Lisa Jackson is a planning consultant and together with her husband, who has a background in construction and planning, set out to build an energy efficient home. What they created was a timber frame home built to the Passivhaus standard.

Lisa shares her experience of the process and is also able to provide useful tips about getting through the planning process. 

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In 2012 Cambridge City Council advertised for potential members for a new cohousing scheme on a plot of land within an existing development. Chris Wilson was struck by the idea of building a consensus based community and is now Chair of the K1 cohousing group. He talks to us about the processes they have gone through to get the scheme to its current stage.

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Helen Brown heads up the building physics department at Encraft. Her main area of interest is in low energy construction in new build housing, with a particular focus on Passivhaus.

Based on various research and monitoring methods she is able to explain the differences between actual energy consumption compared with their designed intent.

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Ben Adam-Smith outlines 5 strategies for taking your land search into your own hands.

If you have been struggling to unearth a plot for your self build and have time to invest, then these proactive strategies could help you get your hands on something that others have missed.

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Simon Sturgis has been studying carbon emissions in the building industry for the last 8 or 9 years. He uses his experience to look at the scenarios of when it might be best to demolish and rebuild, or whether retrofit might be a better option. He also explains how new buildings should be created with their ‘circular economy’ in mind.  

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Andrew Michler has been living off grid in the Colorado Rocky Mountains for over 20 years. He has had a long interest in sustainable design and as well as completing a book about how sustainable architecture around the world responds to its conditions, he has also created Colorado’s first certified Passivhaus home.

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Potton have a history of serving the self build market and are currently building a Passivhaus show home. They are making the details of the build available through their Self Build Live events and are running courses through their Self Build Academy to help people through the self build journey. Paul Newman explains why they’re doing this, and also what lessons they’ve learned from the construction of their Passivhaus show house.

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Like Ben Adam-Smith, Michelle is a podcaster who is keen to build her own home and is sharing the information she learns along the way with her audience. In this episode she and Ben discuss how some of the challenges of the self build market compare in the UK and the US, and also some of the best things about their respective housing industries.

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With Ben Adam-Smith struggling to find a plot of land in his town, he has decided to try a new approach and dedicate a full day trying to tap in to local knowledge. He shares the tips he was given and concludes with how successful his day was in progressing his self build plans.

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Together with her team at Passivhaus Homes, Janet Cotterell has been developing their PH15 system for building houses to Passivhaus standard. She explains the differences between kit and system approaches and why there should be more available on the UK market.

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