Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) Course

A total of 12 – 13.5 hours of live teaching, PLUS around 5 hours of independent study time to complete a full practice project as homework.

1. 4 live teaching sessions, 3 hours per week from 10:00am – 13:00pm, each Thursday over 4 weeks;
   • Please allow at least an hour in between sessions in case you may need any extra time to finish off exercises, or would like to revise the information
2. Two weeks breathing space to complete a practice project
3. A final, 1.5 hour, session to review the practice project

The next course is running October-November 2026:

• Session 1 – Thursday 8th October (10:00am-13:00pm)
• Session 2 – Thursday 15th October (10:00am-13:00pm)
• Session 3 – Thursday 22nd October (10:00am-13:00pm)
• Session 4 – Thursday 29th October (10:00am-13:00pm)

Two weeks to complete the full practice project (allow around 5 hours)

• Session 5 – Thursday 12th November (10:00am-11:30am)

• No previous PHPP experience is required.
• Each session will start from the beginner level on the topics covered, and group together similar topics in approximately the same order that you would approach them for a project.
• Building design professionals who previously attended an industry CPD on PHPP may value the opportunity to refresh and apply your knowledge in a structured way, and have more practice with using the software.
• Compliments the Certified Passivhaus Designer course for a full understanding of the design process.
• Live, online, interactive teaching, with lots of opportunity to use the software and ask questions, with in class exercises to follow along with.
• A full practice project will be provided as independent homework, for further opportunity to apply and reinforce what you’ve learned.
• The course will include domestic new build and retrofit examples.
• PHPP v10.6 is recommended to get the most out of the course (the software is not included in the course price and must be purchased separately). However, it is also possible to use earlier versions of v10.x, there may be some small differences. Anyone using version 9.x should upgrade as we will be covering the whole window approach used in v10.
• PHribbon Build PHPP tools are taught and are bundled free with the course.
• Learners will also be introduced to some other helpful, free PHPP tools.
• If it should happen that a learner has to miss a session, a recording of the sessions will be available to catch up.
• There are 20 places available each time the course runs. Due to its interactive nature, the course requires a minimum of 5 students in order to run.

Assumptions used in the course examples:

• Examples will assume that summer cooling can be designed out.
• Thermal bridges are outside the scope of the course. For retrofit we will be using the CarbonLite assumption that thermal bridges are 15% of heat loss, so don’t need to be calculated. For new build we will assume thermal bridge free construction.

Develop and apply an understanding of the PHPP modelling and design software to determine the building performance of existing and new buildings.

• Gain a detailed understanding of each of the domestic PHPP tabs and increase practical know how and confidence in building design and performance modelling using PHPP.
• The course covers the process for a domestic project, from the heat‑loss and primary energy tabs to components, shading, ventilation, DHW and services.
• The course starts by using examples to practice how projects are modelled in PHPP to understand their energy performance, and moves on to demonstrate how to use PHPP as a design tool to guide changes when aiming to reach a chosen building performance standard.
• Build a model for a real semi-detached house, with guidance step-by-step, and show typical model modifications for a new build.
• Complete a full practice project interdependently, as chance to practice and apply what you’ve learned, in your own time – With the option to attend a further live session to review the practice project and ask any questions arising.
• Learn directly from an experienced PHPP modeller and trainer, Tim Martel (over 10 year’s experience as a Certified Passivhaus Designer), with lots of opportunity to ask questions, practice use of the tool and receive feedback from Tim.
• Graduates can claim 16 PHI credit points towards renewal of a Certified Passivhaus Designer/Consultant or Tradesperson certification.

This course brings 3 unique features to PHPP training:

• Participants will be guided in using the free PHribbon Build PHPP tool, which simplifies many early stage modelling steps, has libraries of data and helps users develop quicker, more accurate workflows.
• Examples are to the AECB CarbonLite Standard, so participants will gain some understanding of these standards, as well as Passivhaus.
• The course introduces how the same PHPP file can be used to calculate Whole Life Carbon (WLC) using the AECB PHribbon add-on.

Standard prices for courses running after March 2026:

• AECB Members £225+VAT
• AECB Certifiers and Modellers £202.50
• AECB Student Members £60+VAT
• Non-members £270+VAT

(course prices do not include PHPP software)

Multi-buy discounts are available to membership levels that have supplementary members*

Multi-buy discounts are available only when the bookings are made for candidates within the same company/organisation as part of one order/transaction.

If applicable, please contact [email protected] to request an invoice for your multi-buy discount and please provide your candidate names and email addresses.

• 5% discount for a group of 3-4
• 10% discount for a group of 5-9
• 15% discount for a group of 10 or more

*Discounts are not available when purchasing the course at the student member price

In the first session we will take a look at:

• Climate – Manual and PHribbon method, heat island effect, finding the nearest climate, finding the altitude.
• U-values – Typical constructions for wall, attic and floor. I-beams using all 3 U-value sections. Timber fractions from BR 443. Using PHribbon to build your own library of constructions. Add/modify lambda values, λ for air voids, λ90/90 values.
• Areas – TFA rules for dwellings. Measuring heat loss areas, measuring orientations. PHribbon to simplify shading, absorptivity and emissivity. Finding roof areas from plan areas and pitch angle. An introduction to entering thermal bridges (once you have the Psi values, however calculating the Psi is beyond the scope of the course).
• Ground – Slab on grade and suspended timber floors, multiple simultaneous floors.

In the second session we will cover:

• Components – Obtaining certified figures from PHI, information required
• Windows – To be able to manually enter any window. PHribbon for some common window types.
• Shading – To be able to enter D-reveal, O-reveal, shading by hills and objects, shading by trees and deciduous greenery.
• Ventilation – Single ventilation unit per dwelling
• SummVent – Entering summer cases for MVHR, MEV and windows, calculating the expected ventilation rates through specific windows for daytime/night time ventilation.

In the third session we will cover:

• DHW+Distribution – Entering space heating, entering DHW, entering storage losses
• PV – Entering basic arrays
• Electricity – Common entries
• Aux Electricity
• HP – Simple heat pumps
• Boiler – Typical oil, gas and other boilers
• PER – Understanding the summaries, entries that can be added.

In the fourth and final session we will cover:

• Finishing and checking the model – verification tab, checking and overheating
• Reaching a design standard – How to use PHPP as a design tool to guide changes when aiming to reach the CarbonLite or Passivhaus standard – Adjusting the model built so far to meet the AECB new build standard, adjusting again for Passivhaus. Demonstration of adjustments for CarbonLite Retrofit and EnerPHit.
• How you can go further, Whole Life Carbon – An introduction to briefly show how the model built makes it easy to calculate embodied and whole life carbon, using PHribbon.