Passivhaus

Team

All of our Passivhaus designers and consultants initially trained as building services engineers. We bring a broad understanding of how the whole building comes together, with an engineer's approach to design and analysis.

We have access to a wealth of experience in passive building design, and to the powerful tools used by our building physicists. So we're able to quickly define the most appropriate building and services solution and guide it though to successful delivery.

Our Building Physicists also provide thermal bridge modelling, as required.

Sophia Barker

BEng MSc CEPH

Senior Engineer, Passivhaus Consultant, Partner

I find it satisfying when I am able to create simple, elegant, low-energy designs that provide a comfortable building for people to enjoy.

The sustainability aspect of our work is what motivates me. The fact that the buildings we build today will be there for the generations to come means that our designs need to be energy efficient and robust.

My experience as a Passivhaus designer gives me confidence that buildings can be both beautiful and comfortable, with minimal energy use and complexity. I have worked on numerous Passivhaus projects including student accommodation for the University of Cambridge and the regeneration of Agar Grove Estate. As a certified Passivhaus Consultant I am responsible for modelling buildings in PHPP, the Passivhaus modelling software, and for reviewing the design with architects, clients and contractors, from design stage through to construction.

I enjoy working to constraints and finding ways of making a building work for everyone involved. I have a good understanding of how people use buildings and of the various techniques to achieve a low energy design, whether using inventive service routing or the latest technology. This, combined with my Passivhaus experience, means that I am able to maximise the design of both the systems within buildings and the building fabric.

David Lam

BA BEng

Senior Passivhaus Consultant, Partner

I am a self-builder and project manager who has retrained as a Passivhaus Consultant and Engineer.

My very first job in construction was delivering a RIBA award-winning Passivhaus home and I have extensive experience of retrofitting residential buildings, including the EnerPhit standard.

I joined Max Fordham because I am eager to put my skills in low-energy buildings to good use. I feel a great responsibility to do all I can to provide better, lower energy buildings for all.

Gwilym Still

MEng PhD CEng MIMechE CEPH

Director, Passivhaus Leader, Partner

I enjoy helping to deliver robust, low-energy designs that work and are sensitive to the building’s architecture, whether adapting an existing building, or developing a new one.

Essentially, it’s about appropriate design to meet the brief. I can deliver Passivhaus graduate accommodation for a Cambridge College, low-energy office buildings for owner-occupiers, and very simple, grassroots designs as part of Max Fordham’s Developing Countries Group.

I am a certified Passivhaus Consultant, lead Max Fordham’s Passivhaus service, and have more than 14 years of experience in construction across a range of project sectors, scales and stages. My project work includes new build, refurbishment and extension projects across a wide range of market sectors.

My Passivhaus experience includes acting as both Passivhaus Consultant and MEP designer on two new student accommodation projects encompassing 6 buildings, Cranmer Road and Croft Gardens, for King’s College Cambridge. I am also carrying out the Passivhaus consultant role on residential work for Agar Grove Phase 1C, a major 493-home Passivhaus development for the London Borough of Camden, and in the education sector on St Mary’s School Creative Arts Hub, a 4-storey education building for music, food technology, art and textiles.

I enjoy working on projects through all stages, right through from concept design to aftercare. This continuity enables me to get an understanding of performance in-use and feed this back into the design phase of future projects.

Throughout the design process I help optimise the building design using building physics and other modelling software, and then play an active role in site delivery and commissioning. With experience ranging from heating and water systems through to lighting and controls, I’m well-versed in delivering low-energy environmental design.