About Us

OUR FOCUS

Built for Alberta’s cold and ever-changing climate, Passive House certified buildings create a healthy, comfortable and sustainable homes and work environments for all Albertans.

Consider us your go-to place for information, resources, and events to help with your Passive House projects, plans, and questions! Check out our upcoming free webinars.

OUR LEADERSHIP

Passive House Alberta is part of a global network dedicated to promoting Passive House principles worldwide. Our local leadership team is comprised of a group of dedicated, passionate people committed to making Passive House affordable and accessible for all Albertans.


Our Team

Steven Cox

Chair
Steven Cox believes the future of buildings in Alberta is the internationally recognized Passive House standard. In his eyes, it is the charge of this generation of Albertans to fully embrace the role of problem solver. Steven believes Passive House Alberta can inform others about how and why buildings are built the way they are. He wants people to get as excited about the less visible features within a building envelope as they are about cabinets, countertops and paint colors. Being involved in Passive House means being an active contributor in encouraging regenerative home development and improving health for every generation of Albertans.

Cliff Huber

Vice-Chair
Cliff Huber is the Preconstruction Manager for Scott Builders Inc., an Alberta company specialized in total construction services from design to completion. Based in Edmonton, he is an Architectural Technologist, with 28 years’ experience designing and managing construction projects. In his position he is required to determine the Owners needs and design requirements, bringing together a team to complete projects that meet current standards and building practices. In addition to his role as a Passive House Alberta board member, Cliff is also an active member of The Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta (ASET).

Elan de Laforest

Executive Director
Elan de Laforest is a co-founder and Director of Business and Environment for SERI®. An interdisciplinary innovator with degrees in science, management, and education, she is passionate about the relationship between the environment, buildings, and our health. As a Professional Biologist, her experience spans disaster planning to policy development, bridging gaps across institutions and individuals based on 20+ years of work as a scientist, advisor and educator. Prior to joining Passive House Alberta, she served as a Senior Advisor with Alberta Environment.

Kim Walton

Treasurer
Founder of a quietly successful building and consulting practice, Kim Walton of Bow Crow Design has spent the last 35 years designing energy efficient homes and small buildings from the Alberta Foothills. Using her skills in Energy modelling and employing excellence in building science, Kim designs and manages Passive House and Net Zero projects across Western Canada. Kim realizes her clients’ vision with solutions that are functional, healthy, durable, energy efficient, site-specific, beautiful and fun. She uses appropriate technologies to create sensible, affordable and sustainable living places.

Mahsan Omid

Founding Board Member
Mahsan Omid is an Environmental Designer and founding board member of Passive House Alberta. Her master’s thesis sparked her passion for sustainability and environmental creativity, the forces driving her interest in high performance buildings. Mahsan has been delivering projects in leading construction, consulting and engineering firms, including net zero design projects ranging from community design down to homes. An interest in rigorous energy efficiency solutions led her toward the Passive House principles. She brings both an academic and practical knowledge to her work as an educator at SAIT and the University of Calgary.

Marshall Gardner

Board Member
Marshall Gardner is a Passive House Consultant and the founder of SASEC Comfort Design in Lethbridge.  He brings experience working with unconventional structures and a long-standing passion for off-grid developments using natural materials.  Marshall’s focus is to raise comfort and efficiency potential towards Passive House heights with client education, in-depth building element analysis, and layout design to maximize building potential. Adapting the core elements of Passive House to new and existing buildings for enhanced comfort and efficiency for the long term, in a sustainable way, is possible!

Trevor Isaac

Board Member
Trevor Isaac is a builder and Passive House Alberta board member representing the greater North West of the province. After completing the Passive House designer course in February 2019, Trevor became interested in encouraging greater support for the Passive House community. He has a desire to turn the interest in "big and fancy" buildings into "big, fancy, and efficient." As such, he is taking his company Refuge Construction Ltd. toward the Passive House level of efficiency and is committed to helping others stay in front of the more-stringent energy efficiency changes anticipated in upcoming National Building Codes.

Chris Artibello

Board Member
Chris Artibello is the founder and president of the One Seven Group of Companies, a consortium of real estate development and financing companies operating across Alberta. Chris has over 17 years of experience in construction and real estate development, analysis, research, due diligence, and strategy, and over 25 years of entrepreneurial experience. After completing Passive House Alberta’s general course, he was inspired to make strides in furthering Passive House development. His company Bella Developments was responsible for petitioning the City of Calgary to green light the first Passive House Certified Multi-family project in Calgary and has committed to making Passive House designs a fixture in Calgary’s built environment.

Liza Skaria

Board Member
Liza Skaria is an architect with more than 20 years of professional experience, and is currently the Resilient Building Coordinator for the City of Calgary. Liza has a diverse portfolio including the management of several complex projects and multi-stakeholder collaborations. As climate change issues have become more prevalent in recent years, Liza was inspired to expand her expertise to sustainable building and climate resilient designs. Liza became a Certified Passive House Designer in 2021 with the aim of contributing to a built environment that is climate resilient and better adapted for human wellbeing.

Gilles Prefontaine

Board Member
With over two decades of senior leadership experience in public sector, private sector, and not-for-profit organizations, Gilles Prefontaine has made significant strides in establishing more sustainable industries and communities. Gilles possesses a broad range of expertise, including but not limited to board governance, stakeholder relations, organizational change, and communications. His extensive leadership experience in industry and not-for-profit circles has been motivated by his passion for creating more sustainable industries and communities, and he strives to make Passive House designs a key part of this sustainable future.

Oscar Flechas

Past Chair
Oscar Flechas is the founder of Flechas Architecture, a Calgary-based progressive studio that uses simple and creative design solutions to produce environmentally responsible and innovative results. He is a registered Architect with over 20 years of experience promoting environmental, social and economic responsibility within the building sector. With an eye for building designs that minimize the impact of their construction and maintenance, the principles of Passive House are a natural fit for his innovative projects. He is a founding board member of Passive House Alberta and is currently serving the organization as Board Chair.

Frank Crawford

Education Committee Lead
Frank Crawford is a civil engineer with 15 years of commercial construction project management experience. A refocused drive on designing a Passive House building in the Calgary area enabled Frank to build, and now currently live in, one of Calgary’s first Passive Houses. He is an Energy Efficiency and Passive House consultant advising others on high performance buildings, including retrofits and new builds. He is a former founding board member of Passive House Alberta, and continues to assist the non-profit foundation in promoting Passive House throughout the province.

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