Luxury accommodation building The Fern became the first apartment complex in the southern hemisphere to be certified to Passive House standards, the world’s highest building standard for energy efficiency. The super-insulated building envelope of the multi-residential project in Redfern near Sydney’s CBD contributed to this unique Australia-first achievement.
The Passive House building model, which has minimal reliance on artificial heating or cooling to create a comfortable indoor environment, is based on five core principles including insulation. To meet these standards, the building needed to have very high thermal properties based on bulk insulation installed within the ceiling cavities..
The Passive House model also minimises energy consumption, with buildings using only approximately 10 per cent of the heating and cooling energy of an average house. Achieving such stringent Passive House certification targets can only be met by creating a high performing thermal building envelope using unique construction methods and building membranes that create superior air tightness for the overall project.
Completed in July 2020, The Fern has since been awarded two National Greensmart awards by the Housing Industry Association (HIA) and shortlisted for several more awards by both the HIA and The Urban Developer.
