Christina McPike
Username
Christina McPike
Proposer First Name
Christina
Proposer Email
cmcpike@winnco.com
Proposer Last Name
McPike

Boston 2021 Areas of Focus

Proposer Company/Organization
WinnCompanies
Proposer Job Title
Director Energy & Sustainability
Proposed Session Description
WinnDevelopment, with support from Steven Winter Associates, pursued the rigorous EnerPHit standard for a visionary adaptive reuse project in East Haven, CT. The vacant historic structure was originally a high school, built in 1936, with an addition constructed in 1964. The project was converted to 70 mixed income elderly rental apartments in 2019-2020. The project received funding from Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA), earning critical points through its competitive funding round for designing to the Passive House standard. Several challenges persisted through design development and historic review, each of which required approval by the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), National Park Service (NPS), and PHI. Each decision had to balance occupant comfort, budget, and historic status. The developer and PH consultant will discuss team coordination, product selection, construction sequencing, and performance testing outcomes - the good and the bad. They will describe the EnerPHit design and construction process, along with challenges to achieving the standard and the anticipated benefits for tenants, the building owner, and the environment.
Diversity and Inclusiveness
Our session does not address diversity, equity, or inclusion. The topic will be focused on developing affordable housing, which is a critical resource for combating poverty, housing insecurity, and economic justice.
Learning Objectives
Understand the requirements of the EnerPHit Standard
Identify the challenges of bringing a historic property to this level of efficiency
Understand the advantages to the tenants that will result from applying this construction method
Explain how the construction process is affected by the EnerPHit standard.
Has this session been presented before?
Yes
When and Where?
NAPHN
Target Audiences Level of Expertise
Level 2 - Some prior knowledge helpful.
Recommended Length
60-minute session
90-minute session

Strongest Content Connection - Boston 2021

Comments about your speaker roster
Lois Arena is an extremely experienced Passive House consultant, leading the team at SWA. Lois is an excellent speaker, and was instrumental in designing and modeling the building with PHI. We may see if PHI may make a representative available to join the presentation as well, to speak to a phased approach to certifying.
Reviewer 1
Li, Arlen
Reviewer 2
Craig, Bev
Proposal #
117
Committee Decision
Being Considered

Presenters

Full Description
Historic preservation projects are exempt from energy code compliance. Should they be? Should other certification standards consider certain waivers, like PHI does, or might relaxed standards result in poor performance? Does the EnerPHit standard offer valuable and unique opportunities for existing buildings seeking high performance design? Does 'incentivizing' high performance certification standards, like Passive House, above all others make preservation deals and rehabs less financable compared to new construction? We'll provide some lessons learned from a non-simultaneous VRF system with lease up occurring in the shoulder season. (Hint: the building was overheating). Compartmentalization vs. whole building blower door testing - it's important to understand that one does not equal the other. This project passed its Energy Star compartmentalization testing with flying colors, but failed its whole building test. COVID and a split-certificate of occupancy didn't help, but what else went wrong? The session may speculate how EnerPHit could work for a phased rehab, as opposed to an all-in-one turnkey gut rehab.