Collection: Passive House Doors

The Passive House (or Passivhaus, in Europe) standard is a building standard and construction concept designed to drastically increase the energy efficiency, comfort and longevity of a newly built property.

German physicist Wolfgang Feist founded the Passivhaus Institute (PHI) and created the Passivhaus performance standard. 

Passive Houses must meet criteria in five areas of the building envelope: thermal insulation; windows; ventilation; airtight construction; and eliminating thermal bridging.

Building orientation is also used to capitalise on solar gain as a heat source. Careful planning guarantees the building is both very thermally efficient and extremely comfortable. 

Passive buildings’ heating demand is capped at 15kWh/m2 per year - 80-90% less than the average domestic building.

Passive Houses are designed to use passive heating sources such as sunlight and body heat to keep the building warm. Some Passive Houses are even built with no central heating system, although most use some form of active heating. 

Net zero homes must produce as much energy as they use in a year, generally incorporating renewable energy resources to do so, while Passive Houses’ heating demand must not exceed 15kWh/m2 annually.

This is achieved by meeting more stringent criteria in the building design and construction than Net Zero requirements, so Passive Houses may require less solar energy to reach Net Zero.

The benefits of Passive Houses include energy savings, lower heating costs, and a more durable, low-maintenance building.

They also offer a healthier, more comfortable living environment, along with financial advantages like reduced energy tariffs and increased eligibility for green mortgages.

Passive windows and doors are an essential part of building to the passive house standard and ensuring a comfortable indoor environment.

To be suitable for passive houses, external doors must meet stringent U-Value requirements of 0.80 W/m2K. This is usually achieved by combining very thermally efficient frame materials such as timber, insulated panels or thermally broken aluminium with triple-glazing, in glazed and patio doors, and high quality, airtight seals to limit air leakage and draughts.

No, not necessarily.

The doors in Norrsken’s passive house product range are among our most popular products, allowing customers to fine tune their aesthetic and design preferences without compromising on thermal performance, with U-values as low as 0.72 W/m2K.

Windows and doors that are used for passive houses should achieve U-Values of 0.80W/m2K or lower.

Although there is some leeway for individual components as long as passive house buildings do not exceed the primary energy requirement of 15kWh per square meter of net living space (treated floor area) per year or 10 W per square meter peak demand. Usually, these requirements and component calculations are modelled precisely using the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) to ensure real-life performance meets expected values.

Products that use renewable resources, frame materials with low embodied carbon or high percentage of recycled materials are the most sustainable products to consider using in a Passive House, beyond simple thermal performance.

Windows and doors that use primarily wood as a frame material have a much lower embodied carbon footprint than uPVC or all-aluminium products (Source: Researchgate)

Absolutely. Our passive house doors are fully customizable to your project's specific requirements.

You can specify exact sizes, choose from various glazing packages, select unlimited RAL colors with dual-color options, customize panel designs and glazing configurations, and choose from different opening styles and hardware finishes.

The key difference is that all customization is engineered to maintain the demanding thermal performance standards required for passive house certification. Our technical team ensures that every bespoke element—from custom sizing to specific glazing configurations—preserves the exceptional U-values and thermal bridge elimination that passive house projects demand.

Whether you need unique dimensions, specific aesthetic details, or particular opening configurations, we can create doors that are uniquely yours while guaranteeing they'll meet certification requirements.

Yes. Passive House buildings are eco-friendly by definition:

"They use extremely little primary energy... The additional energy required for their construction [embodied energy] is insignificant compared with the energy they save later on." (Passipedia)

Passive houses use MVHR systems to supply fresh air consistently throughout the building.

This ensures a higher quality, more hygienic and relatively condensation-free air supply. The risk of mould, damp and cold spots is reduced - healthier for the inhabitants, and more comfortable than in a typical home.

It’s generally, but not always, true that Passive House construction costs more in components than a standard build.

“Compared with standard construction, building to the Passivhaus standard incurred an extra cost of approximately 8%” (The Passivhaus Trust).

AECOM found that the capital costs of new builds reimagined as Passive Houses were estimated to increase by less than 1%.

MVHR, wall & roof components are the largest extra-over costs on average.

However, these may be offset as heating systems in Passive Houses tend to cost less than typical builds. Passive buildings’ heating demand is capped at 15kWh/m2 per year - 80-90% less than the average domestic building - which may offset component costs. 

Important early design decisions including building form, orientation & window design can drive efficiency. 

Offsetting these design savings against the extra costs for the higher quality fabric, it is possible to deliver higher quality Passive House buildings at no extra cost by recouping the extra you spend on systems. Whether this is achievable in practice will vary from project to project.

Passivhaus delivers a 30% saving on energy bills compared to a typical new build using either a gas boiler or an Air Source Heat Pump (source: Passivhaus Trust).

Passive buildings’ heating demand is capped at 15kWh/m2 per year - 80-90% less than the average domestic building - which may offset component costs.  

The Passivhaus Trust is a UK affiliate of the International Passive House Association (iPHA).

The PHT promotes the adoption of Passivhaus in the UK. You can find a comprehensive list of Passivhaus Trust members and components suppliers for UK Passive House projects here.