House Planning Help Podcast

Belinda and Paul Wilson share what they’ve learned from their Passivhaus build. Paul also explains the responsibilities of the Principal Designer and why he decided to take on this role himself. Check out the show notes for more information.

Andrew McInulty from Ready Made Basements explains the main reasons people install basements. He also shares the challenges of building below ground and how they are best addressed. Check out the show notes for more information.

Ben and Kay Adam-Smith sit down with Chris Parsons from Parsons + Whittley to run through the brief for their self build project. Check out the show notes for more information.

Ben Adam-Smith shares what he's learnt during the process of hiring an architect for his self build project. Check out the show notes for more information.    

Master thatcher, Stephen Letch, tells us about the history of thatching, the materials and techniques involved, and how it can be used today.  Check out the show notes for more information. 

Ben Adam-Smith comes clean with his project progress! After two and a half years of looking, he has finally managed to buy a plot of land upon which to build his eco home. However, the process of buying the land was perhaps not the joyous occasion he would have liked. In this solo episode he shares what he's learnt. Check out the show notes for more information.

Architect and author Pat Borer shares insights from his teaching career at the Centre for Alternative Technology as well as what he's learned from his own practice (which has helped hundreds of self-builders). Check out the show notes for more information.

Architect James Galpin from HazleMcCormackYoung shares insights into how Mayfield Passivhaus was designed and built.  Check out the show notes for more information.

Lisa Kerslake from the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management explains how self-builders can encourage wildlife to flourish on their plots.  Check out the show notes for more information. 

Jeremy Harris explains why he chose not to use an architect or designer for his self build, and how he managed to do the job himself. He also shares some of the challenges that he came up against. Check out the show notes for more information.

Jeremy Harris, a scientist by background, wanted a low energy house for his retirement. He talks about the initial stages of his self-build project: finding a plot of land and obtaining planning approval. Check out the show notes for more information.

Phill Skill explains what building regulations are and how we comply with them. Check out the show notes for more information.

We re-run an interview from 2014 with Stephen Gurney, who explains what causes poor airtightness test results and how they could have been avoided. Check out the show notes for more information.

We re-run an interview from 2013 with Sarah Susanka, author of the Not So Big House.  Check out the show notes for this podcast.

We re-run an interview from 2012 with the co-founder of the Passivhaus standard, Dr Wolfgang Feist.

Mike Coe and his partner Lizzie created one of the UK’s most energy efficient homes. Now they’re looking to sell and start a new project elsewhere, they’re finding that they will have made a loss. Mike discusses why that might be, and whether it will change the way he thinks about his next self build. Check out the show notes for more information.

We are currently following the progress of Buckinghamshire Passivhaus with video updates in The Hub. In order to provide some background to the project, we spoke to its architect, Janet Cotterell, about the reasons behind her clients decision to completely rebuild the house, rather than follow their original plans of refurbishing it to Passivhaus standard. Check out the show notes for more information.

We have been following Alex Baines’ Long Barrow Passivhaus self build project in previous podcast and Hub episodes. This time we catch up with him to use his experience of working in the renewables industry, together with his current role as a Passivhaus consultant, to understand how renewables and a fabric first approach can be balanced when building your own energy efficient house.  Check out the show notes for more information.

Until fairly recently Paul Buckingham was carrying out airtightness tests on volume built houses. He explains how his role was to make the house pass the test, not about making the house energy efficient. Check out the show notes for more information.

Dean Scott and his wife Hannah have never found anywhere they liked enough to buy and have long had a dream to self build instead. With the release of plots at the Graven Hill development in Oxfordshire, they are now looking to start the process and get building! Check out the show notes for more information.