

Highlights for this event included seminars on key homebuilding topics such as financing your project, design principles to consider, and how you can select a trader you trust. We heard from not only our exhibitors, but long-time visitors who shared their experience of successfully completing a project through Self-Build Case Study Sessions (you can see our full range of case studies here).
We also held ‘Course Taster Sessions’, to provide an overview of foundational topics: Planning Permission, Finding Land & Plot Appraising, as well as Claiming VAT back on self builds, barn conversions & new dwellings. We offer deep-dives into these topics during our ‘NSBRC Guide to…’ Courses. We are pleased to extend our 15% discount across all courses until the end of February. Find out more here.
Additionally, we offered guided expert tours of our life-sized educational exhibits, and 1:2:1 expert appointments covering topics from architectural design, building regulations, planning, project management and landscaping - to name just a few.
This Show has been incredibly positive and successful, and a nice way to begin the year – but also end a rather busy January! We’ve already run our Heat Pump themed ‘Drop In Clinic’ and first ‘Online Surgery’ of the year, as well as our first Self Build Course of 2025.
Here’s what some of our show visitors had to say:
“A very informative and useful day out, even for a building professional like myself. Received a lot of great advice, information and ideas for my current project and staff/representatives were all very helpful. Particular highlight was the renovation tour of the 'mocked up' house guided by Rob - would highly recommend to any budding future renovators! Definitely a must visit to the centre for any future self builders/renovators - will no doubt pay a return visit this year!”
B, Upright. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“A very pleasant and informative day, giving us lots of inspiration and guidance. All exhibitors were very friendly with lots of advice. We will certainly return to get more info/ideas as our project progresses.”
S, Huband. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“Great place to go if you are a novice self builder or seasoned pro., all under one roof. Nothing beats, talking to the building experts and seeing full size examples of house construction types from foundations up and an impressive cross section of the thousands of material choices you can use. The advice and resources you can access via the centre will no doubt save you time and money and make your house build experience an easier one.”
C, Evans. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
If you enjoyed the show, we’d really appreciate a positive Google review. It makes a big difference to our team of employee-owners – who, as I hope we displayed, really care about what we do.
You can leave your own review here.
Other upcoming events at the NSBRC:
- Saturday 15th February – Eco Workshop: Design, Planning & Sustainability
- Saturday 1st March – Drop In Clinic: Insulation
- Saturday 15th March – Building Systems Workshop
- Saturday 5th April – Eco Workshop: Heat & Energy
- Friday 25th and Saturday 26th April – Passivhaus Workshop
- Friday 16th and Saturday 17th May - The Festival of Sustainable Homes
- Saturday 31st May – Eco Workshop: Building Systems & Project Management
- Saturday 14th June – Drop In Clinic: Solar PV & Battery Storage
We’d, once again, like to extend a warm ‘thank you’ to all in attendance. We wish you all the best with your homebuilding plans and look forward to welcoming you back soon.
Remember, we’re open, six days a week, Tuesday to Sunday - all year round!