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-...
Apr 19, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 36
Heating problems: systemic issues around design, accessibility, and economics We talked about how poor system design inhibits accessibility (and optimisation), how the heating industry falls short in terms of diversity, and how difficult it is to find the right solutions, for all sorts of reasons.
Apr 12, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 35
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 ...
Mar 29, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 34
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...
Mar 22, 2022•57 min•Ep. 33
Caitriona Jordan from Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) spoke with us about the importance of training in supporting a just transition and shared some of CSIC's plans for accelerating the built environment’s transition to zero carbon. Caitriona is Head of retrofit programmes, one of four interlinked programmes across which CSIC delivers impact, and her passion is in Low Carbon programmes including the training and upskilling in Passivhaus, EnerPHit and Retrofit. Keep your ears open ...
Mar 15, 2022•58 min•Ep. 32
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 feedba...
Mar 08, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 31
https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/government-launches-the-national-retrofitting-scheme/ https://www.gov.ie/en/biography/c5008-eamon-ryan/ https://www.seai.ie/
Mar 01, 2022•48 min•Ep. 30
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.
Feb 22, 2022•51 min•Ep. 29
"There is no path to meeting our climate targets that doesn't involve much more ambition [on buildings]. By the end of this decade, we need to see a million homes converted to zero-emission heating systems. We need to see a much bigger emphasis on energy efficiency.” Patrick Harvie, the Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings at the Scottish Government, sets out his decarbonisation vision on this week's episode of Zero Ambitions podcast. Patrick explains the role headline policies from the Scottish G...
Feb 15, 2022•57 min•Ep. 28
There's no question that we must decarbonise our housing stock. But we believe there must be a comprehensive approach to demanding the reduction in the first place, and not just a focus on low carbon heating sources. As part of this approach, retrofit can deliver so many other benefits besides more efficient buildings. Healthier places for communities to thrive? Why wouldn't we want to do that? https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmbeis/1038/report.html
Feb 08, 2022•39 min•Ep. 27
Lisa is one of the most experienced building performance consultants working in the UK. She has extensive knowledge of in-use building operation and management, building physics, low-energy services, and fabric design for new build and retrofits domestic and non-domestic buildings. She takes an evidence-based approach to building performance and is an expert in built environment research, technical risk management and post-occupancy evaluation. We spoke to Lisa about PAS 2035, how it can be impr...
Feb 01, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 26
Putting our time and energy where our mouths are! Want to know more about taking action on making the changes we need to see around decarbonising our homes? Tune in and hear more about an exciting collaboration between the NEF and ACAN Here are some links referred to in the episode https://greathomesupgrade.org/ https://www.householdsdeclare.org/ Join the campaign collaboration working group https://chat.whatsapp.com/I63Wguu8lpMCYvDdUK3BRd
Jan 25, 2022•52 min•Ep. 25
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 https://hqnetwork.co.uk/news/opinion-things-can-only-get-greener-four-key-ingredients-for-sustainability-in-housing-5772
Jan 18, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 24
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/
Jan 10, 2022•51 min•Ep. 23
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 mobilize capital advisory and research services. 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 f...
Dec 27, 2021•55 min•Ep. 22
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....
Dec 21, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 21
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 ...
Dec 13, 2021•56 min•Ep. 20
It's easy sometimes to forget the human element of fuel poverty, and whilst recent energy cost rises are an annoyance to the vast majority reading this post, they are nothing more than that. However, we need to understand the human cost to over three million households in the United Kingdom who can't afford to heat their home and the misery and despair that fuel poverty can bring. This week we hear from Alex Warren, at the Wise Group, on the great work they are doing in supporting people who are...
Dec 10, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 19
Internet of things company IoPT have been providing remote monitoring equipment to social landlords now for several years. We hear the benefits that this type of monitoring can bring to both tenants and landlords and how it can help identify where help is needed, and savings can be made.
Dec 07, 2021•53 min•Ep. 18
Conversation with Sara, Dan, Jeff and Alex on the work that ACAN are doing and how we can look to a grassroots movement in promoting the retrofitting of our homes in a sustainable way to tackle climate change.
Nov 26, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 17
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/
Nov 17, 2021•43 min•Ep. 16
The episode features lessons learnt from district heating and the work that West Dunbartonshire have been doing on developing heat networks.
Nov 11, 2021•36 min•Ep. 15
Professor of Economics at Manchester Metropolitan University Kevin Albertson makes the point that we can't put off the change that is required now for future generations and that we need to change our socio-economic systems in a way that we use less energy and the energy we do use is done in a sustainable and equitable for everyone in society.
Nov 10, 2021•13 min•Ep. 14
Dave Pearson from Star Renewables talks about district heating during CoP26
Nov 10, 2021•35 min•Ep. 13
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 gener...
Nov 04, 2021•55 min•Ep. 12
Professor of Economics at Manchester Metropolitan University Kevin Albertson makes the point that we can't put off the change that is required now for future generations and that we need to change our socio-economic systems in a way that we use less energy and the energy we do use is done in a sustainable and equitable for everyone in society.
Nov 03, 2021•10 min•Ep. 11
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 ...
Nov 02, 2021•39 min•Ep. 10
This week Professor of Economics at Manchester Metropolitan University is giving us a concept or idea on economics the environment and climate change each day.
Nov 01, 2021•13 min•Ep. 9
Dr Jan Rosenow joins us on the first day of CoP26 to talk about the decarbonisation of our buildings and how we transition to zero carbon heating. The conversation includes the electrification of heat and how we ensure a just transition.As the director of European programmes, Dr. Jan Rosenow leads RAP’s initiatives in Europe on power market design and Efficiency First. He is responsible for all aspects of leadership, management, and financial viability of RAP’s work in Europe.Dr. Rosenow serves ...
Oct 31, 2021•39 min•Ep. 8
This week we are joined by Bex Porter who is the Built Environment Lead for the High-Level Champions TeamThe UN High-Level Climate Champions are spearheading the race to a cleaner, safer, healthier and more resilient world. Through our campaigns, Race to Resilience and Race to Zero, we are elevating ambition and mobilizing credible climate action among cities, regions, businesses and investors.A GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO BUILD CLIMATE RESILIENCEThe Race to Resilience is the UN-backed global campaign to...
Oct 28, 2021•24 min•Ep. 7
