Energy efficient PassivHaus art café to open

A new café has been designed with creativity and sustainability in mind.

Goldfinch Create and Play is Bristol’s first PassivHaus art café, designed so the building is as energy efficient as possible while achieving optimum levels of comfort inside.

The construction technique, translating literally as ‘passive house’, originated in Germany in the 1990s. It is the only internationally recognised, scientifically-based energy standard in construction delivering such a high level of performance.

Architects Mark and Nicole Strong designed and developed the PassivHaus building renovation to ensure the Goldfinch cafe is as sustainable as possible.

Passive houses are designed to be as airtight as possible and reportedly consume up to 90% less heating and cooling energy than conventional buildings.

Goldfinch, the café in Westbury-on-Trym, was conceptualised by urban designer Nicole Strong and her architect husband Mark with the environment in mind.

“The benefits of PassivHaus are hugely important to reduce carbon emissions,” says Mark.

“25 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gases come from the built environment, the construction and use of buildings.

“The Goldfinch building is so well insulated, has triple glazed windows and leaks over 15 times less air – and therefore heat – than the average building, meaning it only needs a roof-mounted air-source heat pump to meet the heating, cooling and hot water needs.”

Passive houses are designed to maintain a constant indoor temperature, with ventilation and moisture levels meticulously controlled, and heat retained from the sun and residents’ activities.

“This is one of passive housing’s key benefits,” says Mark. “It loses so little heat in colder months that what little is required can be provided by the occupants and appliances within the building, and topped up using renewable technologies such as the air-source heat pump, offset with electricity from solar panels on the roof.

“For every one unit of electricity used, the heat pump gives out four units of heat.”

Installing the solar panels on the roof of the Goldfinch cafe.

There are around 1500 passive house buildings in the UK, and 65,000 worldwide. Bristol examples have made headlines for plaudits ranging from scale of development to carbon cuts to energy bill reduction.

In 2021, UWE Bristol were given the go-ahead to start work on “one of the world’s largest PassivHaus student residences”, with space for 900 students and a goal of 75% carbon reduction compared to the same size, conventionally-designed building.

And a private PassivHaus built from ecological materials in Nailsea was found to produce more energy than it used, turning energy bills in to net profits.

“We wanted Goldfinch to be as good for the environment as it is for our community, the children who come to create here and their parents,” says Nicole.

Goldfinch will run creative, nature-based activities and host art parties for children, alongside yoga and art classes for adults.

Goldfinch offers art classes for children aged 18 months to 13 years old with a variety of pre- and after-school art and yoga sessions. There will also be a different adult art series every weekday evening.

On weekends the venue is available for children’s birthday parties with a creative twist.

The café opens on September 4 and is offering free family activities on September 9. Register at www.goldfinchcreateandplay.co.uk

All photos: Adele Williams, www.superfunkypenguin.co.uk 

This piece of independent journalism is supported by The Extra Mile and the Bristol24/7 public and business membership.

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