No more VAT on green home improvements
by RISE Design Studio on Jul 31, 2022
In March this year, the UK Government removed the requirement for VAT on payments related to the installation of certain energy saving materials in residential property in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland). This will be in place until the end of March 2027. Scrapping VAT on …
What is the difference between Passivhaus and BREEAM?
by RISE Design Studio on Apr 30, 2022
At a time when energy prices are rising, it is helpful to know about options in the home for reducing energy consumption. From an architectural and design point of view, this equates to much more than having a shorter shower or reducing the time the heating is turned on. Today, there …
Passive House – a luxurious way to take climate action
by RISE Design Studio on Jan 31, 2022
At RISE Design Studio, we work hard to minimise the environmental impact and energy consumption of our projects. One way we do this is by working with the Passive House and EnerPHit standards. In October 2021, publisher and editor of Passive House Plus magazine, Jeff Colley, gave a TE …
Architecture and the planet: a crucial moment
by RISE Design Studio on Nov 5, 2020
David Attenborough’s ‘A Life On Our Planet‘ brings into sharp focus the destruction of Earth’s habitats that he has witnessed during his nearly 70 years in broadcasting. There is no mistaking the significant scale of the issues currently faced by our planet. At the end of the film, At …
What is retrofit?
by RISE Design Studio on May 10, 2016
The 2008 Climate Change Act committed the UK to reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80% by 2050 (against the 1990 baseline). The buildings sector accounts for 37% of total UK GHG emissions and, of these emissions, 65% are from the residential sector. With this in mind, ther …
Passivhaus explained
by RISE Design Studio on Sep 21, 2015
Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings is a key concern for a sustainable architect. In this blog post, we look at the basic principles of the Passivhaus (or Passive House) standard: a sustainable construction concept that is the fastest growing energy performance standard in t …
