A QS who thinks in Passivhaus

Who I am

I'm Phil Brown — a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and Certified Passivhaus Consultant based in Devon.

My background is in quantity surveying, which makes me a bit unusual in the Passivhaus world. Most certified consultants and designers come from architecture or engineering. I come from cost and contract management — which means I think about Passivhaus not just as a performance standard, but as something that has to work commercially and be built by real people on real sites.

I set up Futurehaus Consulting because I wanted to work on buildings that actually matter. Passivhaus is the most rigorous energy performance standard available — and when it's done properly, it delivers buildings that are genuinely comfortable, dramatically cheaper to run, and built to last. That's the kind of work I want to be part of.

Why a QS, not an architect?

Most Certified Passivhaus Designers are architects or engineers. There's nothing wrong with that — but it means the design team often lacks someone who thinks in costs, procurement, and buildability from day one. That's exactly what I bring.

I'm not there to redesign your building. I'm there to make the Passivhaus process work commercially and practically — to run the numbers properly, interrogate the PHPP model, and make sure that what the design team has drawn can actually be built within budget to the standard required. On projects where that gap has historically been left to chance, it makes a significant difference.

The honest answer on Passivhaus cost

People often ask whether Passivhaus costs more. The short answer is: it depends on how you measure it. The upfront cost premium is real but manageable — typically 5–15% on a well-designed project. The lifetime cost picture is a different story. Buildings that are genuinely comfortable, require minimal heating and cooling, and are built to last significantly outperform standard construction over any reasonable assessment period. Whole life cost is where Passivhaus wins, clearly.

That's not marketing — it's the arithmetic. And as a QS, arithmetic is what I do.

Tools I use

PHPP (Passivhaus Planning Package), DesignPH, PHribbon for whole life carbon analysis, and RICS WLCA methodology. These aren't add-ons — they're the tools the Passivhaus process is built on, and I use them properly.