Passive House Construction - What is the Difference Compared to Traditional Construction?

Abstract

For some years an intense debate regarding the building costs has been ongoing in Sweden and reducing construction costs is highly prioritised among the construction companies. At the same time, passive houses have started to appear on the Swedish market and so far the construction costs for these have been higher compared to tradition1al houses. It is therefore important to investigate the construction methods to find out where to focus and where to improve the process so the energy performance can be increased while at the same time construction costs can be reduced. Based on an interview study with construction site managers, seven key areas could be identified which were different compared to traditional housing; system design, building documents, construction planning, working methods, quality control, leadership and attitudes. Projects that were successfully accomplished from an economical and productivity point of view had been planned with special focus on these aspects. In the less successful projects, the importance of the understanding of the concept had been ignored and underestimated which led to additional time consuming activities which could be described as waste of time. There is a need to find alternative production methods which prioritize the product quality in an integrated and efficient manner.