NEW PODCAST: Bill Butcher and Chris Herring, founders of 21 Degrees, give us the lowdown on their own group self build project. www.houseplanninghelp.com/400 #Passivhaus #PassiveHouse #SelfBuild

🏡 What does sustainable shared living look like in practice? Join us on Wednesday, June 3, for the next iPHA Project Spotlight webinar and discover The Seed Co-housing — a certified Passive House project near Dundee designed around both social and technical sustainability. https://ow.ly/jCtL50Z57Cw

'The Good Building Book' was released earlier this year and in my latest podcast I catch up with the authors, architect Jon Broome and engineer Nick Grant. Topics we dive into include performance, community engagement, affordability, value engineering and regulations. www.houseplanninghelp.com/399

There's an exceptionalist belief that the UK's immune to the worst political extremes. In reality, we were lucky not to get a fascist government in the 1930s. Now that the world's richest man supports our most extreme political party, we need more than luck. We need to get the money out of politics.

Have you ever used automated air sealing? www.houseplanninghelp.com/394 I've heard of a couple of projects that have and people seem pleased. But the downsides I can see: 1) There isn't necessarily a robust airtightness strategy. 2) Microplastics may well be sucked outside.

#Recycling is pretty good in the UK. So, who spends time disposing of single bottles of Rose 100m apart on the roads around where I live? I'm assuming it's a business, and someone is throwing them from a moving car? #Flytipping

Many older people worry about their financial security; They should also worry about thermal security. We need structural as well as financial preparedness. lloydalter.substack.com/p/why-your-r...

Did anyone see the story yesterday about Prince William selling off 20% of duchy property for affordable housing and nature projects? Perhaps we should suggest that these homes become Community Land Trusts. houseplanninghelp.com/399 #CommunityLandTrust

We probably all want to use natural and healthy materials in our projects but it's not always that simple. Janna and Seb Laan Lomas opted for a traditional clay plaster internally... little did they realise that it would be a headache to sign-off with Building Control. www.houseplanninghelp.com/398

🏡 Lived in or worked on a #PassiveHouse or #EnerPHit project? Show it off! Join the growing community opening their doors for the UK #Passivhaus Open Days 📍Welcome visitors when it suits you 🌱Inspire others to #BuildBetter 👉Sign up: https://passivhaustrust.org.uk/event_detail.php?eId=1542#Register

The Passivhaus Open Days are back. Do you live in a house or work in a building that is certified to #Passivhaus or #EnerPHit? If so, maybe you could take part? Here are the details for the summer event (22nd - 28th June): passivhaustrust.org.uk/event_detail... #PassiveHouse

Simplicity, sufficiency, performance, affordability, community engagement...some great insights from Jon and Nick in the latest podcast with @benadamsmith.bsky.social Aimed at students, architects, commissioning clients or budding self-builders. Buy the book to find out more!

NEW PODCAST: Jon Broome and Nick Grant give us the lowdown of The Good Building Book. www.houseplanninghelp.com/399 #Passivhaus #PassiveHouse

It's always good to see the #Passivhaus talks well attended.

I'm at #Futurebuild today, and halfway through the day and I've already had lots of good chats.

Janna and Seb Laan Lomas' project generally keeps things simple and economic. However, sometimes it's worth splashing the cash on something special. Craftsman Carwyn Jones did an amazing job of this oak staircase, and the complex joinery takes shrinkage into account. www.houseplanninghelp.com/398

Who's going to Futurebuild on Tuesday?

In Havering, Reform won 71% of the seats on 36% vote share. In Ealing, Labour won 66% of the seats on 30% of votes. In Westminster, the Tories won 59% of the seats on 35% of the vote. In Sutton, 44% of the vote gave the Lib Dems 93% of the seats. Under FPTP, whoever wins, the voters lose.

In Richmond upon Thames, the Lib Dems won EVERY SINGLE SEAT - all 54 of them - on 51% of the vote. This means 49% of voters got no representation whatsoever. That's First Past the Post for you.

Are you an architect, builder, engineer, self-builder, who's looking to show off your latest #Passivhaus project? Well perhaps I can help you create a great case study video and a perfect marketing tool... and I promise it won't cost the earth! www.regenmedia.co.uk/case-studies/ #PassiveHouse

This fact speaks volumes. Happy birthday, David. What an amazing career.

100%. Our system doesn't work any more (if it ever did).

🗳️ Don't forget to vote today 🗳️ Vote with hope or out of frustration. Vote tactically or with your heart. Vote angry with a voting system that regularly ignores millions. Vote - and then keep demanding a better democracy where every vote is equal and all voices are heard.

Such a wonderful time of year.

If you have read and enjoyed The Good Building Book we would be really grateful if you could post a review, however brief! Amazon, Good Reads, Waterstones, Barnes and Noble . . . Thanks

As a couple looking to build a new home there's always a bit of give and take. Put two architects together and how is that going to work? Interestingly Seb Laan Lomas let Janna take the lead. His only stipulation was that it must be a #Passivhaus. Did it work out? www.houseplanninghelp.com/398

Are you living in a modular home? Looking to speak with people currently living in one, families, couples, or solo occupants. Keen to hear what works, what doesn’t, and how it feels day to day. DM or email: [email protected] #journorequest Reposts appreciated

Coming soon: I'll be chatting to the authors of this new book. P.S. Has anyone read it yet? And if so, what did you think?

What have we been talking about on the podcast recently? As ever, it's a right mix! www.houseplanninghelp.com #PassiveHouse #Passivhaus

I've felt this several times over the last few years. Chopping and changing is not good for anyone. We need the right people in place to begin with... and we need a better electoral system. "UK should not keep changing prime ministers," warns John Major. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Janna and Seb Laan Lomas calculate that their screw pile foundation system has 70% less embodied carbon than a traditional concrete slab. And at the end of the life cycle it can be used again. Nice. www.houseplanninghelp.com/398 #SelfBuild #Passivhaus #ScrewPile #PassiveHouse

⭐ Off to a cracking start with the Early Bird tickets!! Thank you to those who have purchased already - you are in for a real treat this September!

He's not your representative. He represents the oligarchs. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I've got a quick favour to ask. Do you know of any completed projects (that have bedded in a little) that are ripe for a video case study? I'm keen to get out and about more in 2026. www.regenmedia.co.uk #Passivhaus #SelfBuild #EcoHome

Jon Broome will be my next guest on the podcast... and one scheme we'll be talking about is RUSS. But what makes RUSS such an interesting development? A little while back I caught up with one of the co-founders Kareem Dayes. www.houseplanninghelp.com/364 #SelfBuild #CommunityLandTrust #EcoLiving

The team has been working really hard on the new look House Planning Help website that'll go live in May! I can't wait. Revamping websites is a lot of work but we've got nearly 14 years of content and this will make everything much easier to navigate and it'll look fit for 2026.

If you're building your own home you probably think there is way too much to get your head around. Well Janna and Seb Laan Lomas were set on making a bio-based #Passivhaus. The amount of thought that takes and careful choices is mind-blowing! houseplanninghelp.com/398 #PassiveHouse

Almost everything we argue about is a substitute for the thing we should be arguing about: the immense wealth & power of an oligarchic class, which captures governments, ruins lives and wrecks the living planet. This class redirects our rage at scapegoats. To resist its lies is to resist its power.

@alanclarke.bsky.social I saved these photos for you! And a question... Does a 30 year old #MVHR system that's been poorly maintained still provide any benefits? #Ventilation

As ever, George Monbiot has a wonderful way with words. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... #Oil #Renewables

#Eventprofs, is sustainable accommodation a nice-to-have, or an absolute dealbreaker? I'm writing about this for M&IT magazine and would love your views. We all want to be greener, but have budget concerns made it easier to overlook eco credentials and skip straight to the cost? #JournoRequest

If you're planning a new build or an upgrade of your home, tell us your plans and you can get a free copy of the new issue of Passive House Plus* Click here if in the UK: passivehouseplus.co.uk/enquiry Or here if in Ireland: passivehouseplus.ie/enquiries *Physical copies for UK and Ireland only.

Heat pump orders up 2x in a month. Solar panel inquiries up 250%. EV leases up 85%. The Iran crisis has made energy security feel personal. I understand why: I have solar panels, a heat pump & EV on a flexible tariff. When gas prices spike, my bills barely move. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

What do we make of this article today? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Over the last year or so I've definitely noticed more people running into problems with Building Control sign-off. There's another example in my latest podcast. Janna and Seb couldn't get their Approved Inspector to sign-off a traditional clay plaster. So what did they do? houseplanninghelp.com/398

Quick question - does anyone use Threema instead of WhatsApp? And if so, is it any good?

Well done, #Hungary. Great choice. We need some good news.

Is this undoing some of #Brexit without saying the words we made a whopping mistake?! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

As we close in on episode 400 I have more great podcasts for you. In our current episode Janna and Seb Laan Lomas explain how they built a bio-based #Passivhaus. houseplanninghelp.com/398 Still to come: two great double acts (Nick Grant and Jon Broome, and Chris Herring and Bill Butcher)!

NEW PODCAST: I've heard a lot about Llama Croft over the last year or so, but I finally got to visit. Janna and Seb Laan Lomas are my guests. www.houseplanninghelp.com/398 #Passivhaus #PassiveHouse #SelfBuild #NaturalMaterials