House Planning Help Podcast

Sally Godber, a Director at WARM consultancy explains why reducing the risks on her own Passivhaus project was so important, what that entailed and how it enabled her to deliver a healthy, comfortable and energy-efficient home on budget. Check out the show notes for more information.

Andy Mitchell, Managing Director of 21 Degrees, explains what factors influence human comfort and how we have tried to make our homes more comfortable through the years. Embracing building physics has been a turning point and while we have the knowledge and skills to create healthy and comfortable homes today, it's still not the default approach. So Andy outlines the options available to get yourself into a better home. Check out the show notes for more information.

Ben Nother, a Director at Hawkland design and build company, explains the two different roles of Principal Designer in meeting building regulations and addressing CDM health and safety. He also reflects on how this has been integrated into the processes at Hawkland. Check out the show notes for more information.

Phil Neve explains what Passivhaus Premium is and why he chose to target the standard for his own self build in Somerset. He also talks through his biggest project challenge, which was obtaining planning permission to build in open countryside. Check out the show notes for more information.

Heather Johnson from AD Practice explains what Passivhaus Plus is, how it differs from Passivhaus Classic accreditation and what benefits achieving the standard will afford. She also reveals why most of her clients target 'Plus' and outlines the steps to achieve this on a project. Check out the show notes for more information.

Stephanie Kyle from Floyd Slaski Architects explains how we can design for disability, gender, religion, and anything that’s considered a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. She also highlights the biggest challenge of inclusive design which is people’s differing needs, and suggests how we best go about designing spaces. Check out the show notes for more information.

Guy Harris from AccessiblePRS explains why accessible housing is important, what the key considerations are and how to deliver it well. He also shares his experience of designing his own house as a wheelchair user. Check out the show notes for more information.

Toby Cambray talks about the experience of working on his own retrofit project, and the lessons learnt in the process. Check out the show notes for more information.

Toby Cambray talks about the risks associated with moisture in buildings, and the modelling techniques – like WUFI® – that can be used to assess those risks. Check out the show notes for more information.

Mike Whitfield shares his experience of running a local construction company that specialises in Passivhaus. He explains how the business is structured, and what tasks are tackled on a daily and weekly basis. Check out the show notes for more information.

Mike Eliason talks about his book, Building for People, and the massive opportunity we have to create better places through being more intentional and thoughtful. Check out the show notes for more information.

Laila Dudhill explains some of the challenges she faced when planning her new build home at the bottom of a sloping field. Not only did she have to deal with drainage across the site, diverting the natural flow of water away from the house, but also come up with a foul drainage strategy that would off-set phosphate discharge into the local watercourses. Check out the show notes for more information.

Katherine Adams and Connie Spoor talk about the circular economy and construction, and practical strategies for making reuse a priority on housing projects and self-builds. Check out the show notes for more information.

Chris Brookman from Back to Earth explains what wood fibre insulation is, how it could be used on a project and why careful specification is required. Check out the show notes for more information.

Florence Collier, founder of Humblebee, takes us step-by-step through the deep retrofit of her 1970s home. She explains the costs relating to each measure and the cumulative total as the project advances. Check out the show notes for more information.

Toby Diggens explains what it takes to meet the requirements of the Living Building Challenge, and working to the standard when renovating an existing building. Check out the show notes for more information.

Toby Diggens, founder and co-director of Digg and Co outlines how we can all contribute to creating ecologically diverse and resilient landscapes to combat climate change and biodiversity loss. Check out the show notes for more information.

Furniture maker Lucinda Leech shares her story of building a modest, but beautiful eco home. Check out the show notes for more information.

Howard Johns, founder of One Zero, outlines their home energy transformation service which includes topping up insulation and adding solar PV, battery storage and a heat pump. Check out the show notes for more information.

Cypren Edmonds, a housing activist and advocate for bio-based building materials, describes the challenges he has faced living in social housing in London, and the health benefits and energy efficiency that can be achieved through building with straw. Check out the show notes for more information.