Judges Profiles
Professor Wolfgang Feist
Professor Wolfgang Feist is the Founder of the Passive House concept and the Passivhaus Institut in Germany. He first developed the term ‘PassivHaus’ in the 1980’s to refer to a voluntary, ultra low-energy construction standard for residences intended to dramatically reduce the requirement for space heating and cooling. Since then, the Passive House concept has become the fastest growing low energy standard in Europe and has seen widespread adoption, with over 25,000 structures completed to date.
Steff Bell
Steff Bell is a certified Passivhaus designer. He was introduced to the Passivhaus standard while working in Germany with Herz & Lang GmbH and obtained his Passivhaus qualification through the Certified European Passivhaus Designer Course (CEPH) at the Energieinstitut Vorarlberg in Austria. Since his return to Scotland, Steff has been working with the Scottish Passive House Centre (SPHC), helping to implement the Passive House standard in the UK through his work with the SPHC, research/development, article work and lecturing.
Professor Julian Marsh
Julian Marsh is Professor of Architecture at Sheffield Hallam University and a partner in Marsh:Grochowski LLP Architects. A practitioner, researcher and community energy activist, he designed the E.ON Research House at the University of Nottingham, the retrofit for the former Nottingham MP and green activist Alan Simpson and led the ‘Ozone’ urban energy project. His practice has won numerous RIBA and Civic Trust awards, the last two being for ‘The Meat Factory’, a negative carbon urban house based on layered ‘activ-design’ principles.
Bill Butcher
Director of Green Building Store and Green Building Company, Bill Butcher was project leader of the Denby Dale Passive House project. Originally trained as a quantity surveyor, he has over 35 years’ building experience, including construction of the Longwood low-energy house in the early 1990s. Bill has sought to make Passive House construction methods accessible and easily understandable for the wider construction industry and is also actively campaigning to improve the regulatory framework to facilitate the uptake of Passive House design in the UK.
Nick Grant
Nick Grant is Technical Director of the Passivhaus Trust. He has been working with the Passivhaus Planning Package for low energy building design since 2007 and qualified as a Certified Passivhaus Consultant at the University of Strathclyde in 2009. Nick is committed to an ‘eco-minimalist’ approach to sustainable construction, rather than bolt-on solutions and green icons. He has developed a number of commercial products, and has designed and built his own water and energy efficient house and office. He is also currently working on a number of Passivhaus projects from single homes to four schools, with two completed to date.
Nick Ebbs
Nick Ebbs is a Director of Igloo Regeneration and Chief Executive of Blueprint, a partnership between Igloo and the Homes and Communities Agency. He is a Chartered Development and Investment Surveyor and has over 30 years’ development experience, working on a wide range of award-winning projects including Nottingham Science Park, Bermondsey Square in London and Porth Teigr in Cardiff. He serves as a Special Professor of Sustainable development at the School of Architecture and the Built Environment at Nottingham University and is also an external examiner at Nottingham Trent University (Built Environment).
Hattie Hartman
Hattie Hartman is the Sustainability Editor for The Architects’ Journal, editing its monthly Sustainability in Practice features and writing the AJ daily sustainability blog at ajfootprint.com. She joined the AJ in 2006 and was previously technical and practice editor. She is an American architect and journalist based in London since 1991. Prior to joining the AJ, she worked as a qualified architect in London, Washington, D.C. and Brasilia. She holds joint masters degrees in architecture and urban studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an undergraduate degree in art history from Harvard University. Her book, London 2012: Sustainable Design was published by John Wiley & Sons in January.
Gabriel Golumbeanu
Gabriel Golumbeanu is International Building Concept Developer at Saint-Gobain ISOVER International Marketing department, responsible for the development of Multi-Comfort concept.