Inbuilt has been awarded the highly-prized status of Certifying Body for Passivhaus buildings. Passivhaus is a design methodology for ultra low-energy buildings, promoted by the Passivhaus Institut in Darmstadt, Germany. There are about 12,500 Passivhaus buildings worldwide, the vast majority of them in Germany and Austria, and the approach is rapidly growing in popularity in the UK as developers and designers consider their options to meet the Government's zero carbon targets.

Inbuilt is now one of a tiny handful of organisations in the UK, and just 20 worldwide, who are accredited by the Passivhaus Institut to offer certification services. Certification provides a robust assessment of a building’s predicted energy use and allows an architect or builder to claim the 'Passivhaus' tag for a building and to market it as meeting the scheme's very precise performance standards. In the UK, only three individual buildings have been formally certificated so far. Inbuilt has been offering Passivhaus design and consultancy services for almost two years, and is currently working on several residential projects involving more than 90 dwellings, as well as applying the principles to refurbishment schemes and non-domestic buildings.

Paul Smyth, Passivhaus Manager at Inbuilt, says: "Grounded in good building physics, Passivhaus is the common-sense approach to delivering low energy, healthy and comfortable buildings. It integrates with the Code for Sustainable Homes and achieves excellent results for our housing association and housebuilding clients. Our certification work will give architects, developers and contractors validity to their marketing claims, and will help to spread the Passivhaus Institut's vital work in the UK."