Passive House, also known as Passivhaus, is a quality-assured building standard focused on five pillars: high insulation, extreme airtightness to 0.6 ACH50 or better, high-performance windows and doors, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, and thermal-bridge-free construction. It also sets comfort limits for summer so homes remain pleasant during hot spells. In Melbourne’s climate, those pillars deliver a snug, quiet home in winter and a cooler, steadier home in summer, with tiny heating and cooling systems doing the work

Clause 55, commonly known as ResCode, has long shaped the design of medium-density housing across Victoria. But in 2025, we’ve seen the most comprehensive overhaul of the code in years. With the introduction of the Townhouse and Low-Rise Code via Amendment VC267, Clause 55 has been restructured to better reflect the pressures and opportunities of contemporary urban development—especially in tight infill sites across cities like Melbourne.