Bao Podcast

In this episode, we sit down with the co-founder and CEO of Urban Jungle Project, a company rethinking how nature can live inside our cities, from green rooftops and living facades to forgotten urban spaces turned into climate-proof ecosystems. We talk about urban heat, biodiversity, 3D-printed jungle blocks, smart plant monitoring, and why the cities of tomorrow may need to look a lot less grey....

Our guest is Tom Willemen, CEO of Willemen Groep, a leading Belgian construction powerhouse spanning infrastructure, real estate, and civil engineering. Under his leadership, the group has become a frontrunner in sustainability and digital transformation. As Chairman of Embuild, Tom is a vocal advocate for industrialising the sector and modernising the construction ecosystem. Today, we discuss the...

In this episode we speak with Joachim De Vos, Co-chair and Managing Partner of Living Tomorrow, founder of TomorrowLab, and professor of scenario planning at Ghent University. Since the early 1990s, when the first House of the Future opened its doors, Joachim has helped organizations and policymakers prepare for what’s next through foresight, scenario planning, and innovation strategy. He is also...

In episode 41, we speak with Steven Van Passel, Professor in Environmental Economics and Vice-Rector for Valorisation and Sustainability at the University of Antwerp. Steven leads the EnvEcon group, a multidisciplinary research team focused on sustainability assessments in energy, food systems, and the circular economy. With a background in agricultural economics and years of experience advising c...

For Episode 40 of the Bao Podcast, we welcome Noor Huitema-Hellemans, co-founder of Copper8, a consultancy helping organizations rethink value, governance, and collaboration. Based in Amsterdam, Copper8 challenges businesses to move beyond short-term profit and focus on long-term impact. Their work bridges research and practice, supporting clients in sectors like construction, finance, and manufac...

Episode 39 of the Bao Podcast is a special episode - first, because it’s the first podcast recorded at an external location. And second, because of our guest: a man who needs no introduction... but I’ll give him one anyway - Thomas Rau! As founder of RAU Architects, Turntoo and Madaster, Thomas is a visionary thinker who challenges the way we design, build, and use materials. His concept of materi...

For episode 38 of the Bao Podcast, we welcome 2 people: Kostas Anastasiades & Ben Moins. Both are senior researchers at the faculty of Applied Engineering at the University of Antwerp. They are also linked to the service platform B.Cycle where Kostas serves as an expert on circularity and Ben is the program manager focussing on sustainability. Both of them are writing and doing a lot of resear...

Lieven is the CEO of Lito and has already participated in the Bao Podcast almost 2 years ago, and is now back for part 2. He and his team managed to develop the ‘Litobox’: which contains every component you need for heating and cooling your house and for making domestic hot water. It combines a ventilation system that guarantees air quality, a rainwater purification system, the indoor components f...

For Episode 36 of the Bao Podcast, we introduce you to Pieter-Jan Loyens, the Managing Director of Encon. This is an agency, based in Bilzen, that supports businesses with creative and innovative solutions in their transition toward becoming more sustainable. They distinguish themselves through their unique combination of ecology and economy, linking environmental awareness with cost savings and p...

For episode 35 of the Bao Podcast, we invited Anneleen Desmyter, the CEO of Yally. This is an innovative company based in Antwerp that’s redefining property management with a future-focused approach. Yally’s mission centers around buying homes and transforming them into energy-efficient, tenant-friendly spaces. As a forward-thinking landlord, Yally prioritizes both comfort and affordability for te...

For episode 34 of the Bao Podcast, we invited once again a familiar face. He was one of our first guests, and is back today: Arne Allewaert. Arne is a co-founder and Managing Partner at AMAVI Capital.  AMAVI is a fully independent investment fund with a pan-European scope, established to support the growth of the leading and most promising scale-ups active in the PropTech industry. AMAVI bridges t...

After a nice summer break we’re back with a new episode with a familiar face: Chris Van de Voorde! Chris is the founder of JuuNoo, a company based in the Kortrijk area, but which is already active on the other side of the ocean.  Chris runs Belgium's fastest-growing sustainable company. With JuuNoo, he develops demountable walls, a beautiful story of Belgian circularity that is now also being sold...

For episode 32 of the Bao Podcast, we invited a familiar face! Sunita Van Heers returns for a second episode. She’s the founder and managing director of SuReal. SuReal is a consultancy firm that supports companies and government agencies in making buildings and city projects more sustainable. Through a multitude of services such as studies, certification and project guidance in multiple fields (ES...

For episode 31 of the Bao Podcast, we invited Thomas Vandenbergh. Armed with a PhD in Engineering, Thomas is General manager of Besix Technology and CEO of BESIX STAY. These 2 enterprises are part of the BESIX Group. BESIX is a renowned global player in the construction and real estate development industry, based in Brussels. It has already completed impressive projects such as the Burj Khalifa, t...

For episode 30 of the Bao Podcast, we invited Dennis Vangeneugden. Kepler is a new player in the housing market that introduces a new housing standard in terms of technology and energy. With an Energy Level of -15, KEPLER homes are extremely energy efficient that save consumers up to €3,000 annually on energy. Kepler's homes are built in a workshop in timber frame, and delivered to the site 48 day...

For episode 29 of the Bao Podcast, we have another dual-guest episode for you, featuring Michael Lefeber and Ken Spranghers, co-founders of KOZO. Kozo designs and builds spaces that adapt to the people who buy them. Whenever something changes in their life, their house can change with them. Kozo’s innovative construction method ensures that you can choose to adapt your home. A small starter home c...

Episode 28 of the Bao Podcast marks a special occasion as we host our first-ever dual-guest episode featuring Peter Bertels, CTO, and Wim Pieters, CEO of CIRCL. CIRCL is reshaping the housing landscape with fixed-price, future-oriented single-family homes. Their unique approach integrates circularity and digitalization throughout the construction process. From digital design to a remarkable six-we...

For episode 27 of the Bao Podcast, we invite Regina Zirion. Regina is Head of Sales at Cutr. Regina was born and raised in Mexico, she studied and worked there until she moved to Amsterdam in 2018. She worked for Uber from 2016, first in Mexico-City and from 2018 onwards in Amsterdam until she left the company in 2021 to join Cutr. Cutr is an Amsterdam-based company that was founded in 2021. At Cu...

For episode 26, we invite Patrick Nijssen. Patrick is Head of Growth Benelux at NORNORM. NORNORM is a Danish company that was founded in 2020 by former IKEA manager Anders Jespen as well as investor and Skype co-creator Jonas Kjellberg. With 10 million tonnes of office furniture ending up in landfills every year in Europe alone, the founders aim to apply the circular economy model to office furnit...

For our anniversary episode, number 25, we do a part 2 with one of our guests for the first time ever. He was our very first guest and now he's back: Idriss Goossens! Idriss has not stood still since the last episode, 2 and a half years ago. Today he's not only co-founder of PropTech Lab Belgium, but he also founded LuxPropTech, Relevation and RecAp, this last one is a joint venture between PropTe...

For episode 24 of the Bao Podcast, we welcome Minne Warmenbol. Minne is a master in Architecture and co-founded BUURMAN 3 years ago. BUURMAN Antwerp is a circular construction market where reused building materials from the region are collected, processed and offered. In this way, they offer a logical and local alternative to burning or low-grade recycling of good materials. The materials come fro...

For episode 23 of the Bao Podcast, we welcome Simon Maillet. Simon is the Group Sustainability Officer of Cordeel Group. He’s originally from Germany and today lives in Belgium since almost 5 years. He did an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk and later studied economics part-time. He is now active at Cordeel for amost one year. The Cordeel Group, a leading European construction company based i...

For episode 22 of the Bao Podcast, we welcome Ismaël Ben-Al-Lal. Ismaël is a visionary entrepreneur and innovator who made a name for himself in the world of renewable energy. After he finished his studies at Groep T at the University of Leuven, Ismaël went on to found his own company, Futech, in 2008. Later on he started another company named iLumen. Both companies work around sustainable energy....

Lieven is CEO of Lito. He and his team managed to develop the ‘Litobox’: the Litobox combines a heat pump, solar water heater, PV system, battery storage, rainwater filtering, ventilation, electrical equipment and internet network in one unit. All this on 3 square metres and placed on site in less than an hour! We at Bao Living look with admiration at this innovative product and I am happy to talk...

Filip is the founder of Skilpod. This is a company that builds houses using a prefab system. All parts of the houses are made in the factory, and set on site in an incredibly quick way. With this, Skilpod wants to disrupt the traditional construction industry where the duration of a project takes a huge amount of time. And all this without compromising on quality!