This is the first Passivhaus-certified youth hostel in the country created by the conversion of a large former barrel store in an arts centre in Cirencester. As well as being first, the Passivhaus Certified project will also be the largest building in Gloucestershire with this certification. The hostel will play host to parties of school children as well as providing accommodation for those attending courses and workshops run by the building owner, New Brewery Arts. For the design team, the Youth Hostel Project design has presented a few challenges compared to other Passivhaus structures, simply because of the scale of the project and the number of rooms requiring water supply and ventilation. Additionally the original design had to be pared back to meet lower than expected levels of funding, but the finished product is an impressive, Passivhaus-certified building which uses innovative approaches and may well form the blueprint of other, similar projects. Toby Cambray, Director, Greengauge Building Energy Consultants, who are responsible for the Passivhaus Assessment of The Youth Hostel, says “The Youth Hostel is certified under the Enerphit scheme. The particularly challenging aspects of this project have been the design of the wall and roof insulation. Budgetary constraints meant a wholesale replacement of the roof would not be possible, and the new, thicker insulation had to be fitted internally, complicated by the need to upgrade some of the structural timbers. The wall insulation system will achieve a U-value of around 0.2 W/m2.K The roof and floors achieve around 0.1 W/m2.K, and windows at 1.0 W/m2.K (centre pane 0.52 W/m2.K). The ventilation system will recover 80% of the heat from the stale exhaust air into the fresh supply air. Speaking of the project Ali Russell, Centre Director for New Brewery Arts says “I originally pitched the idea of the Youth Hostel to the Trustees as a way of creating a sustainable future. It has been funded mainly through grants from The Arts Councils and Winstone Trust, as well as through private donation. We’re really excited to see the project come to fruition and know that it will be a great addition to Cirencester and the County. The Passivhaus status will be a bonus and hopefully the success of our project will be a pilot for more projects like this in the future.”