House Planning Help Podcast

Andrew Reardon from ProAktive explains the insurance options that are available to anyone carrying out a self build or renovation. Check out the show notes for more information.

Guy Hargreaves explains why he wanted to renovate his Victorian terraced house to Passivhaus standard and how this is going to be achieved. Check out the show notes for more information.

John Hernon from Thames Water explains the process of installing a new connection to a water main. He also outlines the role of water services company that delivers clean water and takes away waste water. Check out the show notes for more information.

Neil Clarke from UK Power Networks explains how to get mains electricity to a new build home. Check out the show notes for more information.

Adrian Reith explains why the joined up design, engineering and quality of a Baufritz home appealed to him. Check out the show notes for more information.

Zack Semke explains why he's passionate about facilitating the communication and flow of information around Passive House. Check out the show notes for more information.

Mark McCall and Scott McMurray explain what fully integrated home automation is all about. Check out the show notes for more information:

Werner Brouwer explains why being able to build a house without restrictions in Oosterwold is also about working together to build a community. Check out the show notes for more information.

Self-building an annexe in an area of coastal erosion meant a low-cost but high-performance build was a priority for architect Colin Rice. Check out the show notes for more information.

Author Roger Hunt explains why period properties need treating differently when it comes to achieving successful retrofit projects. Check out the show notes for more information.

Architect Russel Hayden explains how he sought to renovate a derelict 1960s house to EnerPHit standards. Check out the show notes for more information.

Russell Smith of Parity Projects explains why a whole house plan is the best way forward for tackling a renovation. Check out the show notes for more information.

Martin Brown from Fairsnape explains how the Living Building Challenge is a holistic standard that benefits health and the environment. Check out the show notes for more information.

Dr Judith Thornton of Aberystwyth University explores how plant-based materials are being used in the building industry, and why they are so important for our future. Check out the show notes for more information.

Calum Taylor and Opinder Liddar talk through the design and construction of the 'Self Build Education House' at Graven Hill. Check out the show notes for more information.

Tim Martel explains how to model the embodied carbon of your build using PHribbon, a tool that plugs in to PHPP (Passive House Planning Package). Check out the show notes for more information.

Nick Grant shares his thoughts on the lessons learned from 30 years of the AECB (Association of Environment Conscious Building). Check out the show notes for more information.

Tully Gallagher of Beartooth Passive House, explains what it was like to take a leap of faith in swapping a desk job with building a 'forever home' for his family. Check out the show notes for more information.

Chief Executive of the Passivhaus Trust, Jon Bootland, explains the processes and benefits of building your house to the Passivhaus Standard. Check out the show notes for more information.

Lee Fordham from Architype simplifies some of the terminology you might come across if you're thinking about doing a sustainable self build. Check out the show notes for more information.

Having worked on his own hands-on group self build project, and site managed others, Geoff Stow shares his experience on where to start when it comes to self build. Check out the show notes for more information.

Professor Fionn Stevenson explains why building performance monitoring and post-occupancy evaluation should be mandatory on new homes. Check out the show notes for more information.

Tracey and Roman Iwanczuk explain how they managed to build a Passivhaus on a sloping site in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Check out the show notes for more information.

With 14 projects under his belt, author and serial self builder David Snell explains how you can stop costs from running away from you. Check out the show notes for more information.

Award-winning Cork House was the world's first to use a solid cork construction system. Matthew Barnett Howland explains the concept and how he managed to build it himself. Check out the show notes for more information:

Architect Paloma Gormley of Practice Architecture explains how versatile hemp can be as a building material, and how plastic use can be reduced on site. Check out the show notes for more information.

Skipper and oceans advocate Emily Penn explains the damage that plastic pollution is having on our oceans, and how we can find solutions. Check out the show notes for more information.

Ben Adam-Smith shares some of the questions that got asked about the Passivhaus standard during a question and answer session at the National Self Build & Renovation Centre. Check out the show notes for more information.

Olga Turner Baker describes the WELL Building Standard and explains how the principles can be applied to improve health and well-being on individual projects. Check out the show notes for more information.

Chris Parsons returns to Ben Adam-Smith's self build home after a year to look for defects. He explains what snagging is, how the list is compiled and how the rectification process works. Check out the show notes for more information.

Self-builder and renovator Jason Orme reflects on the main challenges you face if you want to tackle a house build in the UK. Check out the show notes for more information.

Kevin McCloud from Grand Designs shares practical advice on how to approach an ecological build, and comments on how architecture needs to change to address the climate emergency. Check out the show notes for more information:

Client Ajay Boardman and her builder/carpenter Nigel Bowley share their experience of working together on her self build project. In addition to project managing Ajay is labouring for Nigel. We look at why this relationship has worked well and consider how much money she is saving. Check out the show notes for more information.

Jonathan Kearns of Kearns Mancini Architects, describes how he tackled a high performance retrofit of a century-old building. Check out the show notes for more information.

Mark Siddall from LEAP explains his framework the 'Forever Home Lifestyle' and how he uses it with his clients. Check out the show notes for more information.

Harry Paticas of Arboreal Architecture explains why care and hard work have been so important to the retrofit of his 1978 mid-terrace townhouse. Check out the show notes for more information.

Dr Mike Page explains how The Cube micro home project developed and why land availability turned out to be a major issue for those that liked the idea of tiny house living. Check out the show notes for more information.

Duncan Baker-Brown from BBM Sustainable Design explains how we can reduce waste on our projects, given a little more time and with a different approach on site. With the construction industry being such a big contributor of annual waste, he also shares strategies for how we could transform things if we treat buildings as material banks, which are built with deconstruction in mind. Check out the show notes for more information.

Managing Director of Potton Homes, Mark Stevenson, looks at how self build, custom build and speculative development differ. Check out the show notes for more information:

Mike Coe has a progress report from Portree Passivhaus, which is now almost watertight. We pick up the story as the groundworks begin and look at some of the challenges as the superstructure has gone up. Check out the show notes for more information.

Neil Sutherland explains how using a design, manufacture and delivery company can give you a better quality of construction. Check out the show notes for more information.

Ben Adam-Smith runs through the biggest problems you could face on your self build journey. He also looks at what can be done in those situations. Check out the show notes for more information.

Tom Heywood from Green Building Store explains why we need mechanical ventilation with heat recovery in high performance homes and why it needs to be well designed. Check out the show notes for more information.

Chris Herring, Director at Green Building Store, explains why careful consideration should be given when specifying windows. Check out the show notes for more information.

Jeremy Lent, author and integrator, looks at how and why we should transform the fundamental basis of our civilisation. Check out the show notes for more information.

Property developer and podcaster, Rob Bence, advises on what's needed for undertaking a successful building development project. Check out the show notes for more information.

Chris Magwood, a director at the Endeavour Centre in Canada, explains the importance of embodied carbon and how building with plant-based materials could transform our new homes into carbon sinks. Check out the show notes for more information.

Charlie Luxton shares lessons he's learnt from visiting projects on Building The Dream, running an architectural practice and completing his own self build. Check out the show notes for more information.

Ben Adam-Smith picks out ten of his favourite new build homes. These are all homes he has visited and which have impressed him in different ways. Check out the show notes for more information.

Danny Luhde-Thompson explains why he chose to demolish the bungalow he was renovating, to build a contemporary Passivhaus. Check out the show notes for more information.