Passivhaus Designer for Students
- 80 HOURS OVER 3 WEEKS
- FROM £738 (Incl VAT)
- ONLINE
Are you a Built Environment student looking to future-proof your career? Coaction Training CIC is excited to announce a specially discounted Passivhaus Designer summer course open to all UK university students in built environment disciplines! This course will fundamentally transform your approach to sustainable design, giving you knowledge which can be brought to every one of your projects, no matter the brief. Join our community of Certified Passivhaus Designers and become a catalyst for positive change in the construction industry.
About This Course
This course represents exceptional value compared to standard industry rates. Open only to currently enrolled UK university students and lecturers in relevant disciplines.
Note - Booking closes at midnight on 31 May 2025
Coaction Training CIC are excited to deliver the UK’s first Passivhaus Designer course open to higher education students and lecturers across the UK. This is a unique chance to gain essential knowledge and skills for designing buildings for Net Zero using the Passivhaus approach, as well as adding the Certified Passivhaus Designer accreditation to your CV at a fraction of the price of the industry-professional course.
- Starts: June 9th, 2025
- Duration: 3-week intensive program
- Format: Flexible online learning
- Pre-learning: Access to preparation materials before the course begins.
- Certification: Complete the course and take the open book exam by end of June 2025
- Cost: just £738 (incl VAT) vs. our standard rate of £3,036 (incl VAT)
Why Passivhaus?
Add one of the most respected sustainable building certifications to your CV before you even graduate. Stand out to employers with skills in high demand across the industry.
Over a 3-week intense course, delivered by our team of experienced industry professionals, you will gain a deeper understanding of the Passivhaus standard, and the essential elements of designing and detailing the building envelope and services to create sustainable, low energy buildings. You’ll also be introduced to Passivhaus Planning Package (PHPP) software, completing a whole PHPP and understanding how to use it effectively to interrogate design. This is an invaluable opportunity to futureproof your knowledge and gain vital skills in one of the most respected building standards.
Using the same core material and learning as our course for construction professionals, we have developed our summer course schedule specifically for students to access. We have over 10 years' experience delivering the course in partnership with University of Bath where we have supported the students in achieving an exceptional pass rate – last year we achieved 90%.
Running from 9th to 26th June, this is an intensive course delivered using a blend of live webinars, tutorials and self-study. Recordings of all live sessions will be available, along with access to learning materials and further resources on our learning platform, to help make this flexible and achievable alongside your other commitments this summer. The course concludes with an open book exam for an internationally recognised qualification.
Who is it for?
Students - Current Built Environment students at ANY UK university at undergraduate or master's level – predominantly aimed at architecture and building design students, we welcome interest from other relevant disciplines.
Lecturers & Tutors - If you are a lecturer or tutor teaching full-time in architecture or building design in higher education and are interested in bringing low energy design knowledge to your teaching, we're running a concurrent cohort for educators. Find out more HERE
What's included:
- Live, online teaching sessions with our experienced trainers, plus additional tutorials and access to recordings of all sessions.
- Support from trainers and peers through a dedicated online forum.
- Ongoing access to all training materials, further resources and case studies on our learning platform for 2 years, to support you in applying your new-found knowledge to your studies and work.
- PDF crib sheet for you to print and use during the open book exam.
- FREE student PHPP10 software licence, included in course fees.
- FREE enrolment in the Passivhaus Institute’s Certified Passivhaus Designer exam and support to register.
- Access to our alumni group on LinkedIn to connect with your peers, ask questions and share best practice.
See course structure, requirements, fees, and dates below.
Course requirements
- This course is open to students and full-time lecturers of courses in the UK, who are currently enrolled on an architecture and built environment undergraduate or master's degree course.
- You must have completed Coaction’s Design Performance for Climate Action (DPfCA) before starting this course – this is free to access for all RIBA-accredited architecture schools. For students and full-time lecturers on a non-RIBA accredited course, you can access the DPfCA course for a student / lecturer price of £180 (incl VAT). This can be booked as an option at time of registration. Please contact us if you require further information.
Requirements for the exam only:
- You must be able to install free exam safety software provided by us on your laptop or PC. This runs on Mac (MacOS 10.13 or newer) or Windows (Windows 10 or 11). We will provide full guidance on how to do this.
- You will need access to a room on your own and any doors to be closed.
- Zoom installed on your smart phone for the exam invigilation.
Want to know more? Watch our Q&A session with Sally Godber below
SPACES AVAILABLE
Student Designer Course - Summer 2025
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View Schedule
FROM £738 (Incl VAT) ex. VAT
Online
Course Structure
With a total commitment of around 80 study hours, this 3-week intense course (2.5 weeks study plus exam) consists of live webinars, self-study and tutorials, and integrates real-world examples with industry expertise to provide you with a comprehensive learning experience.
Webinars run between 9am and 5pm. There will typically be 3 x 2-hour sessions each day, plus an expectation to complete homework and self-study on top of this (see full schedule for a detailed breakdown). Recordings of all live sessions will be available along with full course materials on our learning platform, to help make this achievable and balance learning with your other commitments.
By the end of the course, you will:
- Understand the Passivhaus standard and how it is achieves high building performance.
- Recognise the impact of design choices and how decisions on building form, airtightness, thermal bridging, insulation, and glazing affect performance.
- Assess the impact of construction choices, considering multiple construction methods and how to detail common elements.
- Define design strategies to prevent summer overheating, understand the design choices and how occupants interact with them.
- Explore the principles of effective ventilation in buildings, how to create efficient systems that provide great indoor environments.
- Understand what makes efficient heating & hot water systems, from heat pump specification to distribution systems.
- Complete energy modelling using PHPP (Passivhaus Planning Package) software and gain proficiency in using it for design and analysis.
- Understand the role of a Passivhaus Designer/Consultant, what their responsibilities are and how to collaborate effectively on Passivhaus projects.
- Prepare thoroughly for the Certified Passivhaus Designer/Consultant exam with essential techniques and revision.
Course Modules:
Building Fabric (30 hours – 12 x 2-hour sessions + 2 x 3-hour tutorial/self-study)
Explore building physics concepts including heat transfer, the energy balance of buildings and what is necessary to ensure thermal comfort and avoid summer overheating, learning how each of the required values can be calculated and what this means in practice for building design. Practical construction examples and guidance provide context to the science. You will learn how Passivhaus construction differs to standard practice, what’s required to achieve airtightness and thermal bridge free construction and understand how successful design follows through to what happens on site.
Building Services for Passivhaus (15 hours – 6 x 2-hour sessions 1 x 3-hour tutorial/self-study)
You'll cover concepts, calculations and commissioning for ventilation design, heating systems and hot water distribution and a review of Primary Energy Renewable. Explore different elements of building services used in Passivhaus, and what's different to business as usual, learning how to interrogate services design at a high level and understand how services requirements can influence the building design.
PHPP - Introduction to Passivhaus Planning Package software (18 hours – 4 x 2-hour sessions + 2 x 3-hour /self-study)
Through a mix of live teaching and self-study we guide you through the PHPP software and how to complete a whole PHPP spreadsheet, developing your understanding of the inputs, parameters and implications for building design. A student PHPP licence is included in the fees.
Economics for Passivhaus measures (4 hours – self-study)
A short self-study module looking at simple payback (cost of measure/annual saving), return or loss on investment and what is the true cost.
Exam Preparation (12 hours – self-study)
We support you to prepare fully for the exam, guide you through what to expect during the exam itself and provide exam technique and tips. We provide plenty of support, practice questions and a mock exam.
Tutorials
Three tutorial days (1 per week) throughout the course allow you to get support on any specific areas of concern. Post questions in the online forum about any of the topics covered so far and join a live drop-in session with the trainers.
Final exam
A 3-hour online exam, open book so you can use your own notes for support.
Participant Testimonials
Course Fees & Packages
Student Package 1 - RIBA accredited* architecture school students
- Discounted Student Certified Designer Course - £738.00 (price includes VAT)
- Design Performance Self Study Course - FREE (Contact Coaction for further information)
Student Package 2 - Non-RIBA accredited* architecture schools & other built environment students
- Discounted Student Certified Designer Course - £738.00 (price includes VAT)
- Design Performance Self Study Course - £180 (price includes VAT)
* Is your course RIBA accredited? Check here before booking.
Lecturers - visit our lecturer page HERE
Not a student? Please visit the Certified Passivhaus Designer course page and our course funding page.
Please note: This course needs a minimum of 40 participants to run. If we don’t reach that number, you’ll receive a full refund. We’d love your support in helping make it happen—feel free to spread the word!
Trainers
What our graduates say...
"It was much more than I could have hoped for and I now feel much better equipped to carry on as a sole trading architect."
designer Graduate
"The PHPP module was invaluable. Prepare to never want to design or build anything other than Passivhaus again! - Tim Mitchell (WARM: Low Energy Building Practice)"
designer Graduate
"Eye-opening, well-organised and inspirational. Honestly, other courses don't compare."
designer Graduate
