Zero Ambitions Podcast

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 environment in addressing climate change. After the main event he and Stephen offered us a few more of their thoughts on why the journey to net zero is tremendously exciting but requires more ambition, more imagination, and perhaps taking some inspiration from the Victorian's infrastructure investment programmes.ICYMI - BE-ST Fest 2022 was a day of inspiring speakers, expo, demos, workshops, and other activities, aimed at promoting and advancing our journey to a zero carbon built environment.Some references from the showChris StarkStephen GoodBuilt Environment - Smarter Transformation (BE-ST)BE-ST Fest 2022 programme**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

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, and interviewer. In this friendly natter we also discussed lighter topics including: Did Jeff waffle on for 7 minutes, or was it 10? The unexpected role the podcast had to play at BE-ST Fest How pleased we were to have our first ever in-person podcast audience What should they call next year's BE-ST Fest?ICYMI - BE-ST Fest 2022 was a day of inspiring speakers, expo, demos, workshops, and other activities, aimed at promoting and advancing our journey to a zero carbon built environment.Some references from the showBuilt Environment - Smarter Transformation (BE-ST)BE-ST Fest 2022 programme**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

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 the showSilken Park, Ireland's largest commercial Passivhaus development, as featured in Passive House Plus, as well as D/RES's own case study. D/RES's Tinakilly Park, the recent development that we discuss, that featured heavily in a recent issue of the magazine*.The GRESB website. Bizarrely, I couldn't find an explanation of the acronym anywhere on there; I'm sure that Robbie explains it at one point. Otherwise, it seems like a really good scheme.That story about rushing foundations to beat building regs in the UK.Ireland's Building Energy Rating (BER) system for judging A1 on homes.Polar Night Energy, the Finnish company that heats up sandpits.*"The magazine" is always Passive House Plus.**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

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 2020Energiesprong in the UKRetrofit ReimaginedEnergiesprong in a day  That 2040 documentaryThe West London Alliance, the public sector partnership between seven West London local authorities of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, and Hounslow. **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

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 2020Energiesprong in the UKRetrofit ReimaginedEnergiesprong in a day  That 2040 documentaryThe West London Alliance, the public sector partnership between seven West London local authorities of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, and Hounslow. **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

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 Philip's blog 'Heat Pumps are not the Answer'.That Guardian article about how the Scottish rent cap will affect social housing.The white paper we wrote about how social housing could be a catalyst for the retrofit industry.We'll add a link to some photos of Alex's shed. Keep an eye on his LinkedIn profile.**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

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 recorded it and have a version ready to put out as a bonus episode on the Zero Ambitions feed.We talked about Ireland, what it's like to be a sustainability-focused person promoting better practice in a land of overconsumption, his long-time interest in environmentalism, the challenges of any resource-conscious building project, and Ed's three pillars for driving progress in sustainability activism.**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

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 people-focused policies. Marina has been involved in building the Eco Retrofit App - a risk management tool to support low-energy skills literacy and mitigate the risk of poor-quality retrofits. She is a steering group member for the BSI PAS 2035: 2019 Retrofit standards.Nigel Griffiths is a sustainability and energy efficiency expert in the built environment with over 25 years’ of experience as a practitioner, project manager, author, and consultant. As Director of the Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance, he works at the cutting edge of sustainability for heritage buildings. He is the author of numerous reports and several books on sustainable building including the Eco House Manual (Haynes 2007, paperback edition 2016) and more recently From Retrofit to Regeneration: A blueprint for post-Covid recovery.**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

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 actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs)Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Speak to Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

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.