Andrew Jones explains how to reclaim VAT on a self build home or conversion as well as sharing some common pitfalls to avoid.

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Mark Brinkley, author of the Housebuilder's Bible, explains how his book can guide you towards building a better home. He also shares some of the themes that have cropped up while he's been editing the latest edition.

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Luke Smith from Build Test Solutions talks about making building performance measurement more commonplace, and how you can't manage what you don't measure.

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Dr. Derek Taylor talks about advances in wind and solar power over the last 50 years.

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Ben Adam-Smith marks five years of living in his Passivhaus home by reflecting on his self build journey and what the house has been like to live in.

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Anne Thorne talks through the architectural design process of Cannock Mill Cohousing community.

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Jonathan Dixon talks about incorporating home automation into a Passivhaus retrofit of a 1960s detached house, built using cross wall construction.

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Ludka and Brendan Powell explain the Welsh ‘One Planet Development’ scheme and how it led them to building an off-grid, straw panel Passivhaus.

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Tom Gwilliam explains what Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are, how they are created and why they are unlikely to be a useful measure of how energy efficient a building is.

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Alan Clarke explains the role of a mechanical services engineer on a low energy house build, in designing a heating and ventilation system that works efficiently and is affordable.

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Andy Moger, from Tetlow King Planning, explains the role of a planning consultant and the benefits they can bring to a project.

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Beth Williams from Build Collective outlines the role of a structural engineer and explains what tasks might be undertaken on a house build.

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Martin Twamley from Steico explains how to use breathable internal insulation, while avoiding the risks of condensation and mould.

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As someone with no previous interest or skills in DIY, Passivhaus Consultant Es Tresidder explains why he went about changing that for his own deep retrofit project.

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Landscape Architect and Director of HLM Architects, Simon Bell, explains why he decided to upskill when it came to building his own house.

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Mark Siddall explains how thermal bypass – or air movement around insulation layers – might impact a self-build or retrofit project.

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Alan Budden explains how a phased retrofit might work and what preparation is required. He also shares how he's retrofitted his own home, which includes trialling an innovative roof solution.

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Influential podcaster and heating systems expert, Nathan Gambling, explains why choosing the right installer is even more important than selecting the heat pump.

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Homeowner Guy Hargreaves reflects on adapting and expanding his Victorian mid terrace home, retrofitting the whole building to EnerPHit standard.

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With price hikes being caused by the volatile energy sector, Paul Ciniglio from the National Energy Foundation explains what we can be doing to our homes to reduce our energy consumption and be better protected from rising bills.

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Antoine Costantini explains how Kithurst Homes has embraced modern cutting technology to increase efficiency and minimise waste.

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Architect, educator and builder, Tom Woolley, takes us through some of the natural construction materials we should be using to build healthier homes.

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Jake Fitness of Self Build Zone explains what a structural warranty is, and why you might need one on your self build or renovation project.

Kit Knowles from Ecospheric explains why he is driven to keep pushing further in pursuit of sustainability in building projects.

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Lloyd Alter explains how we can take personal actions to address our own carbon footprints, and why it's more important to do so than ever.

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Mike Jacob explains how Kiss House is using timber component based production to deliver homes to the Passivhaus standard.

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Mike Coe gives a final update on his now complete Portree Passivhaus, that has seen budgets stretched, contractors disappear for a year, and a Covid lockdown!

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Gwilym Still, of Max Fordham engineers, explains how good planning and simplicity can improve a home's performance.

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Jeffrey Hart, natural builder and host of the Building Sustainability Podcast, explains what he's learnt designing and crafting his own tiny house.

Richard Hawkes from Hawkes Architecture reviews the Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) of the RIBA House of the Year longlist and asks why we are showcasing poorly performing architecture.

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Juraj Mikurcik, Nick Grant and Mike Whitfield reflect on the award-winning Old Holloway project, which is built with EcoCocon straw panels and is a certified Passivhaus.

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Architects Polly Upton and Kirk Rushby explain how they used their expertise to deliver a striking, high performance home for a very reasonable budget.

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Tom Fenton from Veritherm explains how to test the thermal performance of a home, what this data can reveal and how it can then be used.

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Mike Webb explains why he chose to build to high ecological standards even though he could've made more money by just complying with building regulations.

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Nigel Dutt tells the self build story behind Devon Passivhaus, a Paragraph 55 build.

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Mick Woolley explains how the use of timber was a key element of his award-winning Passivhaus bungalow.

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Bruce Bell, founder of Facit Homes, explains why digital manufacturing has a lot to offer in the future of house-building.

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David Arrenberg explains why he wanted to project manage his self build, what the work entailed and how much of his time it took.

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Mhairi Grant and Martin McCrae share their self build journey. Their contemporary home seems to have it all, from striking design and great ecological credentials to high quality finish and value for money... but Martin and Mhairi had to work hard for it!

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Hattie Hartman, Sustainability Editor at the Architects' Journal, shares insights from her new book Energy, People, Buildings.

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As a way of celebrating our 300th episode we're doing something a little different.

Ben Adam-Smith reflects on the homes he's lived in and what he's learnt from living in them.

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Ben Adam-Smith shares his own experience of living with a mechanical ventilation system. While he's clocked up a few error messages on the unit and had more problems than most, he explains why he wouldn't want to go back to natural ventilation.

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Andrew Reardon from ProAktive explains the insurance options that are available to anyone carrying out a self build or renovation.

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Guy Hargreaves explains why he wanted to renovate his Victorian terraced house to Passivhaus standard and how this is going to be achieved.

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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.

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Neil Clarke from UK Power Networks explains how to get mains electricity to a new build home.

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Adrian Reith explains why the joined up design, engineering and quality of a Baufritz home appealed to him.

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Zack Semke explains why he's passionate about facilitating the communication and flow of information around Passive House.

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Mark McCall and Scott McMurray explain what fully integrated home automation is all about.

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Werner Brouwer explains why being able to build a house without restrictions in Oosterwold is also about working together to build a community.

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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.

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Author Roger Hunt explains why period properties need treating differently when it comes to achieving successful retrofit projects.

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Architect Russel Hayden explains how he sought to renovate a derelict 1960s house to EnerPHit standards.

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Russell Smith of Parity Projects explains why a whole house plan is the best way forward for tackling a renovation.

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Martin Brown from Fairsnape explains how the Living Building Challenge is a holistic standard that benefits health and the environment.

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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.

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Calum Taylor and Opinder Liddar talk through the design and construction of the 'Self Build Education House' at Graven Hill.

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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).

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Nick Grant shares his thoughts on the lessons learned from 30 years of the AECB (Association of Environment Conscious Building).

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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.

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Chief Executive of the Passivhaus Trust, Jon Bootland, explains the processes and benefits of building your house to the Passivhaus Standard.

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Lee Fordham from Architype simplifies some of the terminology you might come across if you're thinking about doing a sustainable self build.

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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.

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Professor Fionn Stevenson explains why building performance monitoring and post-occupancy evaluation should be mandatory on new homes.

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Tracey and Roman Iwanczuk explain how they managed to build a Passivhaus on a sloping site in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

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With 14 projects under his belt, author and serial self builder David Snell explains how you can stop costs from running away from you.

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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.

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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.

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Skipper and oceans advocate Emily Penn explains the damage that plastic pollution is having on our oceans, and how we can find solutions.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Self-builder and renovator Jason Orme reflects on the main challenges you face if you want to tackle a house build in the UK.

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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.

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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.

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Jonathan Kearns of Kearns Mancini Architects, describes how he tackled a high performance retrofit of a century-old building.

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Mark Siddall from LEAP explains his framework the 'Forever Home Lifestyle' and how he uses it with his clients.

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Harry Paticas of Arboreal Architecture explains why care and hard work have been so important to the retrofit of his 1978 mid-terrace townhouse.

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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.

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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.

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Managing Director of Potton Homes, Mark Stevenson, looks at how self build, custom build and speculative development differ.

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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.

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Neil Sutherland explains how using a design, manufacture and delivery company can give you a better quality of construction.

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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.

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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.

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Chris Herring, Director at Green Building Store, explains why careful consideration should be given when specifying windows.

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Jeremy Lent, author and integrator, looks at how and why we should transform the fundamental basis of our civilisation.

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Property developer and podcaster, Rob Bence, advises on what's needed for undertaking a successful building development project.

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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.

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Charlie Luxton shares lessons he's learnt from visiting projects on Building The Dream, running an architectural practice and completing his own self build.

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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.

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Danny Luhde-Thompson explains why he chose to demolish the bungalow he was renovating, to build a contemporary Passivhaus.

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Resident of Marmalade Lane cohousing, Jan Chadwick, explains why living in a multi-generational community is so important to her.

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Bill Butcher from Green Building Company, the construction division of Green Building Store, explains how they tackled two radical retrofit projects in West Yorkshire. Each took a 'whole house' fabric first approach in order to improve comfort levels and reduce the heating bills.

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Paul Ellis, Chief Executive of Ecology Building Society, explains their approach to mortgages that reward energy efficiency and sustainability.

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Elinor Olisa explains why her family's health was always paramount to the decision making on this build.

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Tiny house and lifestyle blogger, Jenna Spesard, explains why she didn't want to spend her life working to pay for a house, but instead wanted a house that would work for her.

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Architect and author Sarah Susanka explains why bigger isn't always better when it comes to building a house.

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Phil McGeevor, Chair of Cannock Mill Cohousing, describes the 12-year journey it's taken to realise their cohousing community for older adults.

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Ben Adam-Smith shares 10 tips for creating a budget, which is detailed and realistic.

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