House Planning Help Podcast

Michaela Benson is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London. She has spent the last three years working on a research project called 'Self-Building - The Production and Consumption of New Homes From the Perspective of Households'. She wanted to understand the diversity of the houses people build, their motivations for doing it and their experiences of the process. Her interviews with twenty individual self-builders and five group projects during that time have led her to notice characteristics that these people share. Check out the show notes for more information.

We catch up with Alex Baines, a Passivhaus consultant who you may remember from episode 74. We spoke to him then about how gaining support for his semi earth-sheltered rural self-build from his local community helped him achieve the necessary planning permissions. Almost a year on we spoke with him again to see what progress he has made on the build so far. Check out the show notes to see some pictures of the progress.

It has been almost a year since Luke Mahon took ownership of a new-build developer house, which he soon discovered lacked insulation! He talks us through his experience and the ongoing battle to get the house completed. See the full show notes: http://www.houseplanninghelp.com/99.

Architect, builder and Passivhaus Consultant, Christina Snyder shares the story of the experimental zero-energy Passivhaus self-build that she and her husband have undertaken in Michigan, and explains why they are in no rush to complete it.

Peter Warm from WARM: Low Energy Building Practice explains why building to Passivhaus standard is desirable, how certification comes into the equation, and what steps will increase your chances of reaching certification.

Kara Rosemeier from Passive House Academy New Zealand looks at why natural ventilation leads to little control of ventilation. She also shares why the Passivhaus approach is the logical step forwards.

Harold Orr reflects on why the Saskatchewan Conservation House was a landmark on the road to high performance buildings.

Brian Murphy from Green Building Encyclopaedia runs through the most common types of insulation and explains why they each have strengths and weaknesses.

Tad Everhart, an energy adviser from Portland, Oregon, shares his story of building a house . . . which he retrofitted 10 years later after learning about Passivhaus. We find out why he was motivated to take on the challenge, how he went about it and whether all the hard work was worth it.

Professor Tom Woolley from Rachel Bevan Architects explains what hempcrete is, how it is mixed and applied, and what the pros and cons of using it are.

Tomás O’Leary from the Passive House Academy explains why he became an early adopter of the Passivhaus standard and also shares why we need to take every opportunity to retrofit existing buildings, even if it is a phased approach.

Darren Macri from Bleu Nest is a certified Passivhaus builder and consultant, and he explains what this means and how putting together a team who have had training is likely to benefit your low energy build. He also has insights into his own house build which is nearing completion.

Bjørn Kierulf from Createrra explains how you can have the best of both worlds, using almost entirely natural materials to create a house that reaches the Passivhaus Standard.

Jay Shafer from Four Lights Tiny House Company gives us the lowdown of tiny house living. He explains why he initially made the choice, how different life has been since and why he has never looked back. Jay also shares practical advice of what you need to know and do in order to transition to a smaller house.

Andrew Peel from Peel Passive House Consulting explains why the quality assurance procedure is at the heart of the Passivhaus standard. He also feels the process can be useful to improve any building, even if not striving for the standard.

Dylan Lamar from Green Hammer explains how design ideas are communicated in various different ways, from sketches drawn by hand to sophisticated computer models. He also shares the design process at Green Hammer, and how and why house plans evolve.

Sofie Pelsmakers, environmental architect and doctoral researcher at University College London (UCL), busts 10 common environmental design myths. This also serves as a good introduction to The Environmental Design Pocketbook.

Clare Parry, Director of the Australian Passive House Association, explains what it means to work on Passivhaus projects in different climates. What, if anything, changes?

Author Michael Mobbs reflects on what he’s learnt about sustainability over the last 20 years. From living without a car and bringing key services in-house (his home is not connected to mains water, mains electricity or mains drainage) to growing his own food and being careful how he spends his money, Michael considers how effective he has been.

David Winterton from Sydney-based consultancy Ecological Design gives us a rundown of solar photovoltaic (solar PV). We find out how it works, what the key considerations are and why prices of PV panels always seem to be coming down!

Cath Hassell from ech2o consultants explains what rainwater harvesting is, why it’s useful and how to get started. If you haven’t heard our first podcast interview with Cath on the topic of saving water, check that one out first!

Paul Jennings from ALDAS talks through some of the findings from the airtightness tests we carried out as part of our documentary.

Mark Chesney from Beam Vacuum & Ventilation explains how houses have become increasingly airtight and why this has had a significant impact on energy efficiency. He also shares why having a good ventilation strategy is so important.

John Butler tells the story of how he retrofitted a bungalow to be more energy efficient. Having carried out a lot of the work himself, he also shares what he's learnt about airtightness and overheating.

Jackson Moulding from Ecomotive tells the story of Ashley Vale, a group self build scheme in Bristol, UK, that initially had to fend off a large developer in order to secure a plot of land. The will of the local community was instrumental in making this happen.

David Sharpe from Thomasons explains what the foundations are, why they must be site specific and how they could impact on the design of a building.

James and Dani McDonald reveal why they were drawn to HUF HAUS, how the process worked and why they have become very loyal to the brand.

Alex Baines talks through the plans for his semi earth-sheltered home, to be constructed to Passivhaus standard, and explains why involving the local community in the early stages was essential in gaining the relevant permissions.

Richard Oxley from Oxley Conservation explains why understanding an old house is such a vital first step to take before upgrading its performance.

Tim Nicholson reveals why he chose to retrofit rather than build new and, having selected a suitable property, what the strategy was and why. Tim has also been blogging about the experience on his website Oxford Green House.

Alastair Parvin explains how WikiHouse has developed and why it is so significant when it comes to enabling more people to build affordable, high quality homes.

Jake White from Ecotecture shares the story of The Curly House, an award-winning project that was built using insulated concrete forms (ICF). He explains what an ICF is, why there are benefits in terms of speed of construction and durability, and why most concrete structures have the potential to be extremely airtight.

Rory Bergin from HTA Design LLP explains why building standards are devised, the pros and cons, and why people adopt voluntary standards. He also gives an overview of the Active House standard.

Dusty Gedge, founder of Livingroofs.org, explains the benefits of installing a green roof, how it can be simple and why lots of people get swayed by commercial systems.

Graham Hunter from Parity Projects explains how data collected from one of their energy assessments is then turned into a report of options for the homeowner. This follows on from episode 60 which trailed Graham as he conducted an assessment.

Stephen Gurney from Ecological Building Systems explains the main causes of poor airtightness test results.

Alan Budden from Eco Design Consultants explains how simple design decisions can drastically alter the energy performance of a house and why this means your designer needs to be using a tool like the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) to better inform these decisions.

Ken Levenson from 475 High Performance Building Supply explains what overheating is, why it happens and how to deal with it.

Doug King explains what smart energy systems are, how they work and whether we should be embracing them in our new homes.

Building services engineer Alan Clarke explains what factors should be considered when choosing a heating system for a low energy home.

If the idea of going 'off-grid' excites you, then perhaps now is a great time to be doing it. We live in an era where the cost of items such as solar panels is continually dropping and this is juxtaposed with fossil fuel reserves that deplete day by day. While you may even be forced off-grid if you move to a remote location, does it make sense going off-grid if you have perfectly good access (for example, in a town or village)? And with different grids -transport, gas, water - which is the easiest to unplug from?! In this discussion (which was one of our Google+ Hangouts) we discuss some of the issues surrounding going off-grid. The Panel Mike Coe, who lives in the Cropthorne Autonomous House (and was our guest in episode 54). Paul Scheckel, author of The Home Energy Diet and The Homeowner's Energy Handbook. Ken Silverstein, an business journalist who specialises in writing about energy

Graham Hunter from Parity Projects conducts an energy assessment of a country house. He talks through the process as he goes about it and explains how the collected data will be used.

Andrew Farr from Green Building Store explains what qualities mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) should bring to a house. He also shares how to make sure you get a system that is properly designed, installed and commissioned.

Chris Parsons from Parsons + Whittley architects shares his experience of the costs behind Passivhaus. Interview with Chris Parsons Chris Parsons from Parsons + Whittley architects has always had a focus on making buildings as efficient as they can possibly be. With the issues around global warming and trying to reduce carbon emissions, this is why they found a great synergy with Passivhaus.

Joe Atkinson explains how the LILAC cohousing community came together and why their project is affordable for everyone.

Piers Taylor from Invisible Studio Architects explains what a build system is, why you would use one over another and whether any are preferable when it comes to creating low energy houses.

Steve Mouzon from Original Green helps answer a question (from Frank Wiley) about what houses we should be building in areas that are prone to hurricanes or other extreme weather.

Mike Coe lives in an autonomous house with his partner Lizzie Stoodley. He shares the story behind this self-build project and why it's ultimately left them with a deeper connection to their environment.

Mark Tiramani, the self-builder behind the UK's first certified Passivhaus, shares his experience of building Y Foel and how this got him interested in the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP). He explains what PHPP is and why it's a valuable tool.

Lisa Ann Pasquale from Six Cylinder Limited explains what thermal imaging is and how it can be used in quality assuring the construction of low energy buildings.