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Alex Clifford
I have an extensive Design and Project Management background with over 25 years in the Retail, Leisure, Office Design and Residential Design and Construction sectors, and have completed my own award winning design and build of a low energy Passive House.
I am a Certified Passive House Designer, have completed the AECB CarbonLite Retrofit training course and am part of the AECB approved Certification group. I am qualified as a PAS 2035 Retrofit Co-ordinator and Retrofit Assessor, with a level 5 diploma in Retrofit Coordination and risk management and a level 4 diploma in Retrofit Assessment, and hold a Level 3 Award in Energy Efficiency for Older and Traditional Buildings. I have lived in Guildford on and off since 1978.
Clifford Design Ltd offer Passive House and Retrofit consultancy in Surrey and the Home Counties: new build and retrofit design, design management and client representation, specialising in low energy and sustainable homes.
Certified, and kept current
Staying at the forefront of best practice means extensive CPD to keep the Passive House Designer qualification, which is renewed every 5 years.
- Certified Passive House Designer
- PAS 2035 Retrofit Co-ordinator, level 5 diploma
- Retrofit Assessor, level 4 diploma
- AECB Approved Certification group
- AECB CarbonLite Retrofit training
- Energy Efficiency for Older and Traditional Buildings, level 3
- Domestic Energy Assessment, level 3
- BA Hons 3D Design, Product
A member of the AECB, the Passivhaus Trust and The Green Register
And a supporter of SPAB, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.
The award film
Winner, Guildford Society Design Awards 2020, Individual House
“I am very pleased to announce that my Design and Build Passive House has won the Guildford Society Design Awards 2020 in the Individual House category. It is great to have the project recognised by local Architects and the Council.”
“The timber frame house is highly insulated, with low permeability designed to Passive House standards. The interiors are well proportioned, comfortable to provide a contemporary family home.”
The judgesPress and talks
Asked to explain Passive House and retrofit
Magazines, lectures and industry events, newest first.
19/11/2025XP Surveys networking event, Henley
A talk on the importance of independent survey assessments, robust design with appropriate materials and a whole house approach.
04/12/2024RIBA South Conservation Group tour
A tour of Guildford’s historic buildings with the Guildford Society, on how they are repaired while cutting heating costs and carbon.
14/02/2022Living etc
Everything you need to know about Passive House: asked to discuss its benefits.
February editionSelf Build and Design
Our Passive House in an 8 page article.
Annual Architecture Lecture 2022: Alex’s own self build and low energy housing locally
- 10/11/2022
Guildford Society Annual Architecture Lecture
Sustainable Design in Housing, Addressing the Climate and Energy Crisis: presented alongside Justin Bere, with the University of Surrey.
- 10/11/2021
Homebuilding & Renovating
Passivhaus: how to build to this low energy standard. Quoted on its advantages, the alternatives and the myths.
- 02/10/2021
Build It magazine
A mention in an article on fabric first building and closing the gap between designed and real performance.
Recent courses and events
Passive House, retrofit, historic buildings and moisture, from the bodies that set the standards.
International Passive House Association29 courses
- Calculating heat losses through the ground – 04/03/2026
- Window replacement solutions from the Component Award 2026 – 06/05/2026
- Catalonia’s first all-electric PH elderly care home – 04/02/2026
- From firehouse to Passive House: Engine 16, New York City – 03/12/2025
- The CLT 8-floor ANMF hotel in Melbourne, Australia, with heritage overlay – 19/11/2025
- Heating with heat pumps in Passive House retrofits – 01/10/2025
- Certified Construction and Renovation Systems for Passive House buildings – 02/06/2025
- The embodied energy Passive House Tool – 04/06/2025
- Certified Components for efficient and comfortable office buildings – 12/02/2025
- China’s first certified Passive House Premium office building – 04/12/2024
- Electrify Responsibly with Passive House – 06/11/2024
- A Welsh pattern-book approach for delivering Passive House – 09/10/2024
- A practical introduction to EasyPH – 18/09/2024
- Two pilot EnerPHit unit projects in Italy and Portugal – 10/07/2024
- Cold Air Distribution – a novel approach to meeting Passive House Cooling Loads? – 05/06/2024
- Vancouver Passive House Policy and the Fire Hall 17 – 08/05/2024
- Passivhaus policy and legislation in Scotland – 17/04/2024
- outPHit single-family concept retrofit in Germany – 13/03/2024
- Eternal growth? Degrowth? Energy Efficiency for a somewhat different approach – 07/02/2024
- The state of Passive House in Latin America – 06/12/2024
- Passive House Training Centre in Trier – 08/11/2023
- Passive House for Everyone: Educating a new generation – 11/10/2023
- Do it yourself efficiency measures: EfficiencyNow – 07/06/2023
- Project Spotlight: Supermarkets – 10/05/2023
- Passive House Airtightness and the blower door test – 29/03/2023
- Passive House hospitals and health care centres – 01/02/2023
- Updates to the building certification criteria for Passive House, EnerPHit and PHI Low Energy Building – 07/12/2023
- EnerPHit Step-by-Step in Barcelona – 02/11/2023
- Verdi school in Collecchio, Parma, Italy – a successful EnerPHit project – 06/07/2022
Passivhaus Trust6 courses
- Summer Comfort in a Warming World – 10/09/2025
- UK Passivhaus Conference 17/09/2024
- Passivhaus Retrofit Masterclass Lecture Series, Step-by-step retrofit – 23/02/2022
- Passivhaus Retrofit Masterclass Lecture Series, Cavity construction retrofit – 27/01/2022
- Component method for residential retrofit
- PHPP & designPH Surgery Pilot
Coaction Training10 courses
- Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge – Certified Passivhaus New Build – 29/05/2025
- Coaction Trainer Case Studies – Webinar Series 22/05/2025
- Harris Academy, London – Certified Passivhaus New Build – 15/05/2025
- Riverside School, Perth Scotland – Certified Passivhaus New Build – 08/05/2025
- Cedar Court, Woodside, Glasgow – EnerPHit – 01/05/2025
- East Lothian Home, Scotland – towards EnerPHit – 03/04/2025
- Carlton Chapel House, London – part 2 services – EnerPHit – 27/03/2025
- Carlton Chapel House, London – part 1 building fabric – EnerPHit – 20/03/2025
- Greenhaus, Manchester – Certified Passivhaus New Build – 06/03/2025
- Entopia Building, Cambridge – EnerPHit – 27/02/2025
AECB5 courses
- AECB CarbonLite Passivhaus Planning Package (PHPP) Course
- Retrofit Now Conference – 27/09/2024
- Achieving AECB CarbonLite Retrofit on a heritage building
- Welsh ‘Future Homes’ Consultation: Make It CarbonLite!
- AECB and Social Housing in the Scottish Borders
Historic and traditional buildings5 courses
- Centre for Building Conservation Studies: Brick Building Surveys; Surveying Listed Buildings; High Risk Surveys Failed Retrofit Case Study; Structural Issues; Historic timber-frame surveys; Failed Eco4 funded retrofit case study
- The Green Register: Retrofitting Traditional Buildings; Retrofitting Traditional Buildings case studies; VAT in Retrofit, Maximising zero rating opportunities
- STBA: BS40104 Domestic Retrofit Assessment, implications for traditional and heritage buildings; Heritage Retrofit Methodology; Natural Materials in Retrofit
- RIBA South Conservation: Restoring 18th century thatched Cob houses
- SPAB: Baselining Buildings with Diane Hubbard; Keymer Tiles and Weinberger Factory tour
Moisture, ventilation and renewables3 courses
- UK Centre for Moisture in Buildings: Can AI predict damp risk?; What 25 Years Listening to Patients with Aspergillosis Teaches Us on Damp/Mould; Green aesthetics, Damp realities: Indoor plants and humidity in focus; Moisture Management in buildings; How the fungal kingdom is adapting to the built environment
- Ecological Building systems: Internal Wall Insulation Systems for Single Leaf Masonry Walls
- Mesh Energy: A systematic approach to monitoring damp and mould in buildings, Colin King; MVHR and Building Regulation F; Challenges to Retrofitting the UK housing stock; Introduction to Renewables and the Energy Hierarchy; How to get an existing home renewables ready