Zero Ambitions Podcast

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, an...

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 nee...

In this first BE-ST Fest 22 interview we spoke with Chris Stark, CEO of the Climate Change Committee (or Committee on Climate change, both names appear to be out there), and returning guest Stephen Good, CEO of BE-ST to discuss the journey to net zero as well as touching upon the BE-ST Fest Summit itself. Chris was there to give the opening keynote address, discussing the role of the built environ...

Last week, we went to BE-ST Fest 2022, we've definitely mentioned it before. We mention it again because while we were there we took an opportunity to catch up with some of the speakers and some friends of the show.  So, we have a little episode with Sara, Alex, and Jeff to set the scene and introduce the series, as well as offering a little of their experiences having been there as host, panelist...

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 th...

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 t...

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...

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 Disenchante...

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 conduct...

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 renova...

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 differenc...

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.

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 cou...

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.

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, parti...

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 Festi...

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 cha...

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-si...

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 locali...

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...

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, th...

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 fro...

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...

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. W...

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