
Building Sustainability Podcast
The majority of homes currently being built are bad for the earth, the occupants and the builder’s health. Every fortnight, join Jeffrey Hart as he talks to designers, builders, makers, dreamers and doers. Exploring the wide world of sustainability in the built environment by talking to wonderful people who are doing excellent things. Whether you want to learn more about natural materials, are navigating your own self build, or just want to know that better alternatives are out there, this is the podcast for you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Latest episodes

Apr 19, 2021 • 9min
ByteSize - Fellowship within sustainability - Karen Ridgewell - BSBS005
In this bytesize episode Karen Ridgewell tells us about the joys and importance of fellowships within the sustainability world. Support the showConnect with me:IG - @jeffreythenaturalbuilderTwitter - @JNaturalBuilderFacebook - JeffreythenaturalbuilderLinkedIn - JeffreythenaturalbuilderSupport this podcast - https://www.patreon.com/buildingsustainability Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 12, 2021 • 1h 13min
Plants and Colour - Flora Arbuthnott - BS046
This week I'm joined by Flora Arbuthnott from www.plantsandcolour.co.uk.Having met Flora a few years ago, I was keen for her to be a guest on the podcast. We discuss the many similarities between her practices of creating colour from plants and my practice of building homes, from plants. Flora also goes through the process of extracting some colour from a flower so that you can try it at home. Flora's Bio: I make dyes, inks, and paints out of plants for drawing, painting, printing, and dyeing textiles and paper. I explore wild and cultivated plants to produce a variety of vibrant colours. Observing and learning from the plants that grow around us, I came to this practice through a desire to connect with the land where I live. Plants such as meadowsweet and buddleia flowers, oak galls, and dock roots, or growing dye plants in my garden such as madder, woad, and coreopsis. LinksBuilding Sustainability Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/buildingsustainabilityPlants and colour - https://plantsandcolour.co.uk/Plants and colour Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/plants_and_colour/Emma Colville (Sculpture) - https://www.instagram.com/emmajeankemp/Spoon Carving course - Winterbourne Barn - https://www.winterbournebarn.org.uk/event/spoon-carving-workshop/The Mick & Pat ShowJoin us for informal conversations surrounding beer, film, politics and philosophy.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showConnect with me:IG - @jeffreythenaturalbuilderTwitter - @JNaturalBuilderFacebook - JeffreythenaturalbuilderLinkedIn - JeffreythenaturalbuilderSupport this podcast - https://www.patreon.com/buildingsustainability Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 5, 2021 • 10min
ByteSize - Women in the workshop - Flo Hamer - BSBS004
Flo Hamer talks to us about women in the workshop, drawing on her personal experiences. Flo was my guest on our most popular Building Sustainability episode - BS010 - Building a Tiny house https://www.buildingsustainabilitypodcast.com/building-a-tiny-house-flo-hamer/It's a real pleasure to have her back!Links to badass women in workshops:Flo Hamer - https://www.instagram.com/flohamer/Emma Appleton - https://www.instagram.com/emma_builder_joiner/Kirsty Cassels - https://www.instagram.com/building_cassels/Indira Esser-Dunbar - https://www.instagram.com/indiraed/Amy Leak - https://www.instagram.com/woodmungler/Raleigh Klotzek - https://www.instagram.com/morganraleigh.c/Lydia Latham - https://www.instagram.com/lydia_latham/Maggie Jo - https://www.instagram.com/maggiejodesign/Danielle Rose Byrd - https://www.instagram.com/danielle_rose_byrd/Tammy Crawford-Rolt - https://www.instagram.com/tammycr/Lorna Singleton - https://www.instagram.com/lornaweavesoak/Support the showConnect with me:IG - @jeffreythenaturalbuilderTwitter - @JNaturalBuilderFacebook - JeffreythenaturalbuilderLinkedIn - JeffreythenaturalbuilderSupport this podcast - https://www.patreon.com/buildingsustainability Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 29, 2021 • 1h 5min
Regenerative Design - The Living Building Challenge - Martin Brown - BS045
Martin Brown joins me to discuss how we can make regenerative buildings. We discuss Martin's 'Zoom Regenerative' which was alongside Building Sustainability in the ASBP 2021 Awards final. We also discuss The Living Building Challenge to find out what it is and how it works. Building Sustainability Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/buildingsustainabilityLinksMartin's website - https://fairsnape.com/Regen Notes (Newsletter) - https://fairsnape.substack.com/Building Sustainability Website - https://www.buildingsustainabilitypodcast.com/Zoom Regenerative - https://fairsnape.com/zoom-regen/Architects Declare - https://www.architectsdeclare.com/Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN) - https://www.architectscan.org/Anthropocene Architecture School - https://linktr.ee/AnthropoceneArchitectureSchool (See also BS029 - https://www.buildingsustainabilitypodcast.com/the-rebel-architect-scott-mcaulay/)The London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) - https://www.leti.london/Ayurvedic Architecture - http://www.vediccityplanning.com/RESTORE - https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA16114/#tabs|Name:overviewLiving Building Challenge - https://living-future.org/lbc/Living Building Challenge Standard - https://www2.living-future.org/LBC4.0?RD_Scheduler=LBC4Living Futures Institute - https://living-future.org/Cuerden Valley (UK Living building challenge) - https://asbp.org.uk/awards-shortlist/cuerden-valley-park-visitor-centre-and-cafeBullitt centre Seattle - https://bullittcenter.org/RIBA Sustainability outcomes guide - https://www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/resources-landing-page/sustainable-outcomes-guideThe Mick & Pat ShowJoin us for informal conversations surrounding beer, film, politics and philosophy.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showConnect with me:IG - @jeffreythenaturalbuilderTwitter - @JNaturalBuilderFacebook - JeffreythenaturalbuilderLinkedIn - JeffreythenaturalbuilderSupport this podcast - https://www.patreon.com/buildingsustainability Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 22, 2021 • 10min
ByteSize - The magic of clay (Pt2) - Rowland Keable - BSBS003
This is part 2 of Rowland Keable of Earth Building UK & Ireland (EBUKI) & Rammed Earth Consulting giving us a byte size delve into the magic that is clay. Clay truly is a magic material and it continues to surprise me all the time. This substance that sticks to the soles of our boots that the peasants used to build with.... Surely we can do better than that as a building material? Well, as it turns out, this hugely versatile material is actually hugely beneficial for our health when we live around it. It's also readily available, reusable and can make up part of a highly efficient home. Hooray for clay! Now for the science bit... take it away Rowland!Support the showConnect with me:IG - @jeffreythenaturalbuilderTwitter - @JNaturalBuilderFacebook - JeffreythenaturalbuilderLinkedIn - JeffreythenaturalbuilderSupport this podcast - https://www.patreon.com/buildingsustainability Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 15, 2021 • 1h 9min
How Buildings can Save the World - Chris Magwood - BS044
Chris Magwood not only has a huge wealth of experience building straw bale homes, but has the building science Masters degree to back up his experience. We discuss how the built environment can go from being the worst offender for climate change, to every building being a carbon store, so actively reversing climate change. LinksChris Magwood website - https://www.chrismagwood.ca/Endeavour Centre website - https://endeavourcentre.org/Canada's Greenest Home - https://endeavourcentre.org/project/canadas-greenest-home/Living Building Challenge - https://living-future.org/lbc/Video showing waste water heat recovery - https://youtu.be/QuFF_U2YW3o?t=419Encyclopedia of sustainable materials - https://endeavourcentre.org/resources/sustainable-building-encyclopedia/Building Emissions Accounting for Materials (BEAM) - https://www.buildersforclimateaction.org/beam-calculator.htmlLow-Rise Buildings as aClimate Change Solution (Whitepaper) - https://www.buildersforclimateaction.org/whitepaper1.htmlUniversity of Bath Embodied energy and carbon in construction - https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/publications/embodied-energy-and-carbon-in-construction-materialsGramitherm (Grass insulation) - https://gramitherm.ch/?lang=enLloyd Alter - Rename embodied carbon to upfront carbon - https://www.treehugger.com/lets-rename-embodied-carbon-upfront-carbon-emissions-4855487Connect with meIG - @jeffreythenaturalbuilderTwitter - @JNaturalBuilderFacebook - JeffreythenaturalbuilderLinkedIn - JeffreythenaturalbuilderThe Mick & Pat ShowJoin us for informal conversations surrounding beer, film, politics and philosophy.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showConnect with me:IG - @jeffreythenaturalbuilderTwitter - @JNaturalBuilderFacebook - JeffreythenaturalbuilderLinkedIn - JeffreythenaturalbuilderSupport this podcast - https://www.patreon.com/buildingsustainability Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 8, 2021 • 12min
ByteSize - The magic of clay (Pt1) - Rowland Keable - BSBS002
Rowland Keable of Earth Building UK & Ireland (EBUKI) & Rammed Earth Consulting gives us a byte size delve into the magic that is clay. Clay truly is a magic material and it continues to surprise me all the time. This substance that sticks to the soles of our boots that the peasants used to build with.... Surely we can do better than that as a building material? Well, as it turns out, this hugely versatile material is actually hugely beneficial for our health when we live around it. It's also readily available, reusable and can make up part of a highly efficient home. Hooray for clay! Now for the science bit... take it away Rowland!Support the showConnect with me:IG - @jeffreythenaturalbuilderTwitter - @JNaturalBuilderFacebook - JeffreythenaturalbuilderLinkedIn - JeffreythenaturalbuilderSupport this podcast - https://www.patreon.com/buildingsustainability Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 1, 2021 • 1h 1min
You Are Probably Breathing Wrong - Wibbs Coulson - BS043
I'm very pleased to welcome Wibbs Coulson of Mandukya Yoga back on the podcast. This time we are talking about breathing, and how you've probably been breathing wrong your entire life! I occasionally feature episodes on what I call the 'sustainability of self' - I see it again and again, that professionals in the sustainability profession burn out. When you see the need to fix the problem as so crucial that the human race depends on it... you tend to forget about your own needs. So with this in mind, I wanted to look at how we are breathing, how we can be doing it so much better and what benefits that will have to our health. This episode came from a bout of anxiety I experienced at the end of 2020 and start of 2021. Anxiety is a relatively common thing in the UK, in 2013, there were 8.2 million cases of anxiety disorder recorded. I had heard that breath could help, so I got together with Wibbs to see what his work in that area could teach us. LinksJames Nester - Breath - https://tinyurl.com/2y88m7xoWibbs InstagramTerra Byte MC bandcampThe Mick & Pat ShowJoin us for informal conversations surrounding beer, film, politics and philosophy.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showConnect with me:IG - @jeffreythenaturalbuilderTwitter - @JNaturalBuilderFacebook - JeffreythenaturalbuilderLinkedIn - JeffreythenaturalbuilderSupport this podcast - https://www.patreon.com/buildingsustainability Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feb 22, 2021 • 7min
ByteSize - Introduction & Tiny House Plans - Jeffrey Hart - BSBS001
Welcome to this first episode of Byte Size Building Sustainability.... BSBS? I have heard a lot that people sometimes find it hard to find a hour to listen to podcasts, so these byte size episodes will run to a maximum of 10 minutes. It means you can get a little nugget of sustainability ponderings from my wonderful guests. Being as it's the first one, I thought I'd open the proceedings myself, with a little chat based on some advice I received from the Oregon based cob builder, Ianto Evans. I'm in the process of actioning that advice and there are some exciting changes going on for me! LinksTiny House Conference Discount Link Support the showConnect with me:IG - @jeffreythenaturalbuilderTwitter - @JNaturalBuilderFacebook - JeffreythenaturalbuilderLinkedIn - JeffreythenaturalbuilderSupport this podcast - https://www.patreon.com/buildingsustainability Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feb 15, 2021 • 1h 6min
Solving damp problems with lime - Ben Kerslake - BS042
This week I am joined by Ben Kerslake from Carrington Lime.As well as a general geek out about lime, we mostly talk about how to solve damp problems in homes with some simple observation and materials choices. We discuss why the modern conventional approach of 'tanking' a building is usually fixing a symptom, rather than dealing with the problem. ASBP Awards - Register for your free ticket here: https://asbp.org.uk/events/asbp-awards-2021-finalTriodos Free £60 - https://join.triodos.co.uk/raf/friend?code=XR6N3JQ9Links from Episode 42Breathability Info & HereMore info about limePeter Wardhttp://www.carringtonlime.co.uk/The Mick & Pat ShowJoin us for informal conversations surrounding beer, film, politics and philosophy.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showConnect with me:IG - @jeffreythenaturalbuilderTwitter - @JNaturalBuilderFacebook - JeffreythenaturalbuilderLinkedIn - JeffreythenaturalbuilderSupport this podcast - https://www.patreon.com/buildingsustainability Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.