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When it comes to new buildings and renovations, many property developers advertise reasonable costs and refer to state subsidies. They talk about energy savings of 20 or 30%, which might seem like a big improvement to the consumer. The fact is, however, that we are technically able to save 80% in energy consumption for new buildings and 90% for renovations.

The qualification of the building trade is the key to high-quality and energy-efficient construction and renovation of our buildings. Knowledge of energy-efficient building has increased enormously in the last years. This important increase in knowledge has not yet arrived in many areas of the building market. Training to become a certified passive house tradesman can help here.

The building trade is the preferred contact for all decisions regarding the insulation standard and the selection of the components used. At the moment the tradesman think just in their own trade. The solution to our energy problems, more than a third of which are caused by our buildings, cannot be found without a new, interdisciplinary way of thinking.

The smartshell cooperation, which is part of the pro Passivhausfenster GmbH founded in December 2010, unites the building shell, ventilation and window trades under one roof.

Right from the start, smartshell has four building systems certified by the Passive House Institute, which cover the areas of lightweight wood construction, solid wood construction, solid brick construction and renovation. The certification of a construction system collects the entire detailed knowledge of a construction method in a manner suitable for the tradesman. Exact descriptions of all details with regard to airtightness, windproofness and the thermal behavior are thus placed in the hands of the tradesman in an understandable and applicable manner. The costs of these developments are shared across the shoulders of all cooperation partners.

The cost efficiency of energetic betterings is very high due to our enormous energy costs. The opinion of the general public and those involved in the construction is in gross disbalance to reality. An exact project planning with a detailed view to the later heating costs does not usually take place. The categorizations of the energy requirement required by law reliably lead to wrong decisions regard to the annual operating costs of the building. The same goes for life cycle costs. By means of a preliminary planning with the smartshell's own software module phquick, every building tradesman can guarantee the later heating requirement for new buildings and renovations. This project planning must always be at the beginning of any construction work and is an integral part of all work in smartshell cooperation.

The strength of our cooperation lies in mutual trust and active cooperation. Alternating meetings at one of the partner companies invite you to contribute ideas, suggestions for improvement and new experiences. Problems occurring in practice are analyzed and discussed. Within this process, new solutions will be worked out together. All newly developed detailed solutions flow directly into the respective descriptions and certification of the building systems and are immediately available to all partners.

The income from the license fees is used exclusively to finance further developments, testing costs, the acquisition of specific tools and the joint market presence.

By sharing the testing, certification and development costs, the partners, even as small businesses, can comply with all technical and normative regulations and position themselves on the market with tested and certified innovative products.

When accepting a new partner, willingness to cooperate and commitment to spreading the passive house standard are important criteria. We see active participation in the regional passive house networks on site as a prerequisite for the successful work of our cooperation partners.

We appear at the International Passive House Conference every year and present the latest developments at our booth. The product family has now grown to include six certified building systems:

• smartshell solid for solid construction

• smartshell timberframe G and smartshell timberframe E for lightweight wood construction

• smartshell reno for renovation

• smartshell timberframe Japan

• smartshell reno China

Step by step, further construction methods will be analyzed in the same way and documented in a manner suitable for the tradesmen.

In order to do justice to the tried and tested collaboration between architects and regional crafts, we also offer low-cost project licenses. Just ask us.