Urbanest Battersea is the largest student living building designed to Passivhaus standards in Europe, the largest Passivhaus building in the UK and the eight largest in the world. Providing high-quality, energy efficient accommodation for 853 students it represents a significant achievement for client, design team and contractor. Passivhaus principles promise lower operational costs despite slightly higher capital cost and improved comfort for the students. For building operators in PBSA and BTR these costs can very quickly be offset.

Having received certification this February the building has yet to be in operation a full year but there have been significant learnings to share:

• how to reduce heating and cooling demand through the design of the building
• how the scheme is reliant on the behaviours of occupants and how urbanest is working to educate its customers
• what the team have learnt through the process of mobilising and operating the building that wasn’t anticipated