Looking Beyond the Numbers: Ben’s Journey into Passive House

As the founder of ARKATA, a residential energy efficiency consultancy, Ben Walsham works with architects, builders and homeowners to provide building knowledge and a deeper understanding of how homes perform.

His work combines frameworks such as Passive House, PHPP, DesignPH and NatHERS, alongside hygrothermal and thermal bridging assessments. For Ben, the opportunity to undertake the Passive House course through the pro clima Passive House scholarship was a natural next step in expanding that knowledge.

“For me, doing the Passive House course was always on the to-do list. And so, when I heard about the scholarship, it was a no-brainer to apply for it.”

Looking beyond standardised assessments

Before completing the course, Ben was already familiar with Passive House principles and had been working towards many of them through his work with NatHERS.

However, the course gave him a deeper appreciation of the differences between the two approaches. “NatHERS is a great process, but it is optimised to enable scale across 200,000 homes per year” says Ben. He explains that elements such as WERS and the underpinning of the NatHERS engine have been standardised to support this scale. Passive House, on the other hand, takes a much more holistic and in-depth approach, with the assessment based on the physics of the specific home being designed or assessed.

“There is nothing wrong with standardising an assessment framework to enable scale across hundreds of thousands of homes per year, but with scale comes limitations.” For Ben, this highlighted the value of looking beyond standardised assessment frameworks and considering the individual characteristics and performance of each home.

The impact of the Passive House course

Since completing the course, Ben says the scholarship has provided two key benefits: recognition and the ability to offer a more robust and complete assessment of a home.

“Getting through the Passive House course isn’t easy, and the accomplishment feels great.” More importantly, the course has helped Ben broaden his approach to sustainability and building performance. “Sustainability overall is a big field and Passive House helps you move towards that where you are considering much more than simply a home’s energy efficiency,” he says.

For anyone considering applying for a pro clima Passive House scholarship, Ben’s advice is to start by being yourself. “Show the world your unique make-up of experiences, insights, and knowledge. No Passive House consultant is alike,” he says.

While everyone brings different experiences and perspectives to the industry, Ben believes there is a common foundation that brings those perspectives together – physics.

“What grounds us however is the physics, that is the common language.”

His second piece of advice is a little more practical: don’t be intimidated by the numbers. “Get a gridded paper and pens and write them out! Get off the computer. It helps a lot!”

What’s next for Ben?

Looking ahead, Ben’s goal is to bring together Passive House, compliance, hygrothermal assessment and thermal bridging at scale, with a focus on the people who live in the homes being developed. For him, building knowledge is ultimately about understanding how buildings perform and using that skill to help build better homes.

And his final piece of advice is simple: “Ask lots of questions. Always.”

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pro clima Australia Passive House Scholarships 2026 applications are now open!

This year, we’re offering three scholarships, each designed to support a different stage of a professional’s Passive House journey:

  • Passivhaus Fundamentals: for building professionals who are new to Passive House.
  • Certified Passive House Designer: for professionals looking to take their Passive House knowledge to the next level.
  • Certified Passive House Tradesperson: For builders and tradespeople who want to strengthen their practical Passive House skills

Don’t miss out on a chance for a full ride to boost your Passive House journey.

Apply now