280: Scaling Passive House in Massachusetts with Nick Nigro
From Passive House Podcast by Matthew Cutler-Welsh, Zack Semke, Mary James, and Ilka Cassidy
March 17, 2026 · 1h 1m · Season 5 · Episode 280
About this episode
Zack Semke interviews Nick Nigro about the Bunker Hill Housing Redevelopment project and its commitment to Passive House standards.
In this episode of The Passive House Podcast, Zack Semke chats with Nick Nigro of Leggat McCall about the Bunker Hill Housing Redevelopment in Charlestown, Boston, a phased replacement of 42 aging WWII-era public housing buildings into 2,699 mixed-income units. Nick explains how the team committed to Passive House from day one and is using a repeatable “kit of parts”—precast lateral-load-bearing cores, prefabricated load-bearing exterior panels, and CLT floor systems—to improve speed, reduce temporary work, and lower both carbon and cost through iteration across 15 buildings. He describes early modeling, enclosure mockup testing, and construction-sequencing innovations like using the permanent elevator as a hoist. https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/critical-mass-scaling-passive-house-at-bunker-hill https://www.lmp.com/ Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.
People in this episode
Host: Zack Semke
Guest: Nick Nigro
Topics covered
- Passive House
- housing redevelopment
- sustainable construction
- prefabrication
- mixed-income units
Keywords
- Passive House
- Bunker Hill
- sustainable building
- prefabricated construction
- mixed-income housing
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Leggat McCall
Places: Charlestown, Boston, Bunker Hill Housing Redevelopment
More episodes of Passive House Podcast
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- 289: High Design, Low Carbon: A Conversation with Nathan Kipnis · May 27, 2026 · 49 min
- 288: Insights from Wolfgang Feist at the International Passive House Conference · May 19, 2026 · 31 min
- 287: Global Insights on Scaling Passive House · May 12, 2026 · 1h 1m
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