Our blog From Passivhaus to passive hoose? highlighted the Scottish Government's plans to introduce a Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard for all new-build housing in Scotland, with a commitment to make subordinate legislation by the end of 2024.
So what's happened since then?
The Scottish Government still intends to make that end of year deadline, with enabling legislation specifying the principles of the Scottish Passivhaus standard that is to be introduced, but the actual technical standards being set out in future regulations and technical handbooks.
A working group co-chaired by Stephen Good (Chief Executive of BE-ST) and Stephen Garvin (Head of Building Standards, Scottish Government) was set up in June 2023 with a remit to review energy standards with a focus on 2 key outcomes: improving the setting of energy and environmental performance standards for new buildings and improving the design and construction process to give greater assurance that compliance is delivered in practice.
The group's advice has helped to define how a Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard will look and a stage 1 public consultation on the proposals went live at the end of July this year (the consultation can be accessed here). The consultation will close on 23 October 2024 with the results of the consultation shaping any relevant changes to the proposed enabling legislation that is to be introduced in December 2024.
A second consultation on detailed proposals for specific changes to performance targets and supporting compliance processes will be launched by the Scottish Government in summer 2025.
After the consultation analysis has been completed at the end of Autumn 2025 the Scottish Government is expected to confirm changes to published guidance and approved calculation tools to enable application of the new Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard and publish updated Technical Handbooks and associated documentation with changes being introduced in 2026.
It is expected that within the period from the introduction of the new guidance and technical standards in 2026 up to 2028 that housebuilders will have the option to start building to the new Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard with compliance with the new standard becoming mandatory in 2028.
With apologies to Lord Rockingham's XI, the passive hoose is now on the loose, with a clear timetable for implementation of the new standard, but meeting these deadlines will depend on the responses received by the Scottish Government during the 2 consultations. We will keep you updated as matters progress.
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