Mark Elton joined Sustainable By Design LLP as a Partner in May 2013, bringing with him over 18 years of experience in low energy architecture. Having worked on projects across the UK, his interest in sustainable design stems from a combined architectural and engineering education at the Universitys of Bath and Plymouth. A Certified Passivhaus Designer since 2011, Mark has also has the distinction of being a Founder member of the UK’s Passivhaus Trust. His recent Passivhaus experience includes:

• Chi Difreyth (Cornish for Passivhaus), one of the selected terraced house designs for the Clay Country Eco Town,
• RockShell housing, developing details for a pre-fabricated Passivhaus building system
• Parkview Hub, mixed use residential and community retrofit to the EnerPHit standard
• Wilmcote House, the largest EnerPHit retrofit on the drawing board in the UK

Mark has been an active member of the Royal Insititute of British Architects (RIBA)’s Sustainable Futures Committee for over four years and currently represents the RIBA on the CIBSE Homes for the Future committee and the BRE’s National Refurbishment Centre initiative. He writes and speaks regularly on sustainable design and has been selected as one of the UK’s top 10 most influential sustainable architects on Twitter. Mark believes that the deep understanding of building physics and detailing rigour coupled with an extensive knowledge of building materials and their environmental impacts can help us avoid the tick box approach to ‘green’ design all too commonly passed off as sustainability.

Wolfgang Feist, a physicist by training, came into contact with the problems of energy supply early on in his career and soon dedicated his work to the development of systematic solutions. Wolfgang saw the answer he had been seeking in energy efficiency. Working tirelessly on the improvement of energy efficient in buildings since 1980, Feist developed and constructed the first Passive House in 1991 and played a key role in the development of the Passive House Standard. He was awarded the German Environmental Award in 2001 and the Göteborg International Environment Prize in 2003. In 2013, he was awarded the Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Practical solutions have always been the focus of Feist’s work. With the founding of the Passive House Institute in 1996, he created an independent research institution that aids architects, engineers and component manufacturers in the development of highly efficient buildings and components.

In addition to heading the Passive House Institute, Wolfgang Feist is a professor of building physics at the University of Innsbruck where he has worked with the department of Energy Efficient Construction since 2008 to spur development in the region of Tyrol, Austria.

After completing his architecture studies, Burkhard Fröhlich took the post of editor for the Bauverlag BV GmbH, a construction publishing house in Gütersloh, Germany. Fröhlich has gone on to become the editor in chief for a number of key construction journals including the TAB Technik am Bau, Bauhandwerk, the DBZ Deutsche BauZeitschrift and associated special editions, as well as Licht+Raum. From 2003 to 2004, he taught Architecure Media Management, PR and Marketing for Architects at the Bochum University of Applied Sciences and has been the chair of the Working Group for Contruction Trade Press since 2002. Fröhlich has further concentrated his work on the development of new architectural media, especially in the context of corporate publishing, client-centred publications, customer marketing services and end-user events, including the moderation of target group specific of architectural and construction themes.

Zdravko Genchev graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Higher Architectural and Civil Engineering Institute (1967) and went on to do post graduate training in Italy, the UK and Denmark. The lead designer of a series of buildings and housing estates also works as a university lecturer on housing architecture and energy efficiency in buildings as well as a trainer for “municipal energy planning” and “green building design”. Lead author of “The methodology for municipal energy planning”, the “Guide for municipal decision makers and managers” as well as the series “10 Books of Green Architecture” and “99 good practices” in low energy building design and construction, Zdravko has participated in significant international forums on energy efficiency as a lecturer and has published more than 200 publications in national and foreign editions.

Zdravko’s professional record includes: Editor-in-Chief of the Architecture Magazine, Head of the Housing Policy Department of the Ministry of Regional Development and Housing Policy, Director General of the National Centre for Regional Development and Housing Policy. Executive Director of the Centre for Energy Efficiency EnEffect (Since 1993), Executive Director of the Municipal Energy Efficiency Network EcoEnergy (since 1997), Chairman of the Steering Committee of the UN ECE Project “Energy Efficiency 21”, regional coordinator of RENEUER for Southeast Europe and life-member of the US Association of Energy Engineers

After a Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Science in computer modelling at Cornell University, Robert decided to pursue a growing interest in solar energy with his acceptance of a research position at the U.S. Center for Building Technology where his first publication, "Window Design Strategies to Conserve Energy," received the Publication of the Year Award. At the Center, Robert led a multidisciplinary team in the examination of options for solar use in cities and towns (SUNCAT). This led to his fascination in computer modeling, using the program DEROB (Dynamic Response of Buildings). To provide a common basis for researchers doing simulations across the US, he published a reference house ("The Hastings House") based on construction statistics from the National Association of Home Builders.

In 1980 he moved to Switzerland to work at Building Physics Department of the EMPA. There he led international teams for the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme of the International Energy Agency and co-authored five books on architecture and solar design.

Robert went on to lead the Solar Architecture research group of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and served as national programme manager for Solar Buildings, where he also taught on building and solar energy. In 2000 he founded the Architecture, Energy & Environment Ltd. (AEU), which won 1st place with a partner firm in the 2002 "European Solar Design Competition" for a housing project in Herten, Germany, and later received the UK Energy Institute "Environment Award" in 2007.

Robert has served as Professor and Head of the Department of Buildings and Environment at the Donau University in Krems, from which he has now retired. He continues to consult for architects and building clients; serve on juries for project selection juries for Austrian, Swiss and Italian and EU commissions; and guest lecture at universities and conferences.

Helmut Krapmeier graduated from Vienna Technical University where he studies architecture and conducted his dissertation on “Heat Engineering and Solar Building renovation”. He went on to do post graduate work in Energy and Environmental Management at Berlin Technical University. Additional educational involvement includes a course entitled “Ecology: Man and Environment” at the University DIFF in Tübingen, Germany as well as participation in the Architecture and Ecology Working Group at the Technical University of Munich.

In 1985, after working in architectural offices in Vienna and Munich for several years, Helmut founded ITEM (Ingenieur¬team für Energie- und Umwelttechnik) in Munich. The „Öko-Solar-Haus“ – a demonstration house open to the public – is among several projects supervised by ITEM.

Helmut has been a faculty member at the “Energieinstitut Vorarlberg“ (Energy Institute of Vorarlberg - EIV) since 1990 as well as head of the Solar Architecture Department and the “International Solar Building School of Vorarlberg” organising Passive House Seminars since 1994. He worked as the Austrian Project Manager for the CEPHEUS project and as the regional project manager for the “klima:aktiv haus” project.

As a visiting professor at the University of Krems, Helmut has been teaching “Solar Architecture” at the Center for Building and Environment since 1997.

He also works at the “University of Art and Industrial design” in Linz, giving lectures in “Solar Architecture and Energy Efficient Building Services” at the Architectural Department since 1997.

In 2000, Krapmeier was awarded the “European Solar Prize for Architecture and Urban Building” by Euro Solar.

In 2001, he received the Austrian Environmental Award (“Österreichischer Umweltpreis“) awarded by OGUT (Austrian Society For Environment and Technology).

Jeroen Poppe studied Architecture in Belgium and completed a Master in Sustainability in Spain. He joined the Flemish Passive House Association Passiefhuis-Platform (php) in 2008 and participated in several research projects about Passive House design and technology. Currently, he leads a support program for local authorities developing non-residential buildings and urban areas to Passive House Standard and coaches building teams for twenty Passive House schools in the making in Flanders. Jeroen also works as a guest teacher at the Technical University of Barcelona.

Since graduating from his architectural studies at the University of Innsbruck in 1984, Raimund Rainer has worked in his own architecture studio. Rainer began to delve into energy efficient building early on in his career, receiving his first recognition in the field in 1996 by placing first in an Austria-wide competition for his low energy solar house. From this point on, Rainer focused his work on low energy residential buildings – a logical stepping stone towards his subsequent interest in Passive House. Raimund’s architectural endeavours have since diversified to include public buildings as well as other, special building typologies, while always remaining true to his interest in ecological, energy efficient construction, “Architecture is a product of its location and/or landscape – energy, while important, is but one aspect. Architectural design and energy concepts must be simple and cost-effective.” Raimund Rainer has received numerous awards, among them:

• Contemporary architecture in the Alps: Distinction for the Mooserkreuz residence, St. Anton, Austria (1999)
• Contemporary architecture in Tyrol: Recognition for the Mooserkreuz residence, St. Anton, Austria (1998)
• Contemporary architecture in Tyrol: Distinction for the Sölden cemetery expansion (2004)
• Tirolian Low Enery Building Awards: for various residential buildings (1999 – 2001)
• Austrian Solar Architecture Award: award for an apartment building in St. Anton, Austria as well as for a single family house in Absam, Austria (2003)
• BTV Bauherrenpreis: prize for the Brixlegg Passive House School, Brixlegg, Austria (2007)
• Energy-Globe-Award: Austrian-wide winner for the Brixlegg Passive House School, Brixlegg, Austria (2007)
• Tyrolian Renovation Prize: for the Karrösten Community Centre and the Stams Passive House School, Austria (2009)
• Tyrol Timber Construction Prize: for the West BST 3 Agricultral Centre, in Imst, Austria (2011)

In 2012, Rainer completed the first Certified Passive House Supermarket in Central Europe, located in Pinswang, Austria. Raimund Rainer currently heads an architectural studio with five staff members in Innsbruck, Austria.

Ludwig Rongen, architect and urban planner by trade, has dedicated much of his professional career to Passive House. A Certified Passive House Designer and Passive House Institute accredited Building Certifier, Rongen has designed dozens of Passive House buildings over the last 15 years, among them many Passive House firsts: the first Passive House retirement home, the first Passive House school, the first prefabricated modular Passive House building, the smallest Passive House building and the first non-residential Passive House retrofit with internal insulation - certified to the EnerPHit Standard for retrofits worldwide etc. Rongen runs his own architectural office, RONGEN ARCHITECTS GmbH, and helped found the PHiA (PASSIVE HOUSE international ARCHITECTS), a new initiative for sustainable building active in Germany, China and South Korea. Ludwig has been awarded many times over for his work, including:

• For the 2003 "Protection of historic buildings and monuments - the economic option in comparison to new buildings" competition
• For the Baesweiler secondary school (Baesweiler, Germany) in 2008 as "Best Project" in a social infrastructure program for energy efficiency renovations (North-Rhine-Westphalia, Germany); in 2010 for a Germany-wide "Municipal Climate Protection" competition; and 2012 in the ISOVER "Energy Efficiency Award 2013" competition
• For the "House Am Buir" (Wassenberg, Germany) in 2012 in the ISOVER “Energy Efficiency Award 2013” competition

In addition to lecturing on energy efficient architecture at the Erfurt University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Ludwig acts as a visiting professor at both the Sichuan University and the Southwest Jiaotong University, both in Chengdu, China. Ludwig Rongen continues to give lectures regarding Passive House worldwide and has also published in a variety of professional journals on the topic. Additionally, he has authored and co-authored various specialized books such as Frick / Knöll - structural theory (Ulf Hestermann und Ludwig Rongen) and Climate and environmental adapted building in the P. R. of China (together with other authors).