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House Planning Help Podcast
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How easy is it to insure a natural building? – with Dr. James Glockling
2026/01/26
Dr. James Glockling explains how insurance works and outlines some of the challenges of insuring a natural building.
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Could you automate air sealing on a house build? – with Hugh Franklin
2026/01/08
Hugh Franklin from Aeroseal UK explains how the airtightness of a building can be improved using a water-based, low VOC atomised polymer which is delivered when the building is pressurised. This simpler approach speeds up the process of air sealing and gives real-time feedback on the airtightness score.
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How can you reduce the embodied carbon of a project? – with Elly Deacon Smith and Kirk Rushby
2025/12/17
Elly Deacon Smith and Kirk Rushby from Arbor Architects explain why they consider the embodied carbon of their projects, how they do it and how it is balanced with competing factors.
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What's the difference between good and bad retrofit? – with Marion Baeli
2025/12/03
Marion Baeli, author of "Residential Retrofit," offers hands-on experience of designing and retrofitting high performance homes. As well as drawing on her personal retrofit she shares the lessons learnt from revisiting properties that took part in the Retrofit for the Future competition over a decade ago.
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Earth floors – with Jeffrey Hart
2025/11/19
Jeffrey Hart from the Earthen Floor Company gives us the lowdown on natural earth floors, explaining what the components are, how they are mixed and the process of installing them. He also outlines the benefits and limitations, and highlights what makes them a great choice for an eco home.
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Practical considerations when looking for a plot of land – with Ben Adam-Smith
2025/11/05
Ben Adam-Smith shares a few thoughts about what to look for in a plot of land for a low energy house build.
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Air-to-air mini split heat pumps – with Es Tresidder
2025/10/22
Es Tresidder from Highland Passive explains what an air-to-air mini split heat pump is, why he believes it's a good choice for heating a high performance home and the various pros and cons of going down this route. He also reflects on one of the toughest stages of his retrofit when they took the roof off the existing dwelling and then faced torrential rain.
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How are building regulations made? – with John Palmer
2025/10/08
Having spent the last few years working within the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, John Palmer explains how building regulations are made and what their role is within the construction industry.
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How do you make a Victorian terrace home more comfortable? – with Will South
2025/09/24
Will South from Etude takes us step-by-step through the retrofit of his Victorian terrace house in Brighton, which has improved the health, comfort and energy efficiency of the property.
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The potential of mycelium-based composites – with Joshua English
2025/09/10
Joshua English, co-founder of Okom wrks labs shares his journey into the creation of a mycelium-based composite material, which has structural and load-bearing properties.
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A stunning contemporary home on a sloping site – with Kirsty Maguire
2025/08/26
Architect Kirsty Maguire shares her experience of designing and building her own Passivhaus on a challenging sloping site in Newport-on-Tay, Scotland.
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De-risking a Passivhaus project – with Sally Godber
2025/08/13
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.
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A beginner's guide to creating a comfortable home – with Andy Mitchell
2025/07/30
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.
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What is a Principal Designer? – with Ben Nother
2025/07/16
Ben Nother, a Director at Hawkland Group, 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 their processes.
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What is Passivhaus Premium? – with Phil Neve
2025/07/02
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.
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Podcast reviews
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House Planning Help Podcast
podcast reviews
4.7 out of 5
31 reviews
Guy Har
2025/08/01
Always informative
Ben’s show is always informative and pretty stylish. Ben is a real pro and I recommend the whole series to anyone in the build or retrofit game. Ep 38...
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Smart Builder
2020/01/17
Fantastic!
This is the podcast that will enlighten you about high performance and passive house building. Must check out!
wwmurww
2020/01/16
Under-rated subject and podcast
Essential listening for anyone interested in energy efficient housing, the host is a joy.
Mooj58
2019/02/01
Entertaining and so useful!
If you’re considering or planning or in process of building your own house, this podcast is well worth your time. Even if you’re doing a major renovat...
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@JensenStanford
2018/02/12
Never see a home the same way again.
This podcast introduced me to passivhaus. That alone has made it an invaluable educational resource as I am working on my own self build.
Kelly Baader
2016/07/30
Super Supportive and Practical Information
Love how Ben gathered and answered some key questions of building an energy-efficient home. Looking forward to building mine soon one day:)
Christopher Strange, RA, CPHD
2016/03/18
Great Podcast- Totally worth the time, even if you are an Architect!
I am a recent graduate of Tomas O'Leary's Passive House Academy's Passive House Training. While I have no real world experience designing and having ...
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Payser
2015/08/29
Fabulous
Chiming in from the States, up North in the State of Maine. I love to listen to your podcast while I work out at the gym. I learn so much about modern...
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sky_strat
2014/12/05
I love this podcast
I'm a house contractor in the US and I've only started listening to your podcast and I've learned soooo much. I think you are doing an amazing thing h...
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Jluhrs2014
2014/11/16
Must listen & great back catalogue
If you are interested in building, renovating, DIY or looking for a greener way to live this podcast is a must. Ben dives into the world of building a...