Zero Ambitions Podcast

Kate Crawford is a building nerd who is obsessed with measuring performance. She's currently, Technical Director at KLH Sustainability, a multidisciplinary consultancy working in the built environment. Kate has a very interesting background in terms of her experience and she's now working on a very fascinating project in which she's researching and developing a "Smart Meter Enabled Thermal Energy Rating (SMETER)" system that uses a new approach to measuring building performance and a different kind of metric for assessing it. The result has been something that they call "the snug factor", which is the heat-transfer coefficient of the building (Kate explains it all in the episode). The way they generate their heat-transfer coefficient has led to incredibly accurate estimations for energy use in a home. Notes from the showKate Crawford on LinkedInKLH Sustainability's websiteThe research Jeff mentions about low pressure showers using more waterReal performance and the HEMReal performance and the SAPKate's little (and excellent) graphic novel on her experience of aid work**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.Follow us on the Zero Ambitions LinkedIn pageJeff, Alex, and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User ExperienceSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Check Lloyd's Substack: Carbon UpfrontJoin ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCCheck out Her Own Space, the renovation and retrofit platform for women (but not in a patronizing way)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

This week we're talking about modular construction and Natural Building Systems with MD Chloe Donovan.Chloe is a really interesting character with a fascinating product that she's bringing to market. Unusually, she's a farmer who got into building and then found herself as an entrepreneur in the febrile world of modular building and MMC.We talk about all sorts, from the challenges of propagating a biogenic supply chain to the ever-contentious subject of calculating embodied carbon, and a little about what's going on in MMC.Notes from the showChloe Donovan on LinkedInNatural Building Systems websiteNatural Building Systems on LinkedIn**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 our day jobs.Follow us on the Zero Ambitions LinkedIn pageJeff, Alex, and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User ExperienceSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Check Lloyd's Substack: Carbon UpfrontJoin ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCCheck out Her Own Space, the renovation and retrofit platform for women (but not in a patronizing way)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

Up next we're speaking with Falk Bleyl, CTO at Utopi, about their sensor-based data platform technology. He describes it as an ESG platform which is true but it massively underplays the true value of what their product offers. Heads up, normally, we'll at least try to couch the conversation within a broader context but in this episode, we've barely bothered. We were content just to talk about the product, how it's deployed, and its impact precisely because the value it offers addresses things we talk about nearly every week.So we could be accused of having created an advertorial, but we don't care because it's not.  In the most reductive sense, Utopi offers a glorified post-occupancy evaluation (POE) platform. They install sensors, monitor them, manage and interpret the data, and advise their clients on how to respond to what they learn.It is a service that is as relevant to the most red-in-tooth-and-claw capitalist landlord as it is an aspirant socialist housing provider.Utopi uses sophisticated monitoring and maintenance strategies to prove a direct cause-and-effect on the value of the building assets. This is massively important for a world where the public sector is instructed to copy the private sector and indulge political desires for market-based decision-making, whether it's more efficient in reality or not. Utopi's platform proves that efficiency pays, POE pays, and (tangentially) retrofit pays. Notes from the showFalk Bleyl on LinkedInUtopi's own website**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.Follow us on the Zero Ambitions LinkedIn pageJeff, Alex, and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User ExperienceSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Check Lloyd's Substack: Carbon UpfrontJoin ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCCheck out Her Own Space, the renovation and retrofit platform for women (but not in a patronizing way)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

Lloyd has been in Paris. He came back very enthused and excited by his experience there and wanted to communicate why to our listeners.“In the face of the climate emergency, a swift transition of the buildings sector is a direct requirement to achieve the goals set by the Paris Agreement”.Approximately, 1,400 people from 70 countries gathered in Paris for the Buildings and Climate Global Forum and the Declaration de Chaillot was the resultLloyd Alter, Will Arnold, and Kelly Alvarez Doran were there. The question is, what does this declaration mean? Will it actually have a real impact on the way we build, or is it just another bit of paper that will be quickly forgotten? This feels like a very positive sign because it’s pulling together the usually loose strands of how we appreciate the built environment and what needs to be done to make it work better for everyone in it, as well as the environment around us.Notes from the showLloyd Alter on LinkedInKelly Alvarez Doran on LinkedInWill Arnold on LinkedInThe UNEP page on the Declaration de ChaillotThe Institution of Structural Engineers web pageThe Buildings and Climate Global Forum web page**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.Follow us on the Zero Ambitions LinkedIn pageJeff, Alex, and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User ExperienceSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Check Lloyd's Substack: Carbon UpfrontJoin ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCCheck out Her Own Space, the renovation and retrofit platform for women (but not in a patronizing way)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

This week we got into an area of retrofit that feels neglected: commercial space. It's a subject we definitely touch upon but never really get into , so in order to remedy that we're getting stuck in.First up is a conversation with architects Harry Browne and Séamus Guidera of RKD Dublin who came recommended to us by friend of the show Richard O'Hegarty.In a sector less driven by traditional sustainability issues, and more driven by hardcore commercial issues, it seemed right to start by speaking with folk who know their stuff. Harry and Séamus have been grappling with the big commercial questions around place of the office in the future and the renewal of these built environment assets, offering commercial clients the sort of strategic that hasn't been necessary in this sector for decades. Nowadays, asset owners are thinking about impact, in terms of how the building asset's use influences and interacts with its surroundings, how they can make offices more attractive places to be, not just providing serviceable desks. This evolving approach encourages engagement with tenants to plan for the future, incorporating changing use alongside changing climate, and how to make the renewal and retrofit process more efficient in terms of resource use and minimising waste.There's loads to get into. Too much. but this is a start.Notes from the showHarry Browne on LinkedInSéamus Guidera on LinkedInThe RKD website**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.Follow us on the Zero Ambitions LinkedIn pageJeff, Alex, and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User ExperienceSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Check Lloyd's Substack: Carbon UpfrontJoin ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCCheck out Her Own Space, the renovation and retrofit platform for women (but not in a patronizing way)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

We are delighted to bring you a conversation with Professor Emeritus Susan Roaf, of Heriot-Watt University this week to talk about a bunch of fundamental problems in building design and the management of thermal comfort. She is a wonderful guest and we're looking forward to having her back.Originally, we planned to talk about her article COP 28: Net zero buildings by 2050? You have got to be joking! a well-judged critique of the outcomes at the most recent COP but we meandered a bit more than expected, but we still managed to cover most of the issues she raises.In the end, we took in a shared colonial history and its influence on the way we approach managing thermal comfort, problems with architectural education, the flaws in solely thinking about decarbonisation of the grid as a panacea, problems with designing buildings have an over-reliance on technology, as well as her colourful and storied background. In some ways with could be considered a counterpart to last year's episode about thermal comfort with Huda Elsherfif and Andy Simmonds, so check that too if you haven't heard it already.Notes from the showSusan on LinkedInHer article COP 28: Net zero buildings by 2050? You have got to be joking!Her book, Energy Efficient Building: A Design Guide**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.Follow us on the Zero Ambitions LinkedIn pageJeff, Alex, and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User ExperienceSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Check Lloyd's Substack: Carbon UpfrontJoin ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCCheck out Her Own Space, the renovation and retrofit platform for women (but not in a patronizing way)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

This week we're joined by Nigel Banks, Technical Director - Zero Bills & Low Carbon Homes at Octopus Energy.Nigel joined us to discuss his recent article: Fabric Fifth, a slightly polemical riposte to fabric-first dogma, and an interesting philosophy for retrofit. As it turned out, it’s an apposite follow-up to last week's episode with Fionn Stevenson.Fabric Fifth - Nigel BanksASHPs ASAPGet SmartMeasure & get comfySolar & StorageFabric FifthWe also touch on Octopus's zero-bills proposition, but we'll do a full episode about that soon.Notes from the showNigel on LinkedInThe Fabric Fifth article itselfAn article about Chris Warboys' SAP conversion toolThe academic paper Jeff mentions: UK Passivhaus and the energy performance gapNigel in the pages of 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.Follow us on the Zero Ambitions LinkedIn pageJeff, Alex, and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User ExperienceSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Check Lloyd's Substack: Carbon UpfrontJoin ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCCheck out Her Own Space, the renovation and retrofit platform for women (but not in a patronizing way)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

We were blessed to enjoy a great conversation about retrofit and what we should consider our priorities, with the vastly experienced retrofit firebrand Fionn Stevenson.It was a challenging, surprising, and free-wheeling conversation spurred by a call to action she made on LinkedIn some time ago, in which she decried fabric-first approaches and declared: "We need to tackle low hanging fruit first".That post we're referring to:"This is why " fabric first" as a blanket approach to retrofit is not always the best solution. Some properties will do better with cheaper renewable energy heating options without the expensive faff of additional external wall insulation, lack of construction skills and building physics understanding - which is massive in the industry. Just massive. We need to tackle low-hanging fruit first."Now, we don't expect you to agree with everything she has to say, but you're only doing yourself a disservice if you don't listen.Notes from the showFionn on LinkedInThe Know Your Home logbook for homes platform, and its Seedrs capital raising page**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.Follow us on the Zero Ambitions LinkedIn pageJeff, Alex, and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User ExperienceSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Check Lloyd's Substack: Carbon UpfrontJoin ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCCheck out Her Own Space, the renovation and retrofit platform for women (but not in a patronizing way)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

We enjoyed the company of Ecomerchant’s Will Kirkman a business that's specialised in sustainable and natural building materials for the building trade and consumers.We mainly rambled our way around the culture of building in the UK, how embodied carbon has always been on the Ecomerchant agenda and the impact that sustainable and natural building materials have on the buildings they make and the people who occupy them.Notes from the showWill on LinkedInThe Ecomerchant websiteThe We Build Eco websiteStewart Lee's taxi driver argumentUBS white paper: Rethink, rebuild, reimagine (on laying the foundation for better buildings)UBS  report: Retrofit revolutionUBS report: Under one roof (opportunities for public and private stakeholders to decarbonize the global building sector)UBS report: Building society (looking at the social opportunity of retrofitting and the relationship between retrofitting and area regeneration)**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.Follow us on the Zero Ambitions LinkedIn pageJeff, Alex, and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User ExperienceSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Check Lloyd's Substack: Carbon UpfrontJoin ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCCheck out Her Own Space, the renovation and retrofit platform for women (but not in a patronizing way)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

This week is all about the challenges of low-impact building in the sphere of self build with Tara Fraser, a chartered civil and structural engineer, and a director of Build Collective in Bristol. On the recommendation of former guest (and Tara's colleague) Beth Williams, we recently had a chat with her about a self-build project she worked on that should find itself into the pages of Passive House Plus magazine, and we thought it’d be interesting to explore it, and a few broader themes, for the podcast too.This is because in green building it's the self-builders who have been the pioneers, which intrigued us to wonder what lessons might be taken from the self-build experience that can be used by other builders.It’s pretty nerdy this one, but don't worry if you get lost on some of the detail, that's fine, it'll pass, and we return to the common ZAP themes pretty quickly.Notes from the showTara on LinkedInThe Build Collective websiteTara's colleague, Beth Williams, on the podcast last year**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.Follow us on the Zero Ambitions LinkedIn pageJeff, Alex, and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User ExperienceSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Check Lloyd's Substack: Carbon UpfrontJoin ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCCheck out Her Own Space, the renovation and retrofit platform for women (but not in a patronizing way)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**