AECB Expert advisor Paul Jennings will deliver this webinar.

Good airtightness does not happen by accident. If you are aiming to achieve the low air leakage rates necessary for successful Passivhaus or AECB Building Standard projects, it is essentially to think about airtightness from the earliest stages…having achieved a design that can deliver the specified airtightness, it must then be delivered.

The correct products must be sourced, skilled installers must be recruited or trained and the sequencing of works on site must be thought through. Then quality control and record keeping must be maintained and the preliminary and acceptance airtightness testing undertaken. This is the airtightness process.

Setting the airtightness target (usually ≤0.6 AC/hr @ 50 Pa for Passivhaus, ≤1.5 AC/hr @ 50 Pa for the AECB Building Standard) is merely the first stage of the airtightness process. And bitter – and frequently costly – experience has shown us that airtightness issues are the most common cause of failure in Passivhaus and other low-energy projects.

This webinar is designed to take you through the airtightness process, and builds upon the “12 Steps to Airtightness” document which was originally developed by Paul Jennings over a decade ago, to provide a route map for UK contractors and designers aiming to deliver low-energy and airtight buildings.

Paul Jennings – Director of Aldas | Airtightness Expert | AECB Trustee

Paul Jennings of Aldas is the most experienced airtightness tester and consultant in the UK, with over 30 years’ experience.  He has been an an AECB member for over 15 years and a Trustee for much of that time.  He is also a Director of the UK Cohousing Network.

He has presented at several AECB conferences and demonstrated the door fan test equipment at others. He has also given talks at Passivhaus conferences in Vancouver and Germany, as well as in the UK.  Paul has been involved in most UK PassivHaus projects in one or more capacities.

These schemes include:

• the first UK certified domestic and non-domestic PH projects in Machynlleth, both built by John Williamson, initially tested in 2008 and then retested after a decade of operation in 2018
• the Erneley Close (Manchester), Wilmcote House (Portsmouth) and Carlton Chapel House (North London) EnerPHit block refurbishment projects
• the Agar Grove area regeneration scheme in Camden, where neglected 60’s social housing will ultimately be replaced by over 500 newbuild PH units
• the Exeter Passivhaus swimming pool and leisure centre, currently under construction
• numerous individual newbuild custom- and self-build Passivhaus schemes

Paul is an experienced trainer and originated the “Airtightness Champion” concept, as well delivering numerous on-site trainings and many CPD seminars to architects and builders.  He developed the 12 Steps to Airtightness approach to enable UK contractors to reliably deliver airtightness in Passivhaus and other low-energy projects.