Isle of Wight Passivhaus properties accessed via Interterm doors

The most significant PassivHaus project completed to date within the UK social housing sector has been constructed on the Isle of Wight and features exterior doors from the renowned European manufacturer, Internorm; specified to help meet the exacting standards on insulation and airtightness.  

Built for Southern Housing Group at a total cost of £4.2 million, the 28 new fully PassivHaus certificated homes include 16 semi-detached two and three storey properties; offering up to five bedrooms; plus a dozen one-bedroom sheltered units. While the renowned architectural practice of PCKO was in charge of the design process for the project at Cameron Close, Freshwater, the island based contractor, Stoneham Construction was chosen to carry out the work.

In overall structural terms, the design for the very low energy building envelopes makes use of Celcon aerated concrete blockwork, laid using the manufacturer’s Thin-Joint system. To match the very low air leakage characteristics of the parge-coated and render finished masonry, required that very high specification doors and windows be installed in the openings: and the project design team identified Internorm’s KF 410 doors as meeting all of the requirements.

Andrew Hulmes, Area Development Manager for Southern Housing Group, commented: “During the tendering process, Southern Housing Group had informed contractors that it preferred to incorporate pre-certified windows and external doors as it would facilitate the PassivHaus accreditation process.

“We had included a list of suppliers for such products in the tender, including Internorm. The contractors could pick any of the suppliers on this list as long as the requirements set out in the planning permission in terms of type, finish and pattern were met.

“Our contractor for this project selected Internorm for the external doors as the products the manufacturer offered best met our needs in terms of performance, including airtightness and insulation levels, as well as delivery and costs.”

Internorm’s doors feature an external skin of aluminium to provide a very durable and smart surface while the Timber/PVC-U construction achieves excellent thermal performance with U-values down as low as 0.62 W/m K. They also offer very good acoustic insulation, high security and perimeter seals which will help maintain air leakage to around 0.6 m³/m²/hr.

All Internorm doors are available in bespoke sizes and on a supply and fit or supply only basis.

For more information on Internorm visit www.internorm.co.uk.