Many building types have been built to the Passivhaus standard. Examples include homes, schools, university buildings, offices and even archive stores. But no one had built a Passivhaus leisure centre outside Germany, where there are just two examples.

So it was a brave step for Exeter council to trailblaze the way by building the UK’s first Passivhaus leisure centre, particularly as it is much larger than the German examples. Leisure centres guzzle energy, as swimming pools are heated to 30ºC and standards dictate that for each bather using the pool, 30 litres of water need to be dumped and replaced with the same volume of heated water.

Pool halls, which are large, lofty spaces, are also heated to similar temperatures to keep bathers comfortable when they leave the water, and hot water use is high as swimmers and gym users want showers after their session. Unlike the usual Building Regulations, Passivhaus standards regulate all energy use in buildings, which means that all these multiple demands need to be considered and energy use pared down to the bare minimum.

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