The Inspiring

PASSIVHAUS DESIGNER COURSE 3.0

Start Your Course Today and Get Certified in 2023

Starting From $2,997.00 AUD

Next Virtual Live Passivhaus Designer Course 3.0
31.07.2023 – 08.09.2023 (every Mon and Fri)

Why become a Passivhaus Designer?

Image courtesy of Siemens Centre. Photography by Road Rongen Tribus Vallentin GMBG

Becoming a certified Passive House Designer is a way for individuals and professionals to gain specialized knowledge and skills in designing highly energy-efficient and comfortable buildings.

The Passivhaus standard is a rigorous energy efficiency standard recognized internationally and rapidly gaining popularity globally.

Certification as a Passive House Designer demonstrates a high level of expertise in healthy, sustainable and affordable building design.

There has never been a more important time to

Gain the Passivhaus Designer Education
right now

The energy crises, global warming and the move to renewable energy requires a rethinking of the building industry

Join our Passivhaus Designer Course 3.0 and
be a part of the solution

Prefer to speak to

someone one to one or

discuss special group pricing?

Schedule a call
with a Passivhaus training expert

WE DON'T NEED TO TELL YOU... The building regulations are not good enough to solve the climate crisis.
THAT'S A FACT. THE QUESTION IS...

WHAT CAN YOU DO TODAY TO
TACKLE THE CLIMATE CRISIS?

(Just because our governments don’t act, doesn’t mean you can’t!)

38 degrees Celsius measured in Siberia at the Arctic Circle in 2020
Both of earth's polar regions experienced extreme and unprecedented heat waves in 2022
The Russian War let's energy prices explode and causes fuel poverty, especially in Europe
People die in the thousands during heatwaves due to poor building design ever single year.
We have less than 700 days until we must plummet emissions if we want to have any chance to maintain the 1.5°C goal alive.
The list goes on and on – turbulent times are ahead and not just in our industry.

Join our Passivhaus Designer Course 3.0 and
be a part of the solution

We want you to succeed – and there’s no investment as sure as the investment you make in
YOUR EDUCATION and your future.

WHY NOW?

Most people will go into survival mode during social, political, and economic uncertainty like we’re facing now. They shrink back, play small, and wait until the storm is over.

But for the smart ones – the leaders among us – there is an opportunity… to prepare and get ready for the good times.

Now is the time to upskill, rethink and restructure your life, work, and business.

It’s the time to invest in yourself and your future.

Would you like to make a difference with your work in the Building Industry?

Use the slowdown to do the things you can’t do when you are flooded with work.
The Smart Plus Academy Passivhaus Designer Course 3.0 brings you up to speed on what your University Degree has been lacking regarding your ability to design:

Energy efficient,
Healthy liveable and
Affordable buildings.

Are you ready?

With the Smart Plus Academy Passivhaus Designer Course 3.0, you will be able to deliver energy-efficient, healthy and affordable solutions for residential and commercial buildings.

Why become a
Certified Passivhaus Designer?

The Passivhaus Designer Course provides you with the knowledge and skills needed to design buildings that are energy-efficient, comfortable, and sustainable, while also providing career opportunities and recognition in the industry.

Career Advancement

Passivhaus design is an emerging field and obtaining the certification can give a professional an edge over other architects, engineers or builders in the job market.

Sustainability

Passivhaus design is a sustainable building approach that reduces the energy consumption of buildings, which helps to combat climate change.

Cost Savings

Passive House buildings are designed to be highly energy-efficient, which can result in significant cost savings for building owners and occupants over the life of the building.

Comfort

Passivhaus buildings are designed to provide high levels of thermal comfort, which can improve the quality of life for building occupants.

Global Recognition

Passivhaus is recognized and implemented in many countries around the world, and certification as a Passive House Designer is recognized internationally, making it a valuable asset for professionals who like to work globally.

Why take this course now

Climate Change is happing now

We need to act today if we want to avoid a climate disaster. With this qualification you can contribute to this global effort every day at work.

Be A Front Runner

The Passivhaus movement is growing exponentially fast and joining today will mean you are one of the leaders of change.

Your Clients Deserve The Best

Did you experience thermal discomfort in buildings? Don’t let your clients suffer the same.

Building regulations are changing

Australia's and New Zealand's building regulations are changing rapidly. England and the European Union already require nearly zero energy buildings.

Improvements On Every project

These courses will significantly improve your sustainable design practice.

Design Buildings for the extremes

Let your client enjoy the comforts of their home in any weather event.

Join our Passivhaus Designer Course 3.0 and
be a part of the solution

What makes the Smart Plus Academy Passivhaus Designer Course 3.0
SO INCREDIBLE?

Since the beginning, Daniel has been obsessed with optimising the course. On the one hand, the traditional material was outdated. On the other hand, the material was not architect and building designer friendly.

Instead of showing plans for many different projects with different symbols and abbreviations for the same things, Smart Plus Academy uses one project.

Your Smart Plus Academy teachers will guide you through all the relevant details in every common construction method like:

Timber framing,
CLT,
Concrete,
Masonry,
Steel construction.

But not only that, we look at required build-ups in all climate zones for each building method.

Additionally, we discuss alternative construction methods like SIPS, straw bale, rammed earth…

We apply a similar approach to retrofitting, showing a universal retrofit master plan for the common building methods.

If you want to be able to design buildings in any climate zone anywhere in the world then there is nothing like the Smart Plus Academy Course. We teach how to get it right from the beginning and not fix currently wrong building practices.

Why Choose Smart Plus Academy?

Courses Tailored To Your Needs

GOLD – VIRTUAL LIVE – Premium support course with the highest teacher engagement
SILVER – Q&A SUPPORTED – Study on your own and join the 6 virtual live Q&A sessions
BRONZE – INDEPENDENT – Study on your own and at your own pace

Quickest Certification Turnaround

In just 6 half days, plus the exercises and the exam, you’ll gain the internationally recognised Passivhaus Designer Certification.

Certification Guarantee

With us, you don’t need to stress. Over 95% of the students passed on their first attempt, and no one needed three attempts to pass.
Smart Plus Academy will give you all the tools and knowledge to pass the exam confidently.
Should you fail your first attempt for any reason, we give you up to 3 exam attempts without any additional costs, if you get a GOLD – Virtual Live – or a SILVER – Q&A Supported – Ticket.

Money Back Guarantee

If you get a GOLD – Virtual Live – Ticket, we are so confident that you pass that we will even give you the money back if you don’t get certified.

100% Pass Rate

Our courses have a proven professional process that has seen all of our students pass the certification with included 3 attempts.

+500 Students and Growing...

Over 500 happy building industry professionals successfully certified as Passive House Professionals.

For years Daniel asked before every course, “How can we make this the best course ever delivered?” Every feedback or struggle from our outstanding students gets analysed and used to improve the course. This is why we are pretty sure you will get the best course ever delivered too.

Our Partners

Join our Passivhaus Designer Course 3.0 and
be a part of the solution

Trusted by over 500+ students & growing…

What Is Included In The Passive House Designer Course 3.0

Step 01: Passive House Designer Readiness Quiz

Test your foundational knowledge required to becoming Passive House Certified.

Step 02: Passive House Designer Preparation Course

Our foundational program is designed to help to understand all the key mathematical concepts and terminology used in Passive House Design.

Step 03: Certified Passive House Designer Course 3.0

Our Passive House Designer Course is our comprehensive program designed to give you the working knowledge required in becoming a Certified Passive House designer.

You will learn 6 in-depth modules that are specially designed to

prepare you for sitting your accreditation exam and

prepare you to start your first Passive House design project.

Module 01 - Opaque Building Envelope

Overview of Passive House principles and certification.
Health and comfort considerations.
Quality assurance and building certification.
Sustainable construction and design.
Materials and approaches for creating the thermal envelope.
Airtightness, vapour and weather-control systems.

Module 02 - Build-ups, Details and Windows

Designs and solutions to address thermal bridging.
Solutions for air tight and thermal bridge design.
Construction detailing and systems.
The components and installation of windows.
Systems and strategies for managing shading.

Module 03 - Magic Formula and Ventilation

The Magic Formula – the one formula that covers 80% of your calculations in Passive House design.
Systems and strategies for ventilation and heat-recovery.
The components of heat-recovery ventilation systems.
Design and sizing of heat-recovery ventilation systems.
Commissioning of heat ventilation system and regulations.

Module 04 - Conditioning and Certification

Heating concepts, generation and distribution.
Cooling introduction & strategies.
The use and optimisation of domestic hot water systems.
Passive House certification & standard.
Working with your Passive House certifier.

Module 05 - Economics and The Standards

Economic basics in Passive House design.
Dynamic economical calculations.
Passive House vs conventional buildings
Profitability calculations.
The Passive House Standard.

Module 06 - Retrofit and PHPP

The retrofitting masterplan.
When does retrofitting make sense?
Retrofitting the building envelope.
Retrofitting the mechanical systems.
Introduction to PHPP software (Passive House Planning Package) and DesignPH

Step 04: Passive House Designer Examination Preparation Training

This course aims to familiarise you with the types of questions you will encounter during the certification exam, so you will be in the best position possible to pass and achieve certification.

This course also includes two mockup exams & a personal design review to prepare you for your exam.

Step 05: Online Passive House Designer / Consultant Examination

Become internationally Recognised as a Passive House Designer or Consultant. The exam takes three and a half hours. It includes design and mathematical components as well as multiple-choice questions. Please allow for five hours so that we can set up and you can submit your workings.

Plus If You Register With Smart Plus Academy, You Get Lifetime Access To…

The Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) is an MS Excel-based energy balance and efficiency design tool for highly energy-efficient buildings and retrofits. It provides all relevant calculations and verifications clearly and simply. With PHPP version 10, several new functions are released in addition to feature extensions.

Passive House Institute (PHI) Certification

The easiest way to become Internationally recognised as a
Certified Passive House Designer and Consultant.

Trusted by over 500+ students & growing…

Silver & Gold Tickets

CERTIFICATION GUARANTEE

Trusted by over 500+ students & growing…

Your Trainers

Daniel Kress

Daniel is an engineer, entrepreneur, and educator.

Daniel started his career as a carpenter in Germany and then worked in Ireland for six years. After ten years in the building industry, he completed his German and Canadian master’s in civil and structural engineering, specialising in building physics and building science.

He also worked for nearly two years on a European Union research project to improve sustainable building practices.

At the age of 37, Daniel started Smart Plus Academy (SPA), following his passion for educating and sharing his immense knowledge and experience. Since 2017, Daniel and his team have taught most of Australia’s certified Passive House professionals.

Now, Daniel is focusing on GLOBAL Passive House education for an even more significant impact.

Julia Kiefer

After studying architecture in her home country, Germany, Julia moved to Australia in 2006.

She then worked for leading architectural practices in Melbourne, Perth, and Darwin – along the way, gaining an understanding of Australia’s different geographic zones and the extremes of its climate.

Deeply passionate about sustainability and energy-efficient building design, Julia graduated as a Certified Passive House Designer in 2018. She has since made it her mission to bring about change in the building sector and to educate Australians about comfortable, healthy, and sustainable living spaces.

In 2020, Julia joined Smart Plus Academy as a Passive House trainer. She now educates building professionals across Australia about the Passive House standard.

Reviews

Trusted by over 500+ students & growing…

Aaron Anstis

26. May, 2022.

Training and trainers were fantastic. The content is relevant and trainers deliver it very well. Lots of time for questions and interaction to assist with learning. Thanks so much to the entire Smart Plus Academy team!

Jeremiah Appleby

8. April, 2022.

I’m so happy I completed the designer course with Smart Plus. The trainers and support staff were excellent. Students were kept on track with regular communications and any queries were addressed promptly. I highly recommend training with Smart Plus.

Tess S

7. April, 2022.

I had such a wonderful experience and felt completely supported every step of the way during the course. Highly recommend if you’re looking to become a Certified Passive House Designer!

Pablo Shopen

6. April, 2022.

A comprehensive and challenging course providing a very strong foundation for your passive house journey. Julia and Daniel are knowledgeable, inspirational and understanding teachers who are very good at explaining complex topics and condensing the huge volume of information. I would highly recommend this wonderful course.

Sri R

6. April, 2022.

Daniel Kress brings this amazing energy to class, seeing how passionate he is and his belief in passive house has motivated me all the more! The passive house designer course is very well curated to the T, they have left no stone unturned and ensured they detailed every aspect keeping in mind that learners from various levels of experience undertake this course. As a sustainability graduate with very little industry experience I found it rather easy to navigate through the course because of their systematic approach.They provide you with all the required study materials and their 6-day online course delivered by Julia gives you a complete walkthrough of all conceps. Julia and the support team are very helpful whenever you need assistance in any way! It’s been an honour to undertake this course with SPA and I couldn’t recommend it more! To anyone looking to start their Passive house journey, THIS IS THE PLACE TO COME!

Stuart McKenzie Hall

12. January, 2022.

Excellent, detailed and thorough course, well presented perfect for a serious step in improving your Passive House Designer journey and obtaining a valuable qualification. Highly recommended.

sam foutoulis

24. November, 2021.

Great course tought by a passionate experienced team!

Madhu Priya

13. October, 2021.

I can say with utmost confidence that I made the best use of the Sydney lockdown by enrolling myself in the Passive House Designer course by the Smart Plus Academy. Initially I was a bit skeptical about undertaking the course since I had just completed my Masters degree and had no prior industrial experience in this field and hence was not sure if I will be able to understand the concepts. But the course material was designed in such a way that it explained in great detail about every aspect of Passive House design. The effort put in by Daniel and Julia in delivering the concepts and engaging with the students through the homework tasks and exercises ensured a great level of understanding. The support team was also very prompt in answering our queries. Clearing the final exam was a cake walk with the level of preparation that we were put through. Overall, it was a very knowledgeable experience and I highly recommend this course for those who aspire to bring about a positive change in the built environment.

Wei-Chih Lin

9. October, 2021.

I enrolled in the Certified Passive House Designer Course and I highly recommend the course. The course tutors Daniel and Julia, and the team were very helpful, professional, and knowledgable.

Nick J

6. October, 2021.

Good course and content in preparation for examination. Supportive team prior to enrolling to discuss course suitability for my needs.

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Trusted by over 500+ students & growing…