About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges and opportunities in retrofitting old homes in Australia with expert Linden Thorley.

“If you can’t hit 0.6 ACH on a brand-new build, you probably shouldn’t be building.” Let’s stop tip-toeing around the reality of the Australian housing market. We are throwing up volume-built boxes and high-density apartments that are practically end-of-life before they’ve even seen their first winter. We sat down with Linden Thorley, architect, Passive House designer, and chair of the Australian Passive House Association Retrofit Committee. We take a look into why retrofitting the existing 9.5 million homes in Australia is the single biggest business opportunity for trades over the next decade. Linden walks us through the differences between a cosmetic renovation and a high-performance retrofit, detailing how his team utilises the PHPP (Passive House Planning Package) to model data and manage moisture, insulation, and ventilation risks case-by-case. We don't hold back on the real pain points of the industry either. We talk about the skyrocketing costs of business insurance, why Australian labour rates are fundamentally shifting project costs, and how to structure building contracts using provisional sums for airtightness so builders aren't crushed by unexpected site variations…

People in this episode

Hosts: Matthew Carland, Hamish White

Guest: Linden Thorley

Topics covered

• retrofitting
• energy efficiency
• Australian housing market
• building contracts
• moisture management
• high-performance retrofit

Keywords

• retrofitting
• Passive House
• energy efficiency
• building contracts
• moisture management
• Australian housing
• high-performance homes

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Australian Passive House Association

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