Zero Ambitions Podcast

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 – with average bills potentially reaching £3,000 this year and fuel poverty affecting up to 40% of households – we thought that we would revisit the chat with Kevin.

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.

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, finding good engineers, and their value, whether it's really appreciated or not.BetaTeach is his platform for heating engineers. BetaTalk is his own award-winning podcast that's well worth a listen. 

After our scheduled guest postponed their appearance we took the opportunity to discuss an issue that's been a little bit fractious in the Zero Ambitions chat: should be building new homes at all? Heads up: it was an evening pod, some drink had been taken; apologies if the early reference to war in Ukraine sounds a bit glib, we aren't able to publish the pre-record chat was a little less centred on us; also Sara was on holiday, and Rachael dropped out at the last minute, so it's a bit of a boys-club episode. There's a little mild profanity too. Some links to things we mentionedPassive House Plus magazine (soon to feature that article Jeff has been wrestling with)Orson Welles getting drunkRonald Rovers: There is no ‘end of life' of a building…Kwaijo Social Housing TwitterAlex's French book: Construire ou rénover sa maison Chicken in a can

Heating problems: systemic issues around design, accessibility, and economicsWe talked about how poor system design inhibits accessibility (and optimisation), how the heating industry falls short in terms of diversity, and how difficult it is to find the right solutions, for all sorts of reasons.

Laura de Barra is an award winning author, illustrator, and property portfolio developer and has previously consulted on government schemes such as the Green Homes Grant around which she has some key observations. What drew us to Laura was her efforts in trying to empower mainly renters to understand and maintain their homes by sharing tips, tricks and knowledge from how to rid your home of mould, to understanding how your drainage system works. Her two books, Gaff Goddess and Decor Galore were a culmination of years of learning on the job of how to improve the conditions people live in. Showing people that it's possible without needing to spend huge money or be reliant on others to fix things for you. Whilst the government flails around avoiding delivering policy that would help households to live in warmer, healthier and resilient homes, Laura has some tips that can help you now. You can find out more here https://www.instagram.com/lauradebarra/Her books are available here:https://www.easons.com/gaff-goddess-laura-de-barra-9781848272620https://www.easons.com/decor-galore-laura-de-barra-9781848272668

Tara Gbolade is an architect, passivhouse designer and cofounder of Gbolade Design Studio, a design-led, community centred practice, focused on sustainable design. She is a member of the Architect’s Declare steering group, sits on a number of design panels and co-founded the Paradigm Network, an organisation that champions black and asian representation in the built environment: https://www.paradigmnetwork.co.uk  Marianne Heaslip is an architect and expert in retrofit, low carbon design, building performance evaluation and participative design. She is an Associate Principle at URBED, works in collaboration with Carbon Coop and plays a key role in People Powered Retrofit, an organisation that exists to tackle many of the barriers homeowners face in commissioning retrofit work on their homes: https://retrofit.coop    Our conversation started with a run-down of International Women’s day and the current state of the industry and went on to explore topics such as: how retrofit needs to be user-centred, solving complex problems by bringing broader voices to the table, and how we can learn from pioneers such as Wangari Maathai and Kate Raworth, who stepped outside and beyond their professions to have wide-ranging positive impacts.  Tara and Marianne signposted lots of fantastic resources:Book: Culture is Bad for You: Orian Brook, Dave O'Brien and Mark Taylor: https://thesociologicalreview.org/reviews/culture-is-bad-for-you-by-brook-obrien-and-taylor/Book: Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking: Matthew SyedCommunity Organisation: Homebaked Community Land Trust: https://homebaked.org.uk/ Training Organisation: B4Box: https://b4box.co.uk Plus a few more post-podcast references:Community Organisation: Arts Emergency: https://www.arts-emergency.org Book: Programmed Inequality: Mar Hicks: https://programmedinequality.com  And don’t forget to check out: https://www.paradigmnetwork.co.uk https://retrofit.coop  https://www.gboladedesignstudio.comhttp://urbed.coophttps://carbon.coop 

Caitriona Jordan from Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) spoke with us about the importance of training in supporting a just transition and shared some of CSIC's plans for accelerating the built environment’s transition to zero carbon. Caitriona is Head of retrofit programmes, one of four interlinked programmes across which CSIC delivers impact, and her passion is in Low Carbon programmes including the training and upskilling in Passivhaus, EnerPHit and Retrofit.Keep your ears open for when Caitriona describes how the CSIC is enlivening the future of apprenticeships and how they are also planning to help homeowners better understand the impact a just transition will have on them.Construction Scotland Innovation Centre is Scotland’s national innovation centre for the built environment and one of Scotland’s seven innovation centres supported by Scottish Government, Scottish Funding Council and Scotland’s Enterprise Agencies.www.cs-ic.org/innovationcentre/future-skills/low-carbon-learning/

Episode #31 with Adrian Leaman & Bill Bordass . If you’ve started looking into building performance and post occupancy evaluation at all you’ll soon come across research and tools that Adrian Leaman and Bill Bordass have had a hand in. Together they were involved in the creation of the BUS methodology, the Soft Landings framework, Probe, which later became Nabers, then Nabers UK and Display Energy Certificates – or DEC ratings. They are experts in making buildings truly usable through feedback and strategy. The pair’s website UsableBuildings.co.uk is a treasure-trove of guidance, research and case studies aimed at encouraging those who make buildings, think about end users, understand their experiences, and take their feedback seriously.Some links to the files we discussedwww.usablebuildings.co.ukhttps://www.usablebuildings.co.uk/UsableBuildings/Unprotected/GeorgeKasabov1979.pdfhttps://www.usablebuildings.co.uk/UsableBuildings/Unprotected/Logistical.pdfhttps://www.usablebuildings.co.uk/UsableBuildings/Unprotected/WhoBenefits2Sep2013.pdfhttps://responsible-retrofit.org/greenwheel/https://www.usablebuildings.co.uk/UsableBuildings/Unprotected/FlyingBlind.pdfhttps://www.usablebuildings.co.uk/UsableBuildings/Unprotected/Usability.pdfhttps://www.usablebuildings.co.uk/UsableBuildings/Unprotected/HowIntelligent.pdfZero Ambitions is a podcast about sustainability, net-zero goals, and the built environment. We are focused on what can be done to meet the collective net-zero challenges that lie ahead, talk about good practice (not necessarily best), and obsess about retrofit.

https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/government-launches-the-national-retrofitting-scheme/https://www.gov.ie/en/biography/c5008-eamon-ryan/https://www.seai.ie/