Earlier than you expect. Longer than you are used to.
The two things that make performance cheap are bringing the physics in at feasibility and staying with the building after handover. Between them sits a process mapped to the RIBA and RIAI stages your team already runs, so we slot into your programme rather than adding one.
Three ways to engage.
EngagementAs your architect
Full architectural service with the building physics native to the design, from masterplan to handover. One team, one point of responsibility.
ArchitectureAlongside your design team
Your architect keeps the pen; we carry the performance: PHPP, thermal bridges, airtightness strategy, design assurance and certification readiness.
ConsultingAs independent certifier
Accredited certification of buildings designed by others. Firewalled from our design work, so the check stays independent and the certificate stays credible.
CertificationFeasibility to in-use, stage by stage.
The processFeasibility
RIBA 0-1 · RIAI 1Before there is a design to defend, the big performance decisions are free: orientation, built form, glazing ratios, plant strategy. We test the site and the brief against the standard and your pro forma, and tell you plainly what it will take and what it will cost.
Feasibility report · indicative energy balance · cost-of-performance advice
Design
RIBA 2-3 · RIAI 2-3As architect, or alongside your design team as Passivhaus designer. The PHPP model runs from the first sketch, so every design move is priced in energy before it is priced in steel. Planning submissions carry the performance case with them.
PHPP model · design-stage certification review · planning support
Detail and tender
RIBA 4 · RIAI 4Where performance is usually won or lost. Every junction gets a thermal-bridge calculation, the airtightness strategy becomes drawings a site team can follow, and the spec is written so tenders come back comparable.
Junction catalogue · airtightness drawings · tender-ready specification
Construction
RIBA 5 · RIAI 5Site inspections at the moments that matter: before the airtightness layer is covered, when the windows go in, at first blower-door test. Toolbox talks bring every trade onto the same details. Problems get caught while they cost tape, not takedowns.
Staged site inspections · toolbox talks · blower-door supervision
Certification
Handover · RIBA 6Independent verification by one of our seven accredited certifiers: the as-built model, the test results, the commissioning records. The certificate says the building does what was promised, and it is not us marking our own homework on design work, which is firewalled.
Passivhaus / EnerPHit certificate · as-built PHPP · handover pack
In use
RIBA 7 · occupiedWhere most practices stop, we keep measuring. Pulse monitors energy, temperature, CO₂ and humidity across the occupied building, proves the promise was kept, and feeds what the data says back into your next scheme.
Live monitoring · seasonal performance reports · evidence for the next build
Fees, timing and procurement.
Working with usWhen to call
Before planning if you can; the earlier the call, the cheaper the performance. Concept stage and ready-to-certify are both normal starting points, and we will tell you honestly which work is worth doing at the stage you are at.
How fees work
Fixed fees against a defined scope. For thermal bridge work, our estimator gives an indicative number in a minute and a certifier confirms it within one working day. For everything else, tell us the brief and we will scope it.
Who you deal with
A named project lead, supported by the certifier reviewing the work. Twenty-five people, seven accredited certifiers, and quality management to ISO 9001:2015 behind them.
Procurement
We work under standard professional appointments and framework arrangements for public and private clients, in Ireland and the UK. Insurance and policy documentation available on request.
Tell us where your project is.
Concept stage or ready to certify, the first conversation is the same: what you are building, where it is, and what it has to achieve.