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. BE-ST Fest 2020 Energiesprong in the UK Retrofit Reimagined Energiesprong...
Oct 19, 2022•44 min•Ep. 64
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. BE-ST Fest 2020 Energiesprong in the UK Retro...
Oct 17, 2022•45 min•Ep. 63
Guestless, we had a chat amongst ourselves and talked a lot about social housing and retrofit. Eventually, we even got on to talking about Alex's passiv shed. We've got some links below to the things we talked about. A link to the BE-ST Fest 2022 web page . Jan Rosenow's article 'Is heating homes with hydrogen all but a pipe dream? An evidence review' . That Richard Seymour book: The Disenchanted Earth: Reflections on Ecosocialism & Barbarism (it's really good and a very easy read). Ryan Phi...
Oct 10, 2022•49 min•Ep. 62
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 re...
Oct 05, 2022•54 min•Ep. 61
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 peop...
Oct 04, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 60
Alex and Dan took some time to speak with Allan Smith, Low Carbon Manager at Morrison Construction , to find out about how a tier one contractor is approaching the low-carbon game. The conversation took in the viability of the Passivhaus standard at scale, the responsibility for leading your supply chain in learning how to deliver for you, a little bit of retrofit, and a little about the difference between private and public sector demand. **OUR OWN SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION** (We don't act...
Sep 27, 2022•58 min•Ep. 59
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.
Sep 22, 2022•41 min•Ep. 58
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-...
Sep 21, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 57
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 first of a two-parter, with the second out Thursday the 22nd of Septebmer.
Sep 20, 2022•40 min•Ep. 56
This Zero Ambitions bonus episode is the second part of our CIH collaboration, produced a Scotland's Housing Festival 2022 . Again, we're joined by Callum Chomczuk (National director, CIH Scotland) following the 'Four nations - one PRS system' session. That session introduced PRS reps from across the UK presenting their take on the priorities and challenges faced by the PRS housing system, particularly looking at post-devolution divergence across the regions. We were joined by: Alice Simpson | B...
Aug 23, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 55
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 hea...
Aug 16, 2022•37 min•Ep. 54
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...
Aug 11, 2022•53 min•Ep. 48
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 ac...
Aug 09, 2022•53 min•Ep. 53
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 retro...
Aug 02, 2022•51 min•Ep. 52
In this episode, Sara speaks to Charlotte Bailey from Civic Square.Sara spoke to Charlotte about how we value approaches to problem solving in the built environment, going beyond technical responses into considering the importance of building trust and community, as well as the slow work of organising. All key facets of her role as Dream Matter Story Teller at Civic Square. Throughout the episode we have included a collection of short interviews from participants and audience members at the fest...
Jul 29, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 51
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 ...
Jul 26, 2022•34 min•Ep. 50
With much of Europe in literal meltdown, we wanted to talk about another kind of overheating – natural, but very much carbon-assisted, overheating. We took some time to pick the brains of three bona fide experts, passive house consultants Nick Grant , Alan Clarke , and sustainable building journalist Kate de Selincourt . All three have been frequent contributors to industry technical guidance from the AECB , the Passivhaus Trust , and even our very own Passive House Plus magazine . We talked abo...
Jul 19, 2022•45 min•Ep. 49
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** (We don't actually earn...
Jul 14, 2022•53 min•Ep. 48
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 profan...
Jul 12, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 47
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: bit.ly/RetrofitReimagined22 https://civicsquare.cc/ https://www.architectscan.org/ https://darkmatterlabs.org/Team...
Jul 05, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 46
We had a chat with architect and building physicist, Gary Wilburn. He's the MD of EP Projects (the architectural wing of Energy Pro Group), and Chair of the Board of Trustees at the AECB. He's been a pioneer in sustainable construction, pushing innovation in sustainable architecture and design, incorporating building physics and whole-life value as an essential part of the process, across retrofit and new build projects at all sorts of size and scale. EP Projects website Please join the AECB , i...
Jun 28, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 45
In this second of a two-part interview with Peter Rickaby, we discuss the challenges of how we upgrade the UK’s historic housing stock and the difficulties we face with our hard-to-treat properties. We talk about heat pumps and the additional energy we’ll need to electrify heating as well as low carbon heat networks and where it could and should be used in conjunction with reducing the energy demand for our homes. And procurement – are the contracts here that we need to deliver retrofit at scale...
Jun 16, 2022•44 min•Ep. 44
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.
Jun 14, 2022•31 min•Ep. 43
Great discussion with Yogini of the Passivhaus Trust, Dr Ken Gibb at Glasgow University and Chris Morgan of John Gilbert Architects on the retrofit of the sandstone tenement block in the Southside of Glasgow at Niddrie Road to EnerPHit standards.
May 31, 2022•56 min•Ep. 42
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, and builders interested in low carbon retrofit to train and promote best practices, bring about lasting and sustainable change within the construction Industry and push toward net-zero targets. In this podcast, we speak to Andy Simmonds CEO of the AECB retrofit standard, CarbonLite, and the Low E...
May 26, 2022•56 min•Ep. 41
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
May 24, 2022•29 min•Ep. 40
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...
May 17, 2022•52 min•Ep. 39
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 – ...
May 10, 2022•47 min•Ep. 3
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.
May 03, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 38
We met with Nathan Gambling of the Beta Teach platform and BetaTalk podcast. A champion for better heating systems, better training and education, renewables, and clean technology. We talked about the challenges and complexities associated with heating engineering, not just heat pumps, and the need to optimise our existing heating infrastructure in order to begin seriously reducing demand because we can't change everything at a stroke. We also discussed challenges and problems around training, f...
Apr 26, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 37
