Guy Martin's 'House Without Bills'

Passivhaus retrofit takes centre stage in the Channel 4 programme Guy Martin’s 'House Without Bills'. The 90 minute feature-length programme follows the nine-month renovation of a semi-detached house in the Manchester suburb of Stretford, with the ultimate aim of driving its heating bills as low as possible. This involves a total transformation to Passivhaus retrofit standards, with Guy Martin working on each of the key installations.

While viewers see what it takes to turn an archetypal house into the gold standard of energy efficiency, the show is packed with useful advice and tips for any householder interested in cutting bills and carbon emissions from their home, regardless of budget.

Guy also gets on his bike to look at the broader story of British housing’s future: visiting a converted church in Northumberland, now one of the most energy efficient homes in the country; taking part in home heating experiments at Salford University’s cutting edge Energy House 2.0 research lab and helping to assemble a flat pack home at a revolutionary Merseyside building company. Back in Stretford, Guy shows off the finished Passivhaus retrofit house to the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.

The programme has been made by North One, part of the All3Media Group, and has been co-funded by Nesta, the innovation foundation, as part of the organisation’s mission to reduce home carbon emissions in the UK by 30%, by 2030.

The Stretford Passivhaus retrofit project featured in the programme has been undertaken by a project team including Passivhaus Trust members Progress in Practice, Myzsa Group and ZE Passivhaus. Guy Martin also visits the completed Warksburn Old Church Passivhaus retrofit during the programme. The project is the world's first Passivhaus church to home conversion and now operates as holiday rental accommodation. It was commissioned by Passivhaus Trust members Anne and Alan James, and undertaken by a team including further members Ecospheric and ZE Passivhaus.

For those inspired by the programme, the Passivhaus Trust has a range of resources on Passivhaus retrofit for both homeowners and construction professionals:

Top tips for affordable Passivhaus retrofit, including step-by-step and staged approaches.
Case studies and 'Lunch & learn' webinars sharing examples of Passivhaus retrofit projects on a range of housing typologies, from terraced houses to barn conversions, and heritage cottages to 1970s semis.
Masterclass webinar series on Passivhaus retrofit for building professionals interested in improving their retrofit skills
Passivhaus Learning Hub offering guidance papers, training videos, and interactive courses