Lovell Chen principal Milica Tumbas presented a paper this month at the 23rd International Passive House Conference, held in China. She focused on the Old Quad redevelopment project, which is the first application in Australia of the EnerPHit standard to a significant heritage building.

[ 23rd International Passive House Conference, photos : Lovell Chen ]

The Old Quad is the first building constructed on the University of Melbourne campus, and was the first university building commenced (1854) in Australia. We have been working on a redevelopment project to adapt and refurbish the east and north wings and the north annexe, undertaking conservation works, reinstatement of the original planning, seismic strengthening, fire protection and building services upgrades.

[ Before and after: the library in the Old Quad, photos : Lovell Chen and Eve Wilson ]

Milica’s papar, entitled Old Quad – Retrofitting a sig­ni­fic­ant her­it­age build­ing to Pass­ive Hou­se En­er­PHit stand­ard, details the application of environmentally sustainable principles to the areas of the building affected by the project. She describes the challenges of delivering EnerPHit standards in heritage assets — striving to achieve a balance between the valued qualities and characteristics of the place and delivering an outcome that improves thermal comfort and economic efficiency.

In the case of Old Quad, which recently reopened for use by University staff and students, using EnerPHit standards has introduced into a heritage building new technologies that are appropriate, sympathetic and reversible.

23rd International Passive House Conference
9-11 October 2019, Gaobeinian City, Hebei, China
passivehouseconference.org >