Our projects

The UK's leading Passivhaus contractor

With soaring energy prices drawing attention to the efficiency of our homes and buildings, the past year has seen a growing interest in sustainable design. Willmott Dixon’s track record in delivering Passivhaus and low carbon buildings has seen increasing demand for projects that offer the highest levels of energy efficiency.

To help showcase the workings of Collida – our Passivhaus and net zero carbon-ready residential design platform - we have created two innovative ‘Collida Living’ homes at the BRE Innovation Park in Watford. These prototypes use 35% lower embodied carbon than the Low Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) benchmark, and their performance exceeds the Future Homes Standard which is due to be introduced in 2025. Part of our plans to revolutionise the market by delivering affordable buildings that boast the highest levels of performance, they allowed us to demonstrate the latest in digital innovation and modern methods of construction. For example, the use of a fully non-combustible steel frame allowed completion inside 15 weeks and required 40% less labour than a traditional construction project.

In 2022, we completed 18 ultra-efficient homes for Caerphilly County Borough Council. The airtight building fabric, high-performance insulation, and highly efficient heat recovery mechanical ventilation system mean these homes produce one tonne of carbon per year compared with six tonnes for the average household. Part-funded by the Innovative Housing Programme, these buildings will result in low energy bills for tenants, with heating costs measured at just over £1-a-day on our Caerphilly scheme and will continue to be monitored for in-use performance.

The regeneration of the Gascoigne neighbourhood in East London is taking shape with Willmott Dixon set to deliver more than 500 homes across a mix of low-rise blocks close to Barking town centre. Working with our customer, Barking and Dagenham Council, the project pushes well beyond Building Regulations with homes that are net zero carbon-ready, and includes some of the first Passivhaus certified homes, designed by Collida, at Block F2 of Gascoigne East. Both projects showcase how customers are increasingly looking at the lifecycle value when building affordable homes.

In September, work began at Spelthorne Leisure Centre, set to be one of the UK’s most advanced, energy efficient Passivhaus leisure centres once completed in Spring 2024.

The £44m project (below) will incorporate a rooftop 3G pitch, sports hall, gym and competitive, learner and splash swimming pools into a design that will achieve energy savings of around 60% compared to a standard leisure centre.

Also underway for the University of Oxford’s St Peter’s College is the creation of two four-storey ultra-low carbon buildings to provide accommodation for 54 students (below). Designed to meet the Passivhaus Institute Low Energy Building (LEB) Standard, once complete in autumn 2023, the students will live in one of the UK’s most sustainable residences.

Completed and current passivhaus projects

As the UK’s leading Passivhaus contractor, we have a series of high-profile projects in our portfolio, from the largest non-domestic project, the George Davies Centre for Medicine at the University of Leicester, to the largest secondary school, the Harris Academy in Sutton.

Optimised efficiency with Energy Synergy

Energy Synergy™ is Willmott Dixon’s industry-leading approach to building performance. With 40% of the UK’s total carbon footprint stemming from buildings, improvements to energy performance will play a key role in reducing carbon emissions. We take regular, detailed measurements of a building in operation to help improve efficiency and lower operating costs. For new buildings, Energy Synergy™ allows us to eliminate any gaps between the 'in use' performance and the energy consumption and efficiency predicted at the design stage. Through careful monitoring we identify seasonal commissioning, system schedules and maintenance activities to drive down energy use.

Crucially, we know Energy Synergy™ is delivering for our customers year-on-year. At the University of Warwick’s Sports and Wellness Hub (below), £40,000-of-annual savings identified in 2019, equating to 98,520 kgCO₂e of carbon emissions, was equivalent to annual savings of £104,000 at March 2023 energy prices.

The Passivhaus ‘Plus’ standard Hackbridge Primary School in the London Borough of Sutton (below), has been monitored since handover in October 2019 to ensure energy use is optimised and carbon emissions are further reduced through on-site renewable generation. Energy use has been cut by 10,000kWh/annum from its peak use, while energy generation has increased by 40,000kWh/annum from its lowest yield. As part of the 420-pupil school’s Energy Synergy™ package, we will continue to monitor and optimise the building ensuring all systems meet or exceed design expectations.

Decarbonisation to future-proof buildings

In November 2022, we launched our Decarbonise Today service to help customers reduce carbon emissions from their buildings. Decarbonise Today builds on the success of projects such as Willmott Dixon’s decarbonisation scheme for Oxford City Council, where we helped reduce emissions from four leisure centres by installing water and air source heat pumps. At the first of those sites, Hinksey Outdoor Pool, we installed a water-to-water source heat pump (below). This provides most of the heat required throughout the swimming pool season, reducing annual gas consumption by approximately 80%.

Our People leading the industry

Willmott Dixon’s Francesca Wilkinson (Midlands, Sustainability and Environmental Manager) and Doug Drewniak (Group Sustainability, Senior Building Performance Manager) have joined UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard working groups to help develop a new best-practice industry standard for net zero new-build and refurbishment projects. Francesca and Doug were selected out of a pool of 1,000 applicants of leading UK engineers, consultants and built environment professionals.

Our Head of Building Performance Alasdair Donn is a member of industry advisory groups that support sustainable building performance. He contributed to the CIBSE /Technical Memorandum on best practice guide design for heat pumps in homes, the Future Homes Hub advisory group on potential 2025 regulatory standards for homes, and the CIBSE Homes for the Future group. Alasdair is also a former Non-Exec Director of the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA).

Recognition of our Brilliant Buildings

We take great pride in delivering Brilliant Buildings for our customers, sharing with them the recognition for our successful people, projects and initiatives.

Willmott Dixon’s own Alasdair Donn was named Net Zero Hero of the Year at the UK's Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum (below, pictured left). Alasdair was fundamental to the development of Energy Synergy™ and was recognised for his efforts to support our ambition to deliver all buildings achieving net-zero operational carbon by 2030.

The Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building at University of Warwick (below) scooped the Green Building Project of the Year Award at the BusinessGreen Leaders awards 2022.

Completed in 2021, the facility features innovative vertical photovoltaic panels increasing renewable generation capability, and is currently being closely monitored using Energy Synergy™ to verify performance and help drive down energy costs.

The Evolution Centre at Oaklands College (below) won ‘Best Project Delivering Sustainability Outcomes’ at the 2022 Pagabo awards.

Part of a £62m campus redevelopment scheme, it was recognised for embedding sustainability throughout the delivery, including reducing the need for diesel generators on site, ensuring timber was reused and wastage reduced.