Developing ideas about value engineering as an essential part of sustainable design. Presented at a Passivhaus building conference but the principles are universal.

1. 10º aniversario PEP
vivir mejor con menos energía
Value Engineering.
Nick Grant.
10.
Conferencia Española
PASSIVHAUS
Zaragoza. 25 y 26 de octubre
Ingeniería del valor
la ingeniería del valor es tu amigo!

2. “I’d love to design a Passivhaus
but I am still waiting for the right client”

3. The right client? €14,000/m2
Arquitecto, señor puente tambaleante

4. Passivhaus for all, but how?
• Cut a deal
• Smaller building – costs 10% more so build
10% smaller – sufficiency
• Do more for less – Passivhaus efficiency
• More comfort for less energy 
Great but how do we build more for less?

5. Value Engineering!
Value engineering began during World War II when there were
shortages of skilled labour, raw materials, and component parts.
Lawrence Miles, Jerry Leftow, and Harry Erlicher at General
Electric Co. looked for acceptable substitutes. They noticed that
these substitutions often reduced costs, improved the product,
or both.
What started out as an accident of necessity was turned into a
systematic process. They called their technique "value analysis".
From Wikipedia - edited

6. Form follows function or
joins the 99.9% of species
that are extinct!
Nature;
driven by value
Photo Juan Lacruz

7. What about peacocks??
Image; tes.com
Value =
function
cost
Key principle of Value Engineering:
Performance and quality must not be
reduced when pursuing reduced costs.
“Just the sight of a feather makes me sick!” Charles Darwin, April 1860

8. Real VE Cost Cutting, so called VE
Value must be designed in from the start
Contractor finally
involved, true costs
emerge

9. Value Engineering Cost Cutting
Image; tes.com
Daisy Stone; Flickr
¿Tienes algo mas barato?Ingeniería del valor

10. The Eames secret of good design:
“Here is one of the few effective keys to the design
problem — the ability of the designer to recognize
as many of the constraints as possible — their
willingness and enthusiasm for working within these
constraints. Constraints of price, of size, of strength,
of balance, of surface, of time and so forth.”
“I have never been forced to accept compromises but
I have willingly accepted constraints.”
Eames

11. Challenging site - rural council housing
Detached bungalows, small fee for outline planning only!
Client wants ‘low energy’ but scared of Passivhaus cost!
N

12. Adrian Cook Architect
Constraints – space planning
Accessibility, DQR (Welsh Gov’ Development Quality
Requirements), storage, daylight, views, vent, escape etc

13. Adrian Cook Architect
Constraints – orientation??
Passivhaus so face south but what about privacy, views,
parking, slope, access, street-front, power lines . . .

14. PHPP as additional cost or time saver?
PHPP first not last
W L
H
θ
North angle
5 numbers define the envelope & orientation
20 minute PHPP (plus 1h for TFA!)
=2.6+0.3+2

15. 0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
Firstrun
reducedoverhang
notreestoSouth
extrasouthwindows
highgglass
NointernalwallsdeductedfromTFA(cheat)
G&CIHG(Cheat)
Insulationatceilinglevel
2semidetached
internalwallsaddedbackin
30degreeceilingpitch
Rotated30degreesoffsouth
(nohillortreestoSouth)thenreverted
Adrian'splan,largerfloorarea
Flatceiling(2.1wall!)
wallthicknessaddedintoextdim(mistakefixed)
Flatceiling2.3wallheight
hotwaterpipesreduced,PVadded(crude!)
Alantweaks,vent,windows,roof,IHGetc
Progressionwindows
400roof+50mmPUR
400wallsv300saves£10/year!
Detached
20degreesfromNorth(v30)
40degreesoffNorth
current
Highgglazing
Flatceiling2.3wallheight
Flatceiling2.4wallheight
Detached
Semi,300mmwalls
Internalwallsreducedfrom130to100mmthick!
Electricitycostfrom15pto20p/kWh
Design Progression
AHD - Target 15 kWh/(m2.a) % hours overheating
Detached
bungalows Semi-detached bungalows Planning
application
(without night vent)
All before planning applied for so must be quick and easy!
Very fast testing of design choices
Perhaps Passivhaus is too hard for this site?
30 Kwh/(m2.a)
15 Kwh/(m2.a) Target

16. 0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
Firstrun
reducedoverhang
notreestoSouth
extrasouthwindows
highgglass
NointernalwallsdeductedfromTFA(cheat)
G&CIHG(Cheat)
Insulationatceilinglevel
2semidetached
internalwallsaddedbackin
30degreeceilingpitch
Rotated30degreesoffsouth
(nohillortreestoSouth)thenreverted
Adrian'splan,largerfloorarea
Flatceiling(2.1wall!)
wallthicknessaddedintoextdim(mistakefixed)
Flatceiling2.3wallheight
hotwaterpipesreduced,PVadded(crude!)
Alantweaks,vent,windows,roof,IHGetc
Progressionwindows
400roof+50mmPUR
400wallsv300saves£10/year!
Detached
20degreesfromNorth(v30)
40degreesoffNorth
current
Highgglazing
Flatceiling2.3wallheight
Flatceiling2.4wallheight
Detached
Semi,300mmwalls
Internalwallsreducedfrom130to100mmthick!
Electricitycostfrom15pto20p/kWh
Design Progression
AHD - Target 15 kWh/(m2.a) % hours overheating
Detached
bungalows Semi-detached bungalows Planning
application
(without night vent)
All before planning applied for so must be quick and easy!
Very fast testing of design choices
15 Kwh/(m2.a) Target


17. Constraints – rural fuel choice
• No mains gas – propane possible but expensive, annual
boiler servicing > energy cost.
• ASHP – cost, noise, needs space, maintenance, f gas.
• Wood – expensive, dirty, high CO2 emissions!
• Direct electric – low capital, one bill, cheap to fix 
• but; expensive per kWh, high CO2/kWh, risk of fuel poverty, power
cuts, cold and mould 
• With Passivhaus €3/week heating cost, PER more
favourable! 

18. Client; “How about nearly Passivhaus?”
• Do we need to go for full Passivhaus?
• But what could we leave out?

19. £0
£200
£400
£600
£800
£1,000
£1,200
£1,400
£1,600
Passivhaus
Detached
MEV
5m/hpermeability
Minorthermalbrigesat…
100mmfloorinsulation
140mmstudwalls
GoodqualityPVCdouble…
22Cairtempto…
The slippery slope to business as usual
From Passivhaus to well constructed Code
bungalow (with direct electric heating & hot water).
Note:
Assumes good quality build with no gaps in insulation etc.
MEV is mechanical extract rather than heat recovery ventilati
on.
AnnualcostignoringPV
Rural fuel poverty – Age UK
X 10

21. The local vernacular;
also emerged from constraints

22. Is VE just for poor people?

26. So what did it cost?
(Sloping site, Architect and builder’s first Passivhaus, UK Paragraph 55 Planning)
€3,000-5,000/m2?
How much extra for Passivhaus? +10%? +20%?

27. “Forget Passivhaus, it’s a £1.5M house for £700K!”
Architect Visiting the house on an open day
So what did it cost?
£704K construction cost
351m2 Gross Internal Floor Area (GIFA)
so about £2k/m2 GIFA

28. Constraints not compromise
Simple plan, 4 corners

29. Simple construction
Simple structure, simple airtightness strategy

30. Juraj Mikurcik
https://oldholloway.wordpress.com
Old Holloway Cottage
Photo: Juraj Mikurcik

31. Efficient space planning
Veranda; shading, shelter, less to build but worse FF
Ground floor plan
Flexible layout, can be used as 2bed + office or 3bed. Open plan
living room/ kitchen/ dining with direct access to external
decking via large sliding door
Design: Juraj Mikurcik

32. ECOCOCON
Photos: Juraj Mikurcik

33. Photo: Juraj Mikurcik

34. c.a. £135,000
95m2 TFA – efficiency + sufficiency Photo: Juraj Mikurcik

35. Summary
• Embrace constraints and the building will design itself!
• See PHPP as a time saving design tool not an extra cost
• Trust that form will follow function
• Perhaps good design is about the journey, an adventure of
unknown outcome. Design as a verb not a noun. Light and
playful, fun
• Start with questions not answers.

36. “We don’t do ‘art’ – we solve problems”

37. 10º aniversario PEP
vivir mejor con menos energía
Value Engineering.
Nick Grant.
10.
Conferencia Española
PASSIVHAUS
Zaragoza. 25 y 26 de octubre
Nick Grant
Elemental Solutions
UK Passivhaus Trust
www.ElementalSolutions.co.uk
Nick@elementalsolutions.co.uk
@ecominimalnick