We are unconventional engineers: we think creatively, delight in innovation, and love a blank sheet of paper

We regularly get out the sketch pens and scribble ideas, but we also love a spreadsheet or complex finite element model. We approach each project with fresh perspectives, while bringing learning from years of challenging projects.

While we do enjoy a graph as much as the next engineer, we work hard to be simple, accurate and clear in all our communication, focusing on the heart of the issue, and enabling optimised decision making. Buildings are complex, but vital to human wellbeing. We aim to make them exceptional, and the decisions that lead to this outcome as simple as possible. 

Services

We help clients deliver high-performance, low-carbon buildings by combining technical expertise with practical experience. From strategic sustainability advice to detailed design and analysis, our multidisciplinary team supports projects at every stage, ensuring buildings are comfortable, efficient, and sustainable.

  • We guide projects through AECB design and certification, supporting projects through and demonstrating compliance with these widely recognised low-energy and sustainable building standards.  https://aecb.net/

    Emma and Chris are our inhouse AECB Designers and Certifiers

  • We focus on the performance of the building envelope and internal conditions, ensuring thermal comfort, air quality, and overall wellbeing for occupants. We assess and optimise insulation solutions, balancing thermal performance, cost, and buildability to achieve practical, high-performing results. We analyse thermal bridging using advanced 2D and 3D modelling techniques, helping minimise heat loss and improve overall building performance. 

  • Ensures that buildings operate as intended through detailed analysis, monitoring, and post-occupancy evaluation. This includes identifying performance gaps and recommending improvements to systems, detailing, and user interaction. Focuses on reducing the actual energy used by buildings in operation, bridging the gap between predicted and real-world performance through design, specification, and user engagement

  • We quantify the carbon footprint of materials and construction processes, enabling informed choices that reduce environmental impact from cradle to grave, identifying opportunities to minimise embodied carbon in the building fabric. 

  • We provide holistic environmental design advice, plans for buildings and developments, integrating energy efficiency, comfort, sustainability with operational goals, regulatory requirements, and net-zero ambitions throughout the building design process. Designs buildings to maintain stable, comfortable indoor temperatures year-round, using passive strategies and detailed modelling to avoid overheating and cold spots. 

  • Using advanced simulation tools, we assess and mitigate the risk of overheating in buildings, helping maintain occupant comfort and reduce energy use.

  • Assesses the potential for moisture accumulation within building elements, helping prevent mould, material degradation, and indoor air quality issues. This is critical for airtight and highly insulated buildings. Provides expert guidance on moisture and heat transfer through building envelopes using tools like WUFI. This supports safe, durable, and comfortable design, especially in retrofit scenarios. .

  • We provide practical guidance to contractors throughout the construction process, ensuring that design intent, performance targets, and sustainability goals are achieved on site. 

  • We evaluate natural light performance in buildings, optimising daylight access to improve comfort, wellbeing, and energy efficiency 

  • We help transform existing buildings into high-performance, low-energy spaces through tailored retrofit solutions. From improving insulation and airtightness to optimising heating, ventilation, and energy systems, our approach ensures comfort, efficiency, and reduced carbon emissions. Our expertise covers everything from domestic homes to commercial buildings across the UK, delivering sustainable upgrades that meet both regulatory standards and Passivhaus principles.

  • We support projects in translating high-performance designs into practical, constructible solutions, reducing risk and ensuring quality outcomes. We review construction details to provides robust, buildable detailing that supports airtightness, thermal continuity, and moisture control. These details are tailored to meet high-performance standards while remaining practical for contractors. 

  • Uses advanced software to simulate building performance over time, accounting for changing weather, occupancy, and system behaviour. Energy modelling helps optimise comfort, energy use, and resilience. s

  • We offer high-level sustainability guidance and master planning support, integrating energy, daylight, and overheating considerations into early-stage project strategy We use parametric design tools to explore thousands of design options, optimising building form and layout for energy efficiency, daylight access, and thermal comfort simultaneously. 

  • As accredited thermal modellers, we provide bespoke 2D and 3D Psi-value calculations to optimise building fabric performance, reduce heat loss, and improve energy efficiency. Thermal bridging can account for up to 30% of a building’s heat loss, so accurate modelling is essential to meet UK Building Regulations, prevent condensation, and enhance SAP rating, and Passivhaus compliance.

  • We provide professional energy assessments for residential (SAP) and commercial (SBEM/DSM) projects, ensuring your development meets UK Building Regulations from planning to completion.

  • Our team assesses the total carbon impact of buildings over their entire lifecycle, helping clients make informed decisions to reduce emissions from construction and operation. 

Our services

Our work divides into the strategic: big picture, creative, seeing past the immediate to the long term – and the forensic: detailed, careful and methodical.

We believe that both are required to create a beyond zero carbon built environment that delights and delivers into a post-climate change future.  

Our focus is on the use of Passivhaus and WLC tools to deliver our vision beyond carbon emissions. We use this approach at the strategic level to guide clients to best decision making and brief setting.

STRATEGIC SERVICES

RIBA Stages 0-2 

Sustainability is complex: we bring technical wisdom to brief setting, with clear visual presentation and facilitated workshops with key stakeholders to get to the right brief for your project, and the right sustainability targets to lead to best outcomes.  

    • Digital prototyping: we provide innovative, early-stage digital prototyping to understand overshadowing, solar access, mitigate overheating potential and optimise Passivhaus Heat Loss Form Factor (HLFF): these steps help guide early architectural massing and site planning to provide best-value outcomes later in the design process.  

    • Creating route-maps for decarbonisation: carbon masterplans can be for single buildings or complex heritage sites with multiple buildings, and anything in between. Each plan is carefully crafted to suit client budget and timescales, and rooted in the best available technical wisdom. Future energy markets and grid decarbonisation are carefully evaluated to guide evidence-based decision making.  Lowest carbon solution over 60, 100 or 200 years? Our analysis will guide you. 

    • Is the Passivhaus standard right for your new build or retrofit project? We will dispel myths and help establish both the technical and financial viability of Passivhaus. We use an agile approach and clear communication to help facilitate rapid decision making.  

    • Strategic decisions in whole-life carbon: these can include whether to demolish or retain existing structures, what level of new construction to consider, and with what overall materials strategy. Our early advice simplifies this complex area of building procurement, enabling informed decision making and target setting.

FORENSIC SERVICES

RIBA Stages 2-7 

We continue to use Passivhaus and WLC tools in the detail, to deliver our vision beyond carbon emissions. Passivhaus is a system of tools, standards and processes that enables high quality and precision in building design, backed up by the detail of WLC analysis, this enables us to help clients deliver best and leading practice. 

We have extensive experience of large-scale and complex Passivhaus buildings, and use this acquired technical wisdom to support the delivery of Passivhaus on the most demanding projects.

We offer full concept, technical and certification design support within a multi-disciplinary team, including energy modelling and reporting, thermal bridge optimisation and detailing, as well as site duties.    

    • Whole-life carbon evaluations: Conducting detailed, thorough evaluations throughout design development to ensure our best carbon outcomes, and then contributing to contractor procurement to deliver on the design intent. 

    • Retrofit projects: these are complex and require attention to detail. Using the Passivhaus approach we ensure that interventions into existing buildings are robust, buildable and sensitive to existing architecture, place and heritage value.  

    • WELL Building Standard: this delivers best-in-class human health and wellbeing outcomes – our in-house tools align with the Institute guidelines and ensure you always know how your project is progressing and certification levels you can target 

    • Specialist building physics services: we offer a range of specialist building physics services to ensure each project delivers at the highest level. These include parametric optimisation of building facades for natural daylight, winter solar gains and summer shading, as well as natural ventilation design, moisture analysis and architectural detail optimisation to avoid thermal bridges and create airtight junctions 

    • Training: we offer extensive training options to both designers and constructors, including a range of CPD sessions and toolbox talks 

    • Passivhaus Certification: this is the gold standard for energy efficiency and thermal comfort. Our service is proactive, with clear communication to both the deliver team and client team, and accurate tracking of progress towards goals.  

Interested in working with us?

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