Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) Course

A total of 10 – 12.5 hours live teaching:

• 2 – 2.5 hours a week from 10:00 am – 12:00/12:30, over 5 weeks.

Plus around 4 hours to complete homework exercises – an hour following each session.

The next course will be in autumn 2026

Please register your interest here if you would like to be notified when booking becomes available for further course dates in the autumn.

• No previous PHPP experience is required.
• Each session will start from the beginner level on the topics covered, moving into more intermediate discussion of the topics as the session goes on.
• Building design professionals who previously attended an industry CPD on PHPP may value the opportunity to refresh, apply and deepen your knowledge in a structured way, and gain more familiarity 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.
• Homework exercises will be set after each session, 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.
• 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 in 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 an in depth understanding of each of the PHPP tabs and increase practical know how and confidence in building design and performance modelling using PHPP.
• The course covers the entire 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 and show typical model modifications for a new build.
• 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 13 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 method, PHribbon method, finding the altitude, tools for assessing future overheating climates
• U-values – Typical constructions for wall, roof and floor including I-beams. Using PHribbon to build your own library of constructions, how to add/modify lambda values
• Areas – Measuring areas, measuring orientations. PHribbon to simplify shading, absorptivity and emissivity. 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

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:

• Reaching a design standard (80% of the session) – 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.