Our Story
Ecospheric is an award winning Passive House consultancy that supports planners, architects and developers in designing and delivering pioneering eco developments that save carbon and drive technological change. We have supported projects ranging from complex Passive House retrofits, innovative Paragraph 80 houses on landed estates, to the design of multi-story Passive House residential developments and low energy commercial buildings.
Our ambitious developments lead the industry in incorporating the latest low energy technologies and methodologies. Ecospheric's current property developments include a food hall aiming for zero energy and zero waste, 5 new build zero petrochemical and concrete free certified passive houses, the zero energy renovation of an Elizabethan grade II* listed manor house and the conversion of a 300 year old Yorkshire barn to off-grid group accommodation.
We're also passionate about sharing our knowledge so that everyone in the building sector has the skills to reduce carbon in the built environment. Ecospheric offers a range of CPD courses, tours, lectures, and events.
Our Team
Kit Knowles
Sustainability Consultant and Managing Director, MEng
Kit founded Ecospheric more than a decade ago in order to find solutions to our world’s energy crisis and reduce the human impact on our environment. With a masters degree in Chemical Engineering and background in the pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries, Kit brings practical knowledge on heat transfer and technology integration to the retrofit market. His passion for forging new paths in sustainable construction has led him to develop Europe's first EnerPHit Plus homes, a zero waste and zero energy food hall, and a Passivhaus Premium new-build residential project. Kit has advised on Greater Manchester's Retrofit Accelerator on the implementation of large-scale retrofit strategies, offered strategic design and technical guidance on Co-op Food's first Green Store, and created a sustainability framework and Passivhaus design for Southway Housing Trust, one of Manchester's largest affordable housing providers.
Ben Riddle
Passivhaus Consultant and Technical Director, MEng, CEng
Ben has a background as a project engineer in the food manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries. He attained Chartered Engineer status in 2016. Since then, he's joined the Ecospheric team where he oversees technical design, project management, and windows specification and sales. As Technical Director, Ben designs and models low energy buildings in the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP), as well as designing mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) systems, hot water systems and space heating systems.
Russell Selby
Passivhaus Designer and Site Manager, MEng
Russell is a certified Passivhaus Designer and CITB site manager. He attained a masters in civil engineering at university followed by a 5-year journey cycling 61,000 km around the world to raise money for charities. Russell oversees the building work for our development as well as supporting our client projects. His expertise in Passivhaus ensures our construction practices meet the highest standards in low energy building. Russell is also a public speaker who shares the story of his incredible cycling journey with audiences.
Ellie Knowles
Business Development, BSc, MCIPS
Ellie completed her chartership in procurement at Barratt Homes. Experienced in sourcing and managing a wide range of construction related contracts, she joined Ecospheric in 2012 to spearhead the development of the windows and doors business. Ellie manages strategic operations for Ecospheric's developments.
Neil Buttery
Manager for the Sorting Office Food Hall, PhD
Neil is a chef and author who specialises in British food from a historical perspective. Neil developed an obsession for cooking and writing about British food while completing his PhD in evolutionary biology. Neil is overseeing the creation of a zero waste food hall in Levenshulme's former Sorting Office building. More info at www.levysortingoffice.co.uk
Tiffany Chong
Office and Communications Manager / Ecospheric Windows & Doors Sales
Tiffany joined Ecospheric after a career in radio production for Canada's national broadcaster. She manages office administration and communications for Ecospheric. Tiffany also provides customer support for Ecospheric Windows & Doors.
Luke Dickens
Sustainability Consultant, PhD Researcher, MSc
Luke is a PhD Candidate in Materials Analysis and Decarbonisation of the Built Environment, based at the School of Engineering, University of Liverpool. Luke's research focusses on the retrofit of historical buildings with lime-based mortar using net-zero carbon approaches. Prior to joining Ecospheric, Luke
worked for seven years as a Social Enterprise Developer in Manchester and completed an MSc (with merit) in Sustainability and Adaptation in the Built Environment at the Centre for Alternative Technology.
Niels Bezuijen
Architectural Engineer, MSc
Niels joined Ecospheric's consultancy team after completing his masters degree in Architectural Engineering at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands. Niels has a passion for sustainable design and brings a wealth of practical knowledge through his prior retrofit experience as a joiner and construction site manager. In his role as architectural engineer, Niels translates Ecospheric's technical advice and design into drawings and documents which can be easily integrated into a client's design and build process.
Our Building Team
Back row: Lee, Gaz, Colin. Front row: Kit, Dave, Karol
Membership & Affiliations
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