Zero Ambitions Podcast (Jeff and Dan)
Explore every episode of Zero Ambitions Podcast
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| 31 Oct 2023 | Construction's embodied carbon problem: how do we incentivise retrofit over 'demolish and rebuild', with Joseph Kilroy (CIOB) | 00:57:22 | |
Jeff received a press release that piqued his interest, so we invited the man behind the call to action, Joseph Kilroy, (Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)). Joseph joins us to talk about their ideas for increasing the pace of change required to meet the ubiquitous net zero 2050 targets. They're calling for government to incentivise better building practices by using the tax system to create an economic environment that supports the spirit of climate legislation rather than undermining it. Specifically, we talk about the impact that charging the full rate of VAT for demolition in Ireland would have if a reduced rate for repair and refurbishment was maintained, and the idea of introducing a levy for demolition as a similar catalyst. But these same ideas could probably be applied much the same anywhere.
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| 13 Dec 2021 | Embodied Carbon and the COP26 House | 00:55:47 | |
This week Rachael Owens, head of sustainability at BGY and coordinator at ACAN and Peter Smith of Beyond Zero Homes talk to us about all things embodied carbon and moving towards circular principles in construction. Rachael was involved in the campaign to regulate embodied carbon in the construction industry launched by ACAN earlier this year, without which the construction industry will not be able to decarbonise at pace. Peter was instrumental in creating the COP26 house which was designed to showcase how you can build and live sustainably by using timber and ecologically responsible cradle to cradle solutions, with a low whole-life carbon footprint.
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| 22 May 2023 | Architects don't need to solve every problem with a building, with Charlie Luxton | 01:14:45 | |
People off the telly don't tend to know the first thing about sustainability, let alone possess a properly anoraky understanding of the subject, but Charlie Luxton is different.
For those who, like Jeff, have been living under a rock these past 20 years, Charlie Luxton has presented numerous shows across British TV, including Building the Dream, Homes by the Sea and Impossible Builds (More 4), World's Wierdest Homes, SuperCommuters, Best Laid Plans (Channel 4), Modern British Architects (Channel 5), Britain’s Hidden Heritage (BBC 1), Restored to Glory and Rebuilding The Past (BBC 2), Homes and Property (ITV) and The Great Treehouse Challenge (Sky Living). Charlie and his wife Kate Luxton also run an architectural practice, Charlie Luxton Design, whose work seems to be annoyingly well conceived. Kudos to Grace Fraser from heat recovery ventilation supplier Airflow for connecting Jeff and Charlie. Notes from the episode
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 18 Jan 2022 | Putting People Front and Centre with Jon Daley of Magenta Living Housing Association | 01:03:31 | |
Reference is made some reports and articles in this episode, which we share here. Each Home Counts Review: https://www.eachhomecounts.com/ Housing Quality Network article: "Four key ingredients for sustainability in housing" by Jon Dtraaley | |||
| 26 Dec 2023 | PH+ revisited: Seeing the wood for the trees (part two), with Andy Simmonds (AECB) and Lenny Antonelli (PH+) | 00:58:54 | |
Happy post-Christmas day, hope you made it through OK. Today we have part two of the latest Passive House Plus revisited, looking at Lloyd Alter's favourite article of 2021: Seeing the wood for the trees - Placing ecology at the heart of construction. It turned out to be an extra long one but it felt deserving of the space, so rather than butcher the conversation we thought we'd just cut it in two and let you hear the lot. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Notes from the show
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| 28 Feb 2023 | Retrofit, energy ratings, and improving Europe's energy performance, with Ciarán Cuffe MEP | 01:03:29 | |
With the EU closing in on a major revision to perhaps the single most important legislative driver for decarbonisation of buildings, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), we spoke to the architect of the proposed changes, Ciarán Cuffe, who gave us some fascinating insights. It was a chance to talk about thinking big and the challenges associated with instituting large-scale change. A veritable sustainability, built environment, and political polymath, Ciarán is the Green Party MEP for Dublin and rapporteur for the European Parliament on the next recast of the EPBD. Originally published in 2002, the EPBD is the reason we have EPCs/BERs/DPEs, for all their flaws and benefits. It’s also the reason we have the nearly zero energy building (NZEB) standard as a mandatory requirement for new buildings across Europe since 2019. But the original directive and previous recasts have left certain problems unresolved, and Ciarán told us about work to update the directive to ensure it can help to drive meaningful change in decarbonising the European building stock. It's worth noting that Ciarán's not just a politician too. He’s a qualified planner, architect, lecturer at Technological University Dublin, and a former Minister for Planning in the Irish government.
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| 07 Nov 2023 | Can you have a zero carbon building? The answer is “no”. With John Butler (Sustainable Build Consultancy; CAT) | 01:01:54 | |
If you’re looking to understand how to approach carbon accounting in the built environment, we’ve got you. Brought in to tackle some big questions around accounting for carbon we were joined by sustainable building expert John Butler. Jeff’s been talking about getting John on for ages, for reasons he explains in the episode, and when we caught sight of an article he’s co-authored for the next issue of Passive House Plus we realised that we had the perfect excuse. John provides us with a lot of experience and context for understanding the subject. It’s a nerdy episode too, in a good way, so it may bear a few listens because we cover a lot in an hour. We start with a discussion of the process of creating the underlying EPD data for straw and go from there, through making net calculations, accounting for carbon stored in buildings, institutional guidance, concrete and carbonation.
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| 20 Feb 2024 | Natural materials, healthier homes, and the culture of sustainable building, with Will Kirkman (Ecomerchant) | 01:16:15 | |
We enjoyed the company of Ecomerchant’s Will Kirkman a business that's specialised in sustainable and natural building materials for the building trade and consumers. We mainly rambled our way around the culture of building in the UK, how embodied carbon has always been on the Ecomerchant agenda and the impact that sustainable and natural building materials have on the buildings they make and the people who occupy them.
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| 07 Oct 2024 | Performance guarantees, measuring what works, and EPC reform, with Steven Heath (Knauf Insulation) | 01:27:43 | |
This week we're speaking with Steven Heath, technical director at Knauf Insulation (UK and Ireland) and a really interesting and experienced person in the sector. So while we had him, we ran through a bunch of our favourite hoary subjects: measuring performance, performance guarantees, and what we think about EPCs. Knauf is a firm that's done some really interesting work in all of these areas and has even managed to make headway with the UK state in getting them to think about the value of testing performance, with EPCs and whatever SHDF is called now (the state-driven money tap for decarbonising social housing).
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 07 Mar 2023 | EPCs are just a ritual (pt. 1): fundamental flaws in how we assess energy performance and how we got here, with Adrian Leaman and Bill Bordass (UsableBuildings.co.uk) | 00:55:12 | |
This week we've got a two-parter for you with returning guests, Bill Bordass and Adrian Leaman. At first, we thought we'd do an episode in response to that Times article that was doing the rounds last week, and we did. It just didn't turn out as we expected. At the last minute, we asked Bill Bordass and Adrian Leaman if they'd like to join us. Jeff had remembered just how deeply those guys had been involved in the subject of energy performance assessment, so we asked them, they were free, and we were delighted. Bill and Adrian were really generous with their time, hence us having enough for two episodes this week. The first part (this one) was mainly spent looking into the past while Bill regaled us with a tale of what might have been, how EPCs came to be what they are, and where it all went wrong. Part two is more focused on how we might do better in the future. It has a particular UK focus but the themes are universal. There are lots of lessons that we can learn from the tension between modeling and estimation, and the reality of how buildings perform in use. We start the episode proper about seven or eight minutes in, so you can jump ahead, but you may miss Adrian's story about his energy efficiency tour behind the Iron Curtain and Albanian refugee defectors. Notes from the episode
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 04 Oct 2022 | Retrofitting for heritage, as well as the future with Dr Marina Topouzi (Environmental Change Institute) and Nigel Griffiths (Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance) | 01:10:03 | |
The immensely knowledgable and experienced Marina Topouzi and Nigel Griffiths joined us for a chat about retrofit, this time adding heritage into the mix and acknowledging the past, not just thinking about the future. Marina Topouzi is a research associate at the Environmental Change Institute's energy research programme in the Lower Carbon Futures team. Her current project researches deep renovation policy initiatives and policy mixes across the world including both technology-focused and people-focused policies. Marina has been involved in building the Eco Retrofit App - a risk management tool to support low-energy skills literacy and mitigate the risk of poor-quality retrofits. She is a steering group member for the BSI PAS 2035: 2019 Retrofit standards. Nigel Griffiths is a sustainability and energy efficiency expert in the built environment with over 25 years’ of experience as a practitioner, project manager, author, and consultant. As Director of the Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance, he works at the cutting edge of sustainability for heritage buildings. He is the author of numerous reports and several books on sustainable building including the Eco House Manual (Haynes 2007, paperback edition 2016) and more recently From Retrofit to Regeneration: A blueprint for post-Covid recovery. **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 17 Oct 2022 | Burnout, bureaucracy, Energiesprong and Ealing (part one), with Tania Jennings Principal Domestic Energy Officer at Ealing Council | 00:45:26 | |
This week we had a long, rambling chat with Tania Jennings about delivering public sector projects including an Energiesprong scheme. She has experience that wraps in collective procurement as well as keeping the momentum up throughout lockdown. Part two up on Thursday. Tania has a keen insight into the many opportunities, as well as the difficulties, in trying to make our homes safer, warmer, and more efficient. Some of the references from the show.
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| 22 Sep 2022 | Part 2 - Housing Policy with Gavin Smart & Callum Chomczuk of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) | 00:41:25 | |
A great discussion with Gavin, the Chief Executive of the CIH, and Callum, who is the National Director in Scotland. We had a fascinating conversation that covered a wide range of housing policies, including new builds, retrofits, the private rented sector and loads. This is the second part of the podcast we recorded.
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| 29 May 2023 | Meeting the skills gap: one-stop-shop training, an Irish approach to education, with Lis O'Brien and Benny McDonagh (TUS) | 01:21:25 | |
With the world waking up to the need to rapidly decarbonise buildings, quick-fire, quality education and training tailored to the industry's needs is essential. But doesn't training in how to fly drones for budding building pathologists sound too much like fun? This week we spoke to Lis O'Brien and Benny McDonagh of TUS about an exciting new platform, DASBE (the Digital Academy for the Sustainable Built Environment), which offers an excellent range of eye-opening courses designed to help Irish designers and tradespeople play their part in the war on carbon. For UK and international listeners, this episode is a fascinating insight into the development of new, more nimble educational and training approaches that may bridge the gap between trades and design professionals in the advancement of sustainable building and retrofit know-how. Notes from the episode
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 10 Jan 2022 | EnerPHit at Scale with James Traynor of ECD Architects | 00:51:13 | |
An interview with James Traynor of ECD Architects about retrofit, EnerPHit, Portsmouth's Wilmcote House project (the largest scale retrofit of its type, in its day), and James's fabulous book about EnerPHit. https://www.ribabooks.com/enerphit-a-step-by-step-guide-to-low-energy-retrofit_9781859468197 https://ecda.co.uk/projects/wilmcote-house-2/ | |||
| 24 Jan 2023 | Lazy thinking and unsustainable myths: how expensive is low-carbon construction? A conversation with the authors of 'Building for 2050: low cost, low carbon homes' Alison Crompton (AECOM) and Tom Dollard (Pollard Thomas Edwards) | 01:22:47 | |
Insidious misconceptions, false myths, and the lazy thinking pervades the green building sector, we're not happy about it, and nor are the authors of 'Building for 2050 Low cost, low carbon homes'. This is a recently published BEIS research paper about how low carbon construction is held back by a false understanding of what it costs, how hard it is, and what its users actually think about living with it. Alison Crompton (AECOM) and Tom Dollard (Pollard Thomas Edwards) were very generous with their time and took us through as much of the project as we could manage. If you want more, you'll probably find everything you're looking for at www.buildingfor2050.co.uk. In fact, you definitely should take a look at their website. This is the article that Sara posted back in December about how low carbon building was being held back by misconceptions about costs. **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 12 Aug 2024 | Why is making UK homes more efficient so difficult? Leyla Boulton (Green Conservation; Financial Times) | 01:06:44 | |
Why is making UK homes more efficient so difficult? So asked journalist Leyla Boulton earlier this year in the pages of the Financial Times. Seeing a retrofit article in the FT piqued our interest, even more so once we realised Leyla is a senior editor with an esteemed background in political and environmental reporting. She was reporting on Kyoto where no one cared. Since beginning her retrofit journey Leyla has become a campaigner and it's this that you'll hear as we discuss the mainstreaming retrofit for the able-to-pay market, an endeavour borne of her experiences delving into the retrofit sector motivated by efforts to make her own home more energy efficient. Typically we talk about the barriers to take up, a desperately unhelpful planning bureaucracy, poorly designed institutional support, hamstrung local authorities and councils, and the need to do better in designing a system that works. Do check Leyla's article if you can. In spite of the broad air of dismay at how difficult things are, she describes meeting lots of helpful and enthusiastic people who were hamstrung in their efforts.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 15 Apr 2024 | A new way to measure performance, negative energy use, and learning from disaster zones, with Kate Crawford (KLH Sustainability) | 01:17:08 | |
Kate Crawford is a building nerd who is obsessed with measuring performance. She's currently, Technical Director at KLH Sustainability, a multidisciplinary consultancy working in the built environment. Kate has a very interesting background in terms of her experience and she's now working on a very fascinating project in which she's researching and developing a "Smart Meter Enabled Thermal Energy Rating (SMETER)" system that uses a new approach to measuring building performance and a different kind of metric for assessing it. The result has been something that they call "the snug factor", which is the heat-transfer coefficient of the building (Kate explains it all in the episode). The way they generate their heat-transfer coefficient has led to incredibly accurate estimations for energy use in a home. Notes from the show
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| 10 Nov 2021 | Low Carbon Heat Networks and Clean Air with Dave Pearson | 00:35:04 | |
Dave Pearson from Star Renewables talks about district heating during CoP26 | |||
| 20 Dec 2022 | Revealing opportunity with thermal imaging, a chat with Stewart Little of IRT Surveys | 01:08:31 | |
We spent a little time with Stewart Little, a former architect who's been working to support energy efficiency and retrofit in the built environment for more than 20 years. With IRT Surveys he has led a business that uses thermal imaging to highlight energy saving issues in the built environment and an online platform that uses property data that shows its users how to save energy and access funding. Stewart was excellent value, with plenty to offer from years of experience and his Rockstar-related origin story, but we were really keen to speak with Stewart because his story highlights just how much things have changed for the green building sector, and how much opportunity is being recognised.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 12 Jun 2023 | A structural engineer who 'gets' green building: managing risk, climate, and the future, with Beth Williams (Build Collective) | 01:35:18 | |
This week Beth Williams joined us to talk about structural engineering and sustainability. She's an associate at Build Collective, (one of Jeff's favourites), and a professional who is long-steeped in green building practice. While there were some rash accusations of 'nepo baby' status, it seems that economic casualty seems fairer. Trained as an architect Beth went where the work was after the global economic crisis in 2008 and found her true calling in structural engineering. As the only Passive House-qualified structural engineer in the UK, she is well-versed in trying unconventional approaches to structural design, planning for the future, and considering best use of resources. Notes from the episode
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 09 Aug 2022 | Retrofit, procurement, contracting, and preparing for the future: a conversation with Jennifer Phin from A.C. Whyte | 00:53:22 | |
Last week we met with 'friend of the show; Jennifer Phin, MD of A.C. Whyte & Co., a firm with decades of experience delivering energy efficiency through retrofit measures As part of our ongoing conversation about the challenges around retrofit, she has a lot to offer the discourse. Our discussion included the role of procurement in delivering successful retrofit, the need for greater client-side literacy (to appraise cost vs value), and the desperate need for a stronger education strategy across the board, from building up the body of specialised personnel that the industry needs, to the sorts of education that benefit the occupants, post installation of measures. All common themes, underpinned by a long-term, coal-face contractor's experience. You'll find A.C. Whyte & Co online and on LinkedIn, but we definitely recommend checking the Skills Academy video. **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 26 Jul 2022 | A contractor's right to reply, but without any contractors, just Dan, Duncan, Jeff, and Sara | 00:34:04 | |
This week we didn't have a guest, just Dan, Duncan, Jeff, and Sara. But we still managed to record two hours of chatter. We won't subject you to it all. This episode started out by discussing the right of reply that contractors are probably due on Zero Ambitions (they come in for a lot of stick), and we also talked about the difficulties in maintaining standards from design through to delivery, the way culture needs to change, and a bunch of other stuff. Dan refers to a bit coming after the end theme, it's been postponed for now. There was a lot more to the conversation, much of which we'll put out another episode. We ended up talking about the hot weather (boring by now, surely), and discussed whether we sometimes get a little too political, rather than just talking about sustainability and the built environment. We'll drop it as a bonus episode sometime soon. **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION** | |||
| 18 Sep 2023 | The benefits of energy efficient building are much more than energy efficiency, with Marion Jammet (Irish Green Building Council) | 01:00:29 | |
It was about time we had someone from the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) join us on the podcast. So Jeff invited Marion Jammet, the IGBC's Head of Policy and Advocacy, to join us to talk though a recent white paper they published in conjunction with the Institute of International and European Affairs. The paper is titled: Reviewing the Co-benefits of Energy Efficiency in an Irish context and it's well worth a look for all of our listeners. While its focus is on the situation in Ireland specifically, it's relevant to all of us. The themes, problems, and solutions discussed in the document are broadly the same wherever you are, even if the details and the politics differ. You can find the paper here. Notes from the show
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| 29 Jul 2024 | What can we do about waste in construction? Diversion from landfill isn't enough and there's money to be made. With Chris Clarke (SCAPE) | 01:05:50 | |
In the UK every day the construction industry produces enough waste to fill a football stadium. Rightly, former guest, Chris Clarke (SCAPE) has got a bee in his bonnet about construction waste and is making efforts to draw attention to the issue. He's not just concerned with the profligate use of resources and the impact on carbon emissions, it's the lackadaisical nature of the waste itself. Waste management accounts for £1.5BN of construction spending every year. In an industry that's operating on margins so tight that any kind of change can be seen to be prohibitively risky, it seems absurd that such a significant amount of waste is priced into every single large-scale project. But, while waste, accounting, reuse, circularity, and MMC are all concepts that have an important part to play, but most important is the front-end work that can be done to reduce waste at the point of design. Whichever way we look at it, when we're asked where we might find the money to drive the circular economy or reduce emissions, it would seem that there might be a simple answer. Even if the solution itself isn't so simple. If we're hoping for infrastructure changes that will make a significant contribution to net-zero efforts and generate revenue, it looks like we might have an easy-ish mark. Notes from the show
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 05 Jun 2023 | An outsider's view on green building in UK and Ireland, AKA 'Lloyd loves wood now', with Lloyd Alter (Upfront Carbon; Passive House Accelerator) | 01:17:39 | |
This week we have a transatlantic expert's perspective on the state of sustainable building in Ireland and the UK. Friend of the show, Lloyd’s Alter joined us after a research trip and drinking holiday to the UK. We thought it would be interesting to ask him to tell us about what learned on his travels and he offered us hiss thoughts on wood, the inspiring projects he visited, the people he met, cycling in Dublin, ventilation, air quality, transport, and all sorts. Notes from the episode
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 11 Mar 2025 | There is methodology for defining what ‘net zero carbon’ means for buildings in the UK and it looks great, with Jess Hrivnak (RIBA), Jane Anderson (ConstructionLCA), and Julie Jodefroy (CIBSE) | 00:43:13 | |
This time around we're talking about the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (UKNZCBS) with three of its architects: Jess Hrivnak (RIBA), Jane Anderson (ConstructionLCA), and Julie Jodefroy (CIBSE). The UKNZCBS is the first cross-industry standard for net zero carbon-aligned buildings, albeit in a pilot form. The standard has been developed to enable stakeholders to prove whether a building aligns with the UK’s carbon and energy budgets by providing a single, agreed methodology for defining what ‘net zero carbon’ means for buildings in the UK. This probably won't be the only episode we'll produce on the subject and we'll be watching its progress with great interest.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 12 Dec 2023 | POE and its value to retrofit, and what does a Head of Sustainability do? With Loreana Padron (ECD Architects) | 01:17:56 | |
We are joined by Loreana Padron to talk about what it is that a Head of Sustainability does and, more broadly, the value of post-occupancy evaluation (POE) to all the stakeholders in a retrofit project. Loreana tells us about the path she's taken to becoming Head of Sustainability at Architecture firm ECD, a leading sustainability-focused practice, and we take some time to revisit the Wilmcote House project which we featured way back in 2021. This time, we're more focused on the POE aspect, in part, driven by the inclusion of the Wilmcote House project in Marion Baeli's 10 retrofits revisited project which we featured back in April. Some listeners may want to go back to episode, 23 EnerPHit at Scale with James Traynor of ECD Architects. It's a very old one, so please bear in mind that as badly produced as this podcast may be now (still) we've got a lot better. The content is excellent still though because James is brilliant and it's an amazing project.
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| 10 Jun 2024 | What should we do to get more women into retrofit? Well, we should get behind 'Her Retrofit Space', with Ellora Coupe (Her Own Space and now Her Retrofit Space) | 01:29:10 | |
Returning champion Ellora Coupe joins us to talk about the recent report that Her Own Space has published about the place of women in the retrofit sector, which is heartening, insightful, and damning in equal measure. A great piece of work that everyone interested in the sector should heed. Perhaps more importantly, she's with us to promote the incoming launch of its professional sister network Her Retrofit Space, a network for professional women working in the retrofit sector. It's a network that she's created to fill an obvious cultural deficit and in her words "empower professional women to drive retrofit". It sounds brilliant. Finally, a deserving heads-up for Graphenstone as the first signed-up partner for Her Retrofit Space.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 10 May 2022 | Reissue #1 The UK Energy Market with Professor Kevin Albertson (ep #3) | 00:47:16 | |
This week we’ve gone back to an episode of the podcast that we recorded in the Autumn of 2021 about the UK Energy Market with Professor Kevin Albertson. The episode was made just after the Ofgem price cap increase in October. We discussed the UK energy market and how it came about, and the opportunity for the Government to get involved, both in regulating and providing energy to try and mitigate fuel poverty. Given the latest price increase and energy becoming unaffordable for many households – with average bills potentially reaching £3,000 this year and fuel poverty affecting up to 40% of households – we thought that we would revisit the chat with Kevin. | |||
| 15 Nov 2022 | BE-ST Fest 2022 - Ep03 - A contractor's perspective on the challenges holding back procurement, with Jennifer Phin (A.C. Whyte & Co.) | 00:17:32 | |
Episode three of our mini-series from BE-ST Fest 2022, where we spoke with Jennifer Phin, MD of energy-efficiency contractor A.C. Whyte & Co. Following her appearance on the BE connected panel discussion, she shared more of her experiences of her leading a retrofit business in a rapidly changing environment. ICYMI - BE-ST Fest 2022 was a day of inspiring speakers, expos, demos, workshops, and other activities, aimed at promoting and advancing our journey to a zero-carbon built environment. Some references from the show **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 24 Sep 2021 | The Retrofit Challenge and PAS 2035 with Dr Peter Rickaby | 01:08:05 | |
Peter Rickaby qualified as an architect at Cambridge University and holds a doctorate in energy studies from the Open University. He worked in leading architectural practices in New Zealand and London before a thirty-five-year career as an energy and sustainability consultant in buildings and housing. He has published numerous technical guides to energy efficiency and was Managing Editor of the Institute of Sustainability's acclaimed suite of Low Carbon Domestic Retrofit Guides. Peter has been a Board Director of the Centre of Refurbishment Excellence (CoRE) and a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Energy Foundation. He contributed extensively to the Each Home Counts review, for which he was also a member of the Implementation Board, and he chairs the BSI Retrofit Standards Task Group. Peter was the Technical Author of the BSI's two UK retrofit standards: PAS 2035 Retrofitting dwellings for improved energy efficiency: Specification and guidance; and PAS 2038 Retrofitting non-domestic buildings for improved energy efficiency: Specification. Now semi-retired, Peter helps to run the UK Centre for Moisture in Buildings (UKCMB) and coordinates the Building Envelope Research Network (BERN@ UCL), both at University College London. Peter is also Technical Director of The Retrofit Academy. | |||
| 07 Oct 2021 | The Anthropocene Architecture School with Scott McAulay | 01:04:46 | |
This week I caught up with Scott McAulay, from the Anthropocene Architecture School.Scott is an architect who has been writing about climate change and the built environment, and the need for radical change and to reshape the architectural education model.I discussed Scott's journey and what has caused him to rebel and how the Anthropocene architecture school has developed and grown over the past couple of years into a voice advocating radical change but also of opportunity.He is unapologetic in pushing for a change in the education of architects to bring the climate emergency to the forefront of design requirements and sees Sustainability and Retrofit as areas that are underrepresented within the architecture curriculum.It was a pleasure speaking to Scot, he is informed, passionate and clear in what he is calling for. Radical change now. | |||
| 11 Aug 2022 | Re-up: The Politics of Change and a Real Green New Deal (part 2), with Robin McAlpine of Common Weal | 00:53:22 | |
First, thanks for the heads-up, Joe! Part two of our chat with Robin McAlpine is an experienced political strategist and founder of the Scottish think tank, Common Weal. (Again. it's a little profane at points, so be warned if you have kids about.) Over the two episodes, we discuss the political landscape, the actual economics of change, how power is exercised in order to activate and inhibit change, and what plans to achieve a zero-impact society might actually look like. Links to other things that we mentioned **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 11 Sep 2023 | Retail perspectives on retrofit and high performance building, with Andy Mitchell (Green Building Store) | 01:16:17 | |
We often talk about the notion of selling high performance building to people but we rarely seem to talk with people who actually deal with the customers. In an effort to fill this gap we were joined by Andy Mitchell, MD at Green Building Store, a long-established retailer of all the things a high-performance building might require, and a passive house specialist. We start with ventilation before meandering our way through customer needs, the value of design, passive house, window sills, retrofit, and all the sort of things you might expect from us by now. Notes from the show
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| 20 May 2024 | Place-based hybrid finance to rebuild Ukraine and catalyse better building standards everywhere, with Iva Merheim Eyre (SMARTER4EU) | 01:11:08 | |
This week we're joined by Iva Merheim Eyre from SMARTER4EU to talk about her recently published report the Catalogue of Good Practices, a document that details a variety of place-based hybrid finance models that have been used to rebuild and renovate homes in locations as wide-ranging as the postwar Balkan states to London's own Westminster.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 25 Mar 2025 | Can we meet the skills gap the way we currently deliver training and what is the purpose of education? With Nathan Gambling (BetaTalk and BetaTeach) | 01:12:15 | |
For this episode we were joined by Nathan Gambling. For those that are new to him, he's heating engineer of some repute, a renowned educator, and a fellow podcaster. The episode revolves around the nature of education and learning, the skills gap—specifically focusing on heat pump and retrofit education—and a post that Nathan put up a few weeks ago about an educational experiment he tried out that led to us thinking about the purpose of education. In essence, the episode is about how people learn and how this should shape our approach to meeting the skills gap. Nathan is a great communicator and you should check his podcast. Notes from the show
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 14 Feb 2023 | Industrialising retrofit: how do you say Energiesprong and what's it all about? With Ele and Emily from Energiesprong UK. | 01:09:18 | |
We sat down with Ele George and Emily Braham to talk about all things Energiesprong and how they're making things happen for other people in the retrofit industry. They don't have all the answers, but they're determinedly seeking them with the right questions. Energiesprong UK is a project that's finding ways to mitigate the myriad barriers to improving people's homes, reducing maintenance costs, and developing robust supply chains. From finance to manufacturing, managing relationship-between tenants and landlords, they're prototyping ideas and developing processes that are catalysing a nascent retrofit industry. Importantly, a fascinating outcome of the novel approach that they're taking is how it supports inclusion and diversity, without even having to make an additional effort. They are full of ideas. We learned a lot and were imbued with a massive sense of hope after speaking with them, enjoy. Notes from the episode **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 05 Oct 2022 | ‘Dream house’ sustainability and environmental activism in Hollywood with Ed Begley Jr (Better Call Saul, St Elsewhere, Six Feet Under) | 00:54:21 | |
We got a chance to have a chat with a bonafide celebrity, Ed Begley Jr. As well as being a TV and Hollywood actor, Ed is a long-time environmental activist, and in those terms, Ed is a man who walks the walk, not just red carpets. Jeff got in touch with him to speak about the Platinum LEED house he was able to build following the success of his reality TV show. The interview was actually conducted for Passive House Plus magazine, but we thought it might work as a podcast episode too, so we recorded it and have a version ready to put out as a bonus episode on the Zero Ambitions feed. We talked about Ireland, what it's like to be a sustainability-focused person promoting better practice in a land of overconsumption, his long-time interest in environmentalism, the challenges of any resource-conscious building project, and Ed's three pillars for driving progress in sustainability activism. **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 12 Jul 2022 | The Politics of Change and a Real Green New Deal (part 1), with Robin McAlpine of Common Weal | 01:00:35 | |
This was a much more political conversation than usual, but don't be put off. Robin McAlpine is an experienced political strategist and founder of the Scottish think tank, Common Weal. We mainly wanted to speak with Robin about their Green New Deal, a fully-costed programme of action, explaining how life in Scotland will need to change in order to reverse environmental harm and social failure. We covered a lot too, so it's a long one which we've split into two parts. (It's also a little profane at points, so be warned if you have kids about.) Over the two episodes, we discuss the political landscape, the actual economics of change, how power is exercised in order to activate and inhibit change, and what plans to achieve a zero-impact society might actually look like. We really enjoyed Robin's company and hope you do too. **SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION** We also discussed exporting traditional Scots wellness expertise to China, and a few thoughts on the various qualities of Buckfast, the tonic wine that is Devon's primary export to Scotland. That all felt a bit too far off topic to keep in the main body, so we've tacked it on after the closing theme tune. (FYI, it's the most sweary bit too.) Links to other things that we mentioned | |||
| 21 Sep 2022 | Bonus Episode - United Nations Centres of Excellence for High Performance Buildings with Scott Foster & Jenna Crammer | 00:59:38 | |
Last year before CoP26, we spoke to Scott Foster, the Director of Sustainable Energy and Jenna Crammer at the Green Building Alliance in Pittsburgh.
This year between the 21st and 23rd of September, the U.S. will host the first ever Global Clean Energy Action Forum in Pittsburgh. The three-day event will feature a high-level plenary, topical roundtable with energy and science ministers from 31 countries, CEOs and experts, side events, technology demonstrations, and other activities.
As the High-Performance Buildings Initiative – Centres of Excellence will feature throughout the summit, we thought we would rerelease the episode we did last year.
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| 26 Aug 2024 | How can we embed sustainable design into the construction process? With Mhairi Grant (Paper Igloo) | 01:10:01 | |
Jeff invited Mhairi Grant, co founder of award-winning architectural practice Paper Igloo, to join us to talk about the challenges of ensuring that one's ideas for sustainable design actually make their way through to the construction phase. The subject was sparked by a conversation she and Jeff had about lessons learned from a flawed project (that we discuss) and what it takes to ensure that our best, or even just easiest ideas are delivered upon in the build phase. Usually, we'd think about specifying a project in a way that can resist value engineering, but sometimes the project can be scuppered by something as simple as an easily avoidable comprehension issue.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 01 Apr 2024 | Monitoring will make your buildings be worth more money, Utopi has proved it, with Falk Bleyl (CTO at Utopi) | 01:20:21 | |
Up next we're speaking with Falk Bleyl, CTO at Utopi, about their sensor-based data platform technology. He describes it as an ESG platform which is true but it massively underplays the true value of what their product offers. Heads up, normally, we'll at least try to couch the conversation within a broader context but in this episode, we've barely bothered. We were content just to talk about the product, how it's deployed, and its impact precisely because the value it offers addresses things we talk about nearly every week. So we could be accused of having created an advertorial, but we don't care because it's not. In the most reductive sense, Utopi offers a glorified post-occupancy evaluation (POE) platform. They install sensors, monitor them, manage and interpret the data, and advise their clients on how to respond to what they learn. It is a service that is as relevant to the most red-in-tooth-and-claw capitalist landlord as it is an aspirant socialist housing provider. Utopi uses sophisticated monitoring and maintenance strategies to prove a direct cause-and-effect on the value of the building assets. This is massively important for a world where the public sector is instructed to copy the private sector and indulge political desires for market-based decision-making, whether it's more efficient in reality or not. Utopi's platform proves that efficiency pays, POE pays, and (tangentially) retrofit pays. Notes from the show
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| 01 Jul 2024 | Running a successful retrofit one-stop-shop isn't easy but it can be done, with Caroline Ashe Brady (KORE Retrofit) | 01:16:22 | |
This week's guest is Caroline Ashe Brady of KORE Retrofit in Ireland, one of the objectively successful one-stop-shop retrofit providers to have emerged over the past few years. Caroline is a business leader who we’re a proper fan of, so apologies in advance for our ‘so Caroline please tell us, why are you so great’ style questioning. That said, you can trust us in this opinion, we’ve done the work with these guys. Caroline was happy to talk about their method, process, challenges and offer up some top tips for how to make it work in the sector, which should be valuable to anyone involved wherever they're based. KORE Retrofit is a business that is ambitious about doing better and has demonstrated that retrofit can be a commercial success. It's not easy, and no-one is perfect, but KORE is operating with a practical plan about how they’re going to do better, not just offering up words. Notes from the show
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 23 Jan 2024 | Conservation-led retrofit and energy efficiency for working buildings, with with Heidi Hopper-Duffy and David Hughes (Iarnród Éireann) | 00:57:32 | |
This one is about conservation-led retrofit and the retrofit of commercial (or institutional) building stock. We were invited to see a recent Iarnród Éireann (Irish Railway) retrofit project and meet with Heidi Hopper-Duffy (Environmental & Sustainability Manager) and its architect David Hughes (Senior Conservation Architect & Energy Specialist). Ostensibly, we're talking about energy efficiency and conservation of built heritage. The project was led by David, a retrofit of a historic building shared between Iarnród Éireann and the Chief Medical Officer's (CMO) office. We talk about it but you'll get to see the works in much more detail when Jeff features it in the pages of Passive House Plus. In this case, the railway, guided by David and Heidi's experience, can be lauded as a leader in its field and these sorts of projects are illustrative of the challenges and opportunities that come with working in a large company or institution. We also cover broader bits: design for deconstruction, BERs, what should we be quantifying i.e. carbon or energy, or what? Mind the background noise - we had a few unexpected background interruptions from an occasionally boisterous meeting room next door.
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| 16 Jan 2024 | The cost of sustainability, accounting for language, and the taxonomy, with Archie O'Donnell (KOSMOS) | 00:57:42 | |
The first of our Dublin field recordings is with Archie O'Donnell a long-time face green building in Ireland, a fella who Jeff has a lot of time for, and someone Alex and I hadn't met yet. It was a good call. Originally trained as an architect, Archie has worked his way through the industry, recently joining Danish/Irish consultancy KOSMOS, so there was plenty of scope for the conversation to meander from observations on how the green building industry has changed and is changing, to costing sustainability, accounting for language, the impact of the EU taxonomy and imminent evolutions in energy rating. Interestingly, we didn't recognise the significance of Jeff's Calvinball analogy though, so listen out for that. In Calvinball nature of the game was to make the rules up as you go along, so you're never really held accountable, you can't lose, and the game you're playing can't be brought to an end. This definitely echoes the nature of our fossil fuel, ESG, and sustainability accounting systems.
**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION** | |||
| 28 Nov 2023 | Roadmaps for fuel poverty and retrofit: we know what needs to be done so why can’t we do it? With Tania Jennings (Chair of the Association of Local Energy Officers, London) | 01:21:03 | |
We invited Tania Jennings back. Most folk in the retrofit or social housing space will probably be aware of Tania from LinkedIn and the myriad jobs she has. If you don’t know her yet, check her LinkedIn. Anyway, she wrote a thing for Architect’s Journal about fuel poverty, Covid, and inevitably retrofit and it was excellent. It sparked a conversation about why we’re barely making a dent in resolving the massive pile of retrofit problems in front of us, one that seemed ripe for the podcast, so we brought Jeff and Alex into it too. Broadly, we need better roadmaps and collaboration to enable the change we want to see. We know that the solutions are, it's just that we're not able to deploy them if we carry on going about things the way we currently are.
**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION** | |||
| 16 Oct 2023 | Stranded assets, financing sustainability, and carbon as a risk factor, with Alexandra Hedesiu (EnerSave Capital) | 01:07:12 | |
This week Jeff introduced us to a new friend he met while working on a EU funded green finance project, Alexandra Hedesiu, Head of ESG & EU Advisory Services at EnerSave Capital. The EU Life-funded project is called Smarter Finance for EU, and its aim is to develop the market for credible green home certifications and associated green mortgage, loan and development finance products, with €8.5bn worth of projects already built or planned under a previous phase of the Smarter initiative. As well as getting into the drivers of how large sustainability projects get financed, Alex was able to highlight how the demands of finance are changing the construction industry for the better and how sustainability is being recognised as a risk factor by money men. It's pretty clear that finance is going to demand more accountability from the construction industry, in terms of sustainability strategy and reporting, and that some developers are already feeling the pain of stranded assets. This is all before we touched on carbon pricing. It seems clear that all businesses that work within the built environment should think about how they're going to step up in their own accounting and reporting, because pretty soon every entity in the supply chain will be having questions asked of it. Notes from the show
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| 02 Jan 2024 | How to normalise low-energy heating without radiators: an overnight success story that's fifteen years in the making, with Ethan Wadsworth (ThermaSkirt) | 01:09:19 | |
Happy new year! This week's episode brings you a conversation with Ethan Wadsworth of DiscreteHeat the manufacturers of our new favourite energy efficient (non-radiator and non underfloor) based heating system ThermaSkirt. We're not there to bang on about a product we like, what we found interesting about this one is that it’s an overnight, award-winning success that took fifteen years to bring to fruition. This means that our conversation is mainly about what’s changed in the heating and building space to enable the growing demand for ThermaSkirt, and what that can tell us about the broader market for products related to sustainability and decarbonisation. Ethan had a lot to say about why the product is relevant now, not just what it does and how it works.
We also talk about heating design for a bit too.
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| 09 Nov 2022 | BE-ST Fest 2022 - Ep02 - Aiming for sustainability at speed and scale? | 00:21:55 | |
In ep two of our mini-series from BE-ST Fest 2022, fresh from the BE Inspired panel, we spoke with Ele George from Elevate, Catherine Cosgrove chair of the Scottish Ecological Design Association (SEDA), Quam Temidayo from Microsoft, and Jeff Colley. Representing different facets of the industry, we explored some less commonly discussed retrofit topics (for this podcast at least), such as the need for more re-use in retrofit, how looking at the health of occupants is a way you get motivate change, and how digital technology can be harnessed to link social and commercial value in order to move the sustainability agenda at pace and scale.
Some references from the show **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 21 Feb 2023 | Passive house doesn't cost more to build, with Dr. Shane Colclough (UCD, Ulster University, Passive House Association of Ireland) | 01:04:49 | |
All new homes in Scotland are set to be built to a Scottish equivalent of the passive house standard, under plans announced by the government recently. But at what cost? A recent article in Project Scotland, while describing the aim of the policy as “admirable”, warned that it will “undoubtedly lead, at least in the short to medium term, to greater expense in a construction industry already suffering from spiraling costs and, ultimately, the price of housing rising.” But does this concern stand up to scrutiny? To find out, we spoke with Dr. Shane Colclough, an academic and energy consultant who co-authored two papers comparing fully costed breakdowns of building to the passive house standard versus building regulations in Ireland and Northern Ireland, respectively. But even if construction costs increase, that doesn’t mean development costs or house prices increase by a single penny, as construction economist Prof Tom Dunne argued in the progenitor of Passive House Plus magazine way back in 2007 (link below: Safe as Houses).
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 11 Nov 2021 | West Dunbartonshire District Heating and the Queens Quay Project with Morten Duedahl | 00:35:36 | |
The episode features lessons learnt from district heating and the work that West Dunbartonshire have been doing on developing heat networks. | |||
| 14 Jun 2022 | Dr Peter Rickaby (part 1) on Retrofit, Heat Pumps, EPCs, PAS 2035, LADs, Climate Change, and everything in-between | 00:30:33 | |
Last week Jeff, Dan, Sara and Duncan met up with Dr Peter Rickaby to talk about all things retrofit. The conversation centred on PAS 2035 and the work that is going on to review the process over the coming year. However, as usual, we got so involved in the various different themes around retrofit that we made enough for two podcasts so this is part one with part two coming out on Thursday.
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| 17 Nov 2021 | The Value of Communicating Well, with Dan and Alex from Everything is User Experience | 00:43:29 | |
Discussion with Jeff, Alex and Dan from User Experience is Everything on CoP26 and how communication is critical to how we progress sustainability and radical change in the built environment.https://www.everythingisuserexperience.com/ | |||
| 19 Oct 2022 | Burnout, bureaucracy, Energiesprong and Ealing (part two), with Tania Jennings Principal Domestic Energy Officer at Ealing Council | 00:43:57 | |
Part two of our long, rambling chat with Tania Jennings about delivering public sector projects including an Energiesprong scheme. She has experience that wraps in collective procurement as well as keeping the momentum up throughout lockdown. Tania has a keen insight into the many opportunities, as well as the difficulties, in trying to make our homes safer, warmer, and more efficient. Some of the references from the show.
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| 08 Mar 2022 | How We Actually Use Buildings, with Adrian Leaman and Bill Bordass (usablebuildings.co.uk) | 01:07:17 | |
Episode #31 with Adrian Leaman & Bill Bordass . If you’ve started looking into building performance and post occupancy evaluation at all you’ll soon come across research and tools that Adrian Leaman and Bill Bordass have had a hand in. Together they were involved in the creation of the BUS methodology, the Soft Landings framework, Probe, which later became Nabers, then Nabers UK and Display Energy Certificates – or DEC ratings. They are experts in making buildings truly usable through feedback and strategy. The pair’s website UsableBuildings.co.uk is a treasure-trove of guidance, research and case studies aimed at encouraging those who make buildings, think about end users, understand their experiences, and take their feedback seriously. Some links to the files we discussed www.usablebuildings.co.uk Zero Ambitions is a podcast about sustainability, net-zero goals, and the built environment. We are focused on what can be done to meet the collective net-zero challenges that lie ahead, talk about good practice (not necessarily best), and obsess about retrofit. | |||
| 12 Mar 2024 | Fundamental problems in building design and how we manage thermal comfort, with Susan Roaf (Heriot-Watt; ICARB) | 01:33:08 | |
We are delighted to bring you a conversation with Professor Emeritus Susan Roaf, of Heriot-Watt University this week to talk about a bunch of fundamental problems in building design and the management of thermal comfort. She is a wonderful guest and we're looking forward to having her back. Originally, we planned to talk about her article COP 28: Net zero buildings by 2050? You have got to be joking! a well-judged critique of the outcomes at the most recent COP but we meandered a bit more than expected, but we still managed to cover most of the issues she raises. In the end, we took in a shared colonial history and its influence on the way we approach managing thermal comfort, problems with architectural education, the flaws in solely thinking about decarbonisation of the grid as a panacea, problems with designing buildings have an over-reliance on technology, as well as her colourful and storied background. In some ways with could be considered a counterpart to last year's episode about thermal comfort with Huda Elsherfif and Andy Simmonds, so check that too if you haven't heard it already.
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| 21 Mar 2023 | Passive house can lead to more than just houses: community engagement, control pathologies. and propagating systemic change. With Helena Fitzgerald (Department of Economics at the University of Limerick) | 01:16:34 | |
Our guest on this episode is Helena Fitzgerald, a passive house designer, and architect whose experience of building her own passive house led her to move beyond architecture. Taking a stance on passive house - as an attempt to be green - prompted self-reflection in Helena, which took her career off on what might seem a wild tangent. Now a research fellow in the Department of Economics at the University of Limerick, Helena's new direction is focused on equitable, community-centric, scalable sustainability. Helena's home is a striking, architect-designed, one-off passive house. It's a home beyond reproach in terms of energy efficiency, although we might query the stove today, knowing what we now know about biomass. That said, its rural location bakes in car dependency and renders it a home that couldn't be for everyone - criticisms that are addressed directly, and thematically, in the course of our conversation. As ever, it was a roving conversation with familiar themes: the importance of acting in a manner that is results-driven to guarantee desirable outcomes; technology on its own isn't enough, systemic solutions and localised community engagement are just as integral. We even start nudging at revolution.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 03 May 2022 | Collective Purchasing with Chris Clarke at Scape Group - The power of procurement frameworks to change the dynamic | 01:02:45 | |
Conversation with Chris Clarke, who is the Performance and Improvement Director at Scape Group. Scape is one of the UK's leading public sector procurement authority within construction and services. Scape is a leading provider of services that accelerate project delivery, embed value for money and create a positive procurement experience.
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| 06 May 2024 | The UK has a weird relationship with heat pumps: under appreciated influencers, wild pricing, and bad vibes. With Andrew Sissons (Nesta) | 01:21:03 | |
This week we're joined by Nesta's Deputy Mission Director, Andrew Sissons, to discuss his take on why the UK has such a weird relationship with heat pumps. It was inspired by an excellent Twitter thread on the subject that gained quite a bit of attention the other week. We talk through it all so you might as well listen, or just take a look at the thread, either way it should be interesting.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 10 Jul 2023 | Air quality matters: health, ventilation, and (obviously) retrofit, with Simon Jones (Air Quality Matters) | 01:22:34 | |
Air quality matters, that's the subject for this week in our conversation with Simon Jones and it's all about ventilation. In this instance, Air Quality Matters is Simon's new consultancy offering outcome-focused ventilation strategy. Simon is a professional with nearly 20 years of experience within the housing, construction, and building services sector. He's an Associate Member of both The Institute of Environmental Science and the Institute of Air Quality Management, and; he's acted as an expert advisor to Government during the pandemic. And, there's more, so check his website and LinkedIn. Our chat covered ventilation for the home and the workplace, and for health. The broad growing demands around regulation, precipitated by the prevalence of mold and damp, and the work-from-home time bomb, around employer responsibilities.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 18 Feb 2025 | A 'global' standard for residential retrofit? With Paul Bagust (RICS Head of Property Standards), Steven Lees (RICS Senior Specialist - Residential Survey), and Robert Toomey (RICS Senior Public Affairs Officer) | 01:22:50 | |
Last year the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) released its residential retrofit standard. Given that they're one of the construction industry's oldest, largest, and most influential institutions this felt significant. Importantly, the RICS organisation has a global footprint, so it has the potential to influence good behaviour far and wide. We're also hopeful in light of the success of the RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessment standard. That is in terms of its apparent impact, adoption, and reach. In order to get into the subject a bit more we invited Paul Bagust (Head of Property Standards), Steven Lees (Senior Specialist - Residential Survey), and Robert Toomey (Senior Public Affairs Officer) to join us to talk about the standard and the impact they want to see it have.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 23 Oct 2023 | Getting real about energy research and making heat pumps chic, with Mike Fell (UCL; pump:chic) | 01:08:45 | |
This week we're joined by Mike Fell, energy researcher at UCL, amongst many other things. We've been following Mike's work for a while, (mainly because the pump:chic work is really interesting to us) and when we clocked he's co-authored this paper about realist approaches in energy research we saw an opportunity to bring him onto the podcast. Realist approaches ask not just ‘what works?’, but ‘for whom does it work, under what circumstances, and why?', all good subjects for enquiry in any project. It's much less academic than it might sound. We think it's a really valuable way of approaching research so we wanted to talk with Mike about how he's been using the approach and give us a chance to promote it all to our listeners. We also want folk to check out all the other interesting things he's up to as well. Check the links below.
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| 13 Dec 2022 | The man who said 'heat pumps are not the answer', with Ryan Philp (Daikin) | 01:10:26 | |
This week we're with Ryan Philp from heat pump manufacturer Daikin who caught our attention thanks to his article titled Heat Pumps Are Not The Answer. In truth, he is a firm believer in heat pumps, just not heat pumps as a 'magic bullet'. So, we talked about that a lot, as well as efficiencies, embodied carbon, and heat networks. You also get to hear four white men talk about diversity issues. Some references from the show
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 14 Jul 2022 | The Politics of Change and a Real Green New Deal (part 2), with Robin McAlpine of Common Weal | 00:53:22 | |
Part two of our chat with Robin McAlpine is an experienced political strategist and founder of the Scottish think tank, Common Weal. (Again. it's a little profane at points, so be warned if you have kids about.) Over the two episodes, we discuss the political landscape, the actual economics of change, how power is exercised in order to activate and inhibit change, and what plans to achieve a zero-impact society might actually look like. **SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION** Links to other things that we mentioned | |||
| 16 Aug 2022 | BONUS EP #1 ZAP x CIH from Scotland's Festival of Housing 2022 - the right to a home | 00:36:56 | |
We don't have a standard Zero Ambitions episode this week so we're putting out this bonus episode that we recorded back in May. We are joined by Callum Chomczuk (National director, CIH Scotland) following the festival's opening session "The right to a home". It is the first of a collaborative two-parter we produced a the Chartered Institute of Housing's Glasgow Conference, Scotland's Housing Festival 2022. At this session our speakers talked about why human rights and dignity must be at the heart of our housing policy, as well as the notion that having a stable, secure home is central to every aspect of our health, wellbeing, educational attainment. We were joined by: Gavin Smart | CEO, Chartered Institute of Housing Dr Elaine Webster | Director, Centre for the Study of Human Rights Law, and Senior Lecturer at Strathclyde Law School Fanchea Kelly | Chief executive, Blackwood Homes and Care Mike Dailly | Solicitor advocate and principal solicitor, Govan Law Centre Many thanks to our speakers and all the guys at the CIH who helped us out on the day. The CIH podcast can be found on the CIH website, Spotify, and the usual other apps. **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 14 Mar 2023 | Unconventional approaches to space heating: infra red, ceramics, and the necessity for good design. With John Morehead (Wain Morehead Architects) | 01:24:41 | |
This week we’re talking space heating, with John Morehead of Wain Morehead Architects. Last week Jeff had hoped to talk about the absurd space heating assumptions in the standardised calculations that go into things like EPCs and BERs, so we decided to dedicate this week's episode to it. Jeff's been keen to get John on for a while, so it seemed like a prim opportunity to tempt him to join us, and it worked. That said, we didn't talk much about those assumptions and, unexpectedly, we started with a discussion of Feng shui. Don't worry though, we quickly segue into the discussion about space heating and the use of infrared heating as a complementary heating system. It should be said that with the appropriate design strategies and post-occupancy assessment in place, there are massive opportunities to create spaces that better suit a user’s comfort needs, as well as making them more energy efficient, which will save money. There's not much by way of show notes, we kept it mainly anecdotal. However, he did ask us to plug TUD's Master of Science in Building Performance (Energy Efficiency in Design).
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| 14 Nov 2023 | Biogenic building, whole life carbon, and natural fibre insulation. With Sam Baumber (IndiNature) | 01:00:43 | |
This week we're talking about natural fibre insulation and the potential of biogenic building products with IndiNature manufacturer (and co-founder) Sam Baumber. It feels like a timely follow-up to last week's episode about quantifying embodied carbon, particularly in relation to the role biogenic products have in providing a mid-to-long-term carbon buffer. But we get into the other aspects of interest, addressing fire safety, health, thermal performance, and economic benefits. It wasn't intended to sound like an advertorial but, listening back it does a little. This is because it's a product that we're enthusiastic about. We hope that you are too.
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| 21 Dec 2021 | Putting Retrofit Publications into Action with Barbara Lantschner | 01:02:25 | |
This week we spoke to Barbara Lantschner of John Gilbert Architects. JGA have been dealing with retrofit for many years and specifically with developing monitoring processes that allow them to get to know the existing buildings that they are working with in order to come up with the most appropriate retrofit interventions and solutions. We discussed these processes and some of the publications released this year addressing with retrofit, particularly the LETI Climate Emergency Retrofit Guide. | |||
| 04 Nov 2021 | Financing Retrofit at Scale, Green Neighbourhoods as a Service - Rufus Grantham at Bankers Without Boundaries | 00:55:06 | |
Bankers Without Boundaries (‘BwB’), an innovator in finance, is a not-for-profit powered by former investment bankers to assist high impact projects that benefit the environment and social good. BwB works with governments, institutions, cities and foundations to provide advisory and research services to mobilize capital. They apply financial concepts and structuring expertise to projects to align them with the investment needs of capital markets, considering risk reduction, the scaling and generation of financial returns, alongside broader positive co-benefits and impacts.Their focus is to garner public and private institutional support for projects, enabling public funding to sufficiently leverage private capital to generate requisite scalability. We are committed to catalyzing investment within sustainable development and are passionate about facilitating necessary solutions and innovation by accelerating entrepreneurship.Reducing emissions in the built environment is an extremely complex problem with multiple components. Many of these complexities arise from an underlying assumption, in nearly all jurisdictions, that solving the problem is the responsibility of individual property owners. | |||
| 19 Apr 2022 | ZAP's Good Friday late-night roundtable: should we be building new homes at all? | 00:59:41 | |
After our scheduled guest postponed their appearance we took the opportunity to discuss an issue that's been a little bit fractious in the Zero Ambitions chat: should be building new homes at all? Heads up: it was an evening pod, some drink had been taken; apologies if the early reference to war in Ukraine sounds a bit glib, we aren't able to publish the pre-record chat was a little less centred on us; also Sara was on holiday, and Rachael dropped out at the last minute, so it's a bit of a boys-club episode. There's a little mild profanity too. Some links to things we mentioned | |||
| 22 Feb 2022 | Driving the EU to Net Zero, with Ciarán Cuffe MEP | 00:51:27 | |
A great listen this week with a seasoned and experienced activist and politician. 20 years after an EU directive introduced energy performance certificates for buildings across Europe, Ciarán Cuffe explains why the directive is being recast to drive the push to net zero. | |||
| 04 Feb 2025 | Can we address the decarbonisation of homes by focusing on health? With Jenny Danson (Healthy Homes Hub) | 01:06:04 | |
Can we address the decarbonisation of homes by focusing on health? That's the mission that Jenny Danson has set for herself in establishing Healthy Homes Hub, and it's a question that manages to subvert Betteridge's Law of headlines, too. Healthy Homes Hub is a network, built around an online platform, that's dedicated to transforming the way people experience social housing, and its environmental impact, by creating healthier housing environments. Comprising a series of eight dedicated hubs that cover everything from policy and finance, to retrofit and air quality, the platform enable easy access to important information, insights, and thought leadership. Jenny has over 25 years of experience in social housing, as a supplier and client-side, driving innovation, delivery and improving lives so she knows what she's talking about. The project was borne of a frustration with seeing time and effort wasted as people across the sector carry out the same kinds of work, repeatedly, starting from scratch when they could share resources and pool experience. In a sector where capacity is in short supply this time could be easily put to better use. We talk through the challenges faced by the sector and how a focus on people and health can be used to drive us towards delivering on decarbonisation targets, but train our attention on outcomes for the people living in the 'building assets' not just the performance of the fabric and technology that comprises their home. While it's explicitly aimed at the social housing sector, the platform offers a wealth of information resources and sharing of experience that could be useful far beyond the provision of social housing. Notes from the show
Those ventilation papers that Jeff mentioned
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 10 Apr 2023 | Unsustainable ambition and the absence of content | 00:06:12 | |
Events conspired against us this week and we didn't manage to get a recording together. Sorry. In lieu of having something ready for you, we decided that we'd recommend some of the things that we're listening to. These are all personal recommendations, some related to our subjects, some not. They're all worth a listen though. ------------------------------------------------- Web / Apple / Spotify link to episode
Evil Genius with Russel Kane - Marlon Brando Apple / Spotify link to episode
Apple / Spotify link to episode The History of the English Podcast (Alex just said it’s worth working through this one from the start)
Lex Fridman Podcast - Sam Altman: OpenAI CEO on GPT-4, ChatGPT, and the Future of AI Apple / Spotify link to episode Lex Fridman Podcast - Eliezer Yudkowsky: Dangers of AI and the End of Human Civilisation Apple / Spotify / YouTube link to episode The Blindboy Podcast - Witches Piss and Horses Skulls Web / Apple / Spotify link to episode ------------------------------------------------- Tech Won’t Save Us - Why Green Capitalism Won’t Fix Climate Change w/ Adrienne Buller Website / Apple / Spotify link to episode Ten Thousand Posts - Posting through the Housing Crisis Apple /Spotify link to episode Trashfuture - Busting Offsets feat Dr Jess Green Apple / Spotify link to episode **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 26 Jun 2023 | Influencing retrofit policy and the things you need to make it work, with Gillian Campbell (Policy Lead at Existing Homes Alliance Scotland) | 01:20:21 | |
This week we're joined by Gillian Campbell, the Communications and Public Affairs Lead at Existing Homes Alliance Scotland, a professional with a wealth of experience in the housing sector. Gillian has been involved in some really interesting work around influencing government policy around their retrofit strategy. In particular, their research has revealed insights that are relevant to anyone in the retrofit sector: from the need for good messaging, to the importance of timing in using it, and the fundamental need for frameworks that support and enable consumers to act. Whether the audience is a homeowner or asset manage, in Scotland or North America, the lessons are largely relevant to all. Notes from the episode
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 22 Mar 2022 | Social Justice in Retrofit, with Tara Gbolade and Marianne Heaslip | 00:57:10 | |
Tara Gbolade is an architect, passivhouse designer and cofounder of Gbolade Design Studio, a design-led, community centred practice, focused on sustainable design. She is a member of the Architect’s Declare steering group, sits on a number of design panels and co-founded the Paradigm Network, an organisation that champions black and asian representation in the built environment: https://www.paradigmnetwork.co.uk
Marianne Heaslip is an architect and expert in retrofit, low carbon design, building performance evaluation and participative design. She is an Associate Principle at URBED, works in collaboration with Carbon Coop and plays a key role in People Powered Retrofit, an organisation that exists to tackle many of the barriers homeowners face in commissioning retrofit work on their homes: https://retrofit.coop
Our conversation started with a run-down of International Women’s day and the current state of the industry and went on to explore topics such as: how retrofit needs to be user-centred, solving complex problems by bringing broader voices to the table, and how we can learn from pioneers such as Wangari Maathai and Kate Raworth, who stepped outside and beyond their professions to have wide-ranging positive impacts.
Tara and Marianne signposted lots of fantastic resources: Book: Culture is Bad for You: Orian Brook, Dave O'Brien and Mark Taylor: https://thesociologicalreview.org/reviews/culture-is-bad-for-you-by-brook-obrien-and-taylor/ Book: Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking: Matthew Syed Community Organisation: Homebaked Community Land Trust: https://homebaked.org.uk/ Training Organisation: B4Box: https://b4box.co.uk
Plus a few more post-podcast references: Community Organisation: Arts Emergency: https://www.arts-emergency.org Book: Programmed Inequality: Mar Hicks: https://programmedinequality.com
And don’t forget to check out: https://www.paradigmnetwork.co.uk | |||
| 22 Oct 2021 | Danish District Heating with Morten Jordt Duedahl at the Danish Board of District Heating | 00:49:09 | |
Morten is the Business Development Manager at DBDH (Danish Board of District Heating) in charge of all activities in Western Europe.The DBDH is a Danish member organization with members from the entire Danish district heating sector. Thier mission is to “Promote District Energy for a Sustainable City Transformation”. Morten works with governments, cities and other relevant stakeholders to strengthen the development of district energy across Europe including the UK and Scotland..Inspired by the long and successful development and implementation of district heating in Denmark which now provides heat to two million Danish homes, Morten’s job is to provide value and insights that can further develop both the understanding of what district heating is and the value it can bring to the European society, communities and end-users. Well planned and well-structured district heating will play an important part in the future heat profile of any European city with a long-term green profile.Morten's career began in the district heating industry in Eastern Europe and Russia more than 20 years ago with knowledge building and knowledge transfer. This was followed by 13 years as business development director in a large inward investment organization. | |||
| 24 Apr 2023 | Informed architects will want to do more: convincing clients to do better and Michelin stars for building performance, with James Woodall (Sustainability Lead at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) | 01:21:38 | |
For a change, it's an episode that mainly concerns sustainability for non-residential building design. Friend of the show, James Woodall joined us to talk about his experiences in sustainable architecture in all its complexity, and how to help clients do better work by challenging briefs, asking difficult questions, and then help clients to answer those questions. We also covered the untapped potential for rewarding positive outcomes by promoting them (i.e. a Michelin star guide for building performance), how the effectiveness of building design is impacted is affected by location and climate, the importance of understanding embodied carbon versus operational (and how the emphasis and importance of each is will flip at some point soon), and the great work LETI is doing in creating guidance for retrofitting commercial buildings. Notes from the episode
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 09 Mar 2023 | EPCs are just a ritual (pt. 2): what could we be doing in order to do better, with Adrian Leaman and Bill Bordass (UsableBuildings.co.uk) | 00:55:09 | |
Here we go, part two of last week's recording with returning guests, Bill Bordass and Adrian Leaman. This continues our response to that Times article that was doing the rounds last week, now looking at what we should be doing, in lieu of appropriate and demanding guidance from the institutions that dictate terms. We pick up where we left off. Enjoy.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 17 May 2022 | Built Environment - Smarter Transformation (BE-ST), with Stephen Good and Douglas Morrison | 00:51:39 | |
Decarbonising the built environment is the greatest engineering challenge the UK has ever faced. We are now in an unprecedented period of transformation that requires innovation at speed and scale.
The recent rebranding of Construction Scotland Innovation Centre to Built Environment – Smarter Transformation or BE-ST marked a strategic change in how we address the issues within the built environment and climate change.
In this episode, we speak to Stephen Good and Douglas Morrison about the plans the organisation have and the work they are doing around low carbon learning.
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| 12 Apr 2022 | Central heating problems: systemic issues in design, accessibility, and economics | 01:11:28 | |
Heating problems: systemic issues around design, accessibility, and economics | |||
| 03 Apr 2023 | Learning from our mistakes? Looking back at ten retrofits, ten years later, with retrofit pioneer Marion Baeli (PDP, Passivhaus Trust) | 01:07:34 | |
This week we're with Marion Baeli, an architect who is a retrofit pioneer, a partner at PDP London, a board member of the Passive House Trust, and the author of seminal retrofit-related text Residential Retrofit: 20 Case Studies. Some time ago we saw her posting about the impact DPEs are having on the property market in France and we realised that we had to have her on. We talk about the imminent reprise of her book, a look back at ten of those case studies and the lessons learned since (that's how we justified the clickbaity "mistakes" in the title, it's more about lessons than mistakes, that's why we added the question mark). We also discuss progress and the significant changes that the retrofit industry has seen since the book was first published in 2012 (air source heat pumps, as it turns out). Obviously, we talk about EPCs and DPEs too.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 14 Aug 2023 | PH+ revisited: Let's get decarbonisation done, with Toby Cambray (UCL, Greengauge Building Energy Consultants) | 00:40:51 | |
Lauding an alternative viewpoint to always aiming for the loftiest standards, in this PH+ Revisited Lloyd is championing Toby Cambray's Insulate Britain-inspired article, from February 2022: Let's get decarbonisation done. It's an article about taking a differently-considered approach to domestic decarbonisation strategy and one that Lloyd has referenced frequently because of its refreshingly pragmatic look at prioritising our action. Should we favour deep, whole-house retrofits as per traditional Passivhaus dogma, or should we push for the installation of heat pumps and do just enough retrofit to make it all work? You can read what Lloyd has written about 'heatpumpification' in response to Toby's article on Treehugger but this feels like sufficient summary for here: "He breaks my spellchecker by verbing heat pumps, writing that while you could just install heat pumps, "this does not however mean that it’s a good idea to put a heat pump in a building with poor fabric efficiency. Although there are cases where other constraints mean we have little choice, ultimately we need to both (mostly) Insulate Britain and (mostly) Heatpumpify Britain." Heatpumpify and heatpumpification have been added to my dictionary". Retrofit is a part of the climate discourse that can often feel dominated by a puritan attitude towards fabric-first approaches and the heresy that Toby presents feels like a practical philosophy that balances high-performance building with an awareness of embodied carbon. We also make sure that Richard Lowes gets his credit for authoring this new verb: to "heatpumpify" a home or building. And, when we get around to learning iMovie, there might be a little bit of video on our Zero Ambitions LinkedIn page, so give us a follow there if you can. Notes from the show
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 05 Jul 2022 | Retrofit Reimagined with Immy Kaur of Civic Square and Jack Minchella of Dark Matter Labs | 01:09:28 | |
This week we spoke to Immy Kaur of Civic Square and Jack Minchella of Dark Matter labs about the upcoming Retrofit Reimagined festival, who is taking part, why it's happening, and how you can get involved and attend. For more details check the following links: | |||
| 02 Aug 2022 | The state of retrofit – with Russell Smith of Parity Projects and Retrofit works | 00:50:57 | |
This week Dan and Sara had the chance to speak with retrofit pioneer Russell Smith, of Parity Projects and Retrofit Works. As a long-marcher in the retrofit space, we talked about the challenges of being a first-mover in the retrofit industry, the perennial problems it faces, and the necessity for significant culture change at all levels. This also included a discussion of the impact that localisation and fostering of collaboration could have on catalysing the development of a much larger retrofit industry. In the light of governmental inertia and the traditionally competitive instincts of the construction sector, collaboration actually offers a viable route to all the players delivering the best possible quality, and importantly, earning more money. Proper collaboration has the potential to deliver the sort of retrofit industry that homeowners, local authorities, and social housing entities really need. Some links to Russell's work **OUR OWN SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION** | |||
| 17 Jul 2023 | PH+ revisited: 'Cold Truths' about heating and energy in Britain, with Kate de Selincourt | 00:54:51 | |
Today, we have a new show on the feed. Long-time friend and contributor to the Zero Ambitions Universe, Lloyd Alter is taking the reins to look back at some of the fine work that Jeff has commissioned over the years, with a mind to making it more accessible to a wider audience. So, in parallel with the main show, Lloyd will be curating a tour through some of the best of Passive House Plus, interviewing the work's authors, and looking at the subject matter from a transatlantic perspective. This week we are joined by journalist Kate de Selincourt to talk about her 'Cold Truths' two-part feature, published back in January of this year. It might seem out of place to be discussing it in July, but these issues shouldn't just be seasonal because if we're only talking about them in winter it's already too late to act.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 01 Mar 2022 | Ireland's National Retrofitting Scheme, with Eamon Ryan (TD) | 00:47:32 | |
https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/government-launches-the-national-retrofitting-scheme/ | |||
| 25 Oct 2022 | Getting sustainability into new-build housing, with Robbie McGrath, Head of Sustainability at D/RES Properties | 01:11:22 | |
We caught up with friend of the show, Robbie McGrath, Head of Sustainability at D/RES Properties in Ireland. He's a mechanical engineer who meandered his way into sustainability, working as a sustainability consultant with corporate asset managers in the nordics and (bizarrely,) the British Embassy in Finland. We talked about loads of stuff. He's really interesting. Some of the references from the show
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 08 Apr 2024 | Designing for deconstruction using natural building materials. With Chloe Donovan (Natural Building Systems) | 01:12:39 | |
This week we're talking about modular construction and Natural Building Systems with MD Chloe Donovan. Chloe is a really interesting character with a fascinating product that she's bringing to market. Unusually, she's a farmer who got into building and then found herself as an entrepreneur in the febrile world of modular building and MMC. We talk about all sorts, from the challenges of propagating a biogenic supply chain to the ever-contentious subject of calculating embodied carbon, and a little about what's going on in MMC. Notes from the show
**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION** | |||
| 27 Mar 2023 | Systems design for passive houses, radon research as a proxy for ventilation, and some further education. With Dr. Barry MCarron (PHAI, CREST) | 01:03:59 | |
In this episode, we had the pleasure of Dr. Barry McCarron's company, from his car, during a break in the conference he was attending. If you’re looking for an inspiring journey into academia and leadership in low-energy building, Barry’s story has you covered. We also talk about how passive house certification appears to mitigate risk from radon, the impact of further education (as opposed to academia), and how proper systems design is essential to making even passive houses work properly. Barry earned his doctorate at Queens University Belfast in a piece of academic research of real consequence: comparing the levels of the deadly cancer-causing gas radon in passive houses to other dwellings. Radon, the radioactive gas which kills roughly as many people as road deaths in Ireland, can increase in low-energy buildings. Barry's research covered why passive houses appear to buck the trend, itself something of a proxy for the wider ventilation conversation. Now at South West College in Enniskillen - who recently developed the groundbreaking passive house premium-certified Erne Campus - he is the chair of the Passive House Association of Ireland and is doing powerful work to bridge the gap between academia and the construction industry.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 21 Jan 2023 | More bridges than the River Clyde: unpicking the quality of a retrofit and RIP Paul Doran | 00:34:35 | |
Today we saw a LinkedIn post today that Dan wanted Jeff to explain to him; at the heart of it was an image of a retrofit job that looked lacking. Sadly, the LinkedIn post came down but here's the article it presented. It'll make more sense if you take a look too but it's not absolutely essential, you'll get the gist without it. Reading through the post's comments Dan didn't know what to make of it, so he ask Jeff to tell him what he was looking at and to try and school him a little. We also took a little time to acknowledge the tragic death of Paul Doran, one of the best and most forward-thinking builders Jeff has ever encountered. So we took a few moments to pay tribute to a modest man who had a big impact in Ireland. Notes from the episode
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 29 Mar 2022 | Helping Retrofit Reach a Wider Audience, with author and influencer Laura de Barra | 01:00:39 | |
Laura de Barra is an award winning author, illustrator, and property portfolio developer and has previously consulted on government schemes such as the Green Homes Grant around which she has some key observations. What drew us to Laura was her efforts in trying to empower mainly renters to understand and maintain their homes by sharing tips, tricks and knowledge from how to rid your home of mould, to understanding how your drainage system works. Her two books, Gaff Goddess and Decor Galore were a culmination of years of learning on the job of how to improve the conditions people live in. Showing people that it's possible without needing to spend huge money or be reliant on others to fix things for you. You can find out more here https://www.instagram.com/lauradebarra/ | |||
| 24 May 2022 | The CarbonLite Retrofit Standard (part 1) and a database for Low Energy Buildings, with Andy Simmonds of the AECB | 00:28:52 | |
The AECB is a network of individuals, companies & organisations promoting sustainable building since 1989. With over 1800 members their aim is to bring together tradespeople, architects, engineers, builders anyone interested in low carbon retrofit to train and promote best practices. With the aim of bringing about lasting and sustainable change within the construction Industry and pushing toward net-zero targets | |||
| 02 Nov 2021 | Build Once for the Future - President of the RIAS Christina Gaiger | 00:38:49 | |
Christina Gaiger is the current President of The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) and is committed to the creative reuse of buildings, alongside the construction of a supportive network for the profession, to give traction to the value of good design.Following graduation, Christina has worked on a wide variety of projects, including universities, education facilities, museum design and domestic architecture, for design-led practices Renzo Piano Building Workshop in Paris and Tsao & McKown Architects in New York.Christina returned to Edinburgh and joined Helen Lucas Architects Ltd at the end of 2014, being particularly interested in the practice’s attention to detail and work in architectural conservation. | |||
| 22 Nov 2022 | BE-ST Fest 2022 - Ep04 - Disrupting the industry to achieve net zero, with Christina Gaiger (former RIAS President) | 00:27:44 | |
In episode four of our mini-series, the ZAP team and Christina Gaiger discuss the need for a shift in perception within the industry of the domestic market and how it must become more accessible in order to achieve net zero. ICYMI - BE-ST Fest 2022 was a day of inspiring speakers, expos, demos, workshops, and other activities, aimed at promoting and advancing our journey to a zero-carbon built environment. Some references from the show **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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| 30 Jan 2024 | A view from COP28, and relearning how to be an architect for after the Oil Age, with Kelly Alvarez Doran (Half Climate Design; Architecture 2030 Senior Fellow) | 01:21:36 | |
With us this week is new friend, Kelly Alvarez Doran, via an introduction from Lloyd to talk about his experiences at COP28 and his carbon reduction consultancy Ha/f Climate Design that's challenged itself to reduce Canadian construction's emissions by half. We get sidetracked almost immediately while we talk about Kelly's background as an architect, working in mining, and the big changes to philosophy on building after working in Rwanda. In spite of the early diversion, we spent the whole conversation consistently hitting the same key themes themes:
Kelly's great. He'll be back. Hopefully without any sound issues next time (it gets better after a bit).
**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION** | |||
| 04 Jun 2024 | Building better performance: raising construction standards on site and in education, with Joseph Little (TUD) | 01:22:39 | |
This week we're going by Joseph Little, Head of Construction & Building Performance in the School of Architecture, Building and Environment at TU Dublin. He joined us to talk about the journey he's been on leading the MSc in Building Performance over the last seven years, but we got into a lot more. Joseph has been deeply involved in the promotion of better building standards by measuring the performance of buildings for years. Not least with the five Breaking the Mould articles he wrote that Jeff published years ago, sounding the alarm on moisture, condensation, ventilation and a bunch of other issues. We get into all of it and tried to be mindful to keep it to a 'reasonable' length. I'm sure we'll have him back though.
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION** | |||
| 19 Dec 2023 | Shady business #1 – overheating, and Camden: we should think about solar gain all year round, with Zoe De Grussa (BBSA) | 01:16:41 | |
It's all about shading, overheating, and solar gain with Zoe De Grussa this week. She's the author of that infamous Camden overheating case study that Jeff always references and, at the time of writing, is technical and sustainability consultant at the British Blind and Shutter Association (BBSA). We cover Camden, but perhaps more interesting is the conversation around the difficulties in modeling shading, and the consequent difficulty in communicating its value to a project. Despite shading measures being 3-4 times cheaper to install at the point of a building's origination, rather than retrofitting it when there's a problem, it's all too often one of the first things value-engineered out of the specification. Notes from the show
**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION** | |||
| 25 Sep 2023 | Building a place for women in retrofit, with Ellora Coupe (Her Own Space) | 01:18:17 | |
We've a slightly different episode for you this week. Our guest is Ellora Coupe who we think has a big part to play in the retrofit space without performing one of its traditional roles. Ellora is the founder of Her Own Space, a platform that provides a women-only space to share knowledge, insight, support, and help in all things to do with renovation. It's an incredibly engaged community that has an awful lot to offer the whole industry if we're open to paying attention and offering some support. We're very enthused. Also, you can donate money to Her Own Space here. Notes from the show
**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION** | |||
| 17 Jun 2024 | The challenging life of a retrofit coordinator: problems with process, products, and performance, with returning champion Lisa Pasquale | 01:13:50 | |
Returning champion Lisa Ann Pasquale rejoins us on Zero Ambitions to talk about dogs and retrofit. Mainly retrofit though. Informed by Lisa's experiences as a retrofit coordinator, technical lead at RetrofitWorks, and Technical Manager at The Retrofit Academy she knows an awful lot about the challenges faced by retrofit practitioners. Windows, ventilation, product information, and the inflexibility of insurance-backed guarantees all come in for a well-justified shoeing. Notes from the show
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
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