Guy Martin's 'House Without Bills': What a Passivhaus Retrofit Tells Us About Getting New Builds Right

When Guy Martin's House Without Bills aired on Channel 4 on 9 February 2026, it put Passivhaus retrofit in front of a mainstream audience. According to the Passivhaus Trust, the 90-minute programme follows a nine-month renovation of a semi-detached house in Stretford, Greater Manchester, with the aim of driving its heating bills as low as possible.

There is plenty in it for anyone renovating. There is also a less obvious lesson for anyone building new: the part of a house that a retrofit finds hardest to change is the part a new build can get right from the start. That part is the ground floor.