active House principles, then it is useful to know the steps to creating at Active House. 

At the heart of the process, is the Active House radar. This provides a score (1-4) for each of the nine elements of the specifications. The lower the score, the better the performance. 

Once the calculations (in accordance with the specification) have been calculated, that can be entered into the the radar tool to generate the radar. This can be at the initial design stage to set the desired goals, or once the project has been completed. You can also include a base line score as a comparison. This is typically the min building regulations (new build) or the current standard of the property (renovation).

The calculations for each of the sections require different expertise and specialist software. 

If desired, there is the option to have the radar externally verified and an Active House Label awarded. To do this, the average score must be below 2.5 (new build) or 3.5 (renovation). 

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Active House Criteria

COMFORT
Daylight
Thermal Environment
Acoustic Quality

ENERGY
Energy Demand
Primary Energy Performance
Energy Supply

ENVIRONMENT
Sustainable Construction
Freshwater Consumption
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An Active House Radar showing the before (light green) and after (dark green).