Zero Ambitions Podcast

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/

A great listen this week with a seasoned and experienced activist and politician. 20 years after an EU directive introduced energy performance certificates for buildings across Europe, Ciarán Cuffe explains why the directive is being recast to drive the push to net zero. 

"There is no path to meeting our climate targets that doesn't involve much more ambition [on buildings]. By the end of this decade, we need to see a million homes converted to zero-emission heating systems. We need to see a much bigger emphasis on energy efficiency.”Patrick Harvie, the Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings at the Scottish Government, sets out his decarbonisation vision on this week's episode of Zero Ambitions podcast. Patrick explains the role headline policies from the Scottish Government such as the Heat in Buildings Strategy (HiBS) will play in radically decarbonising Scotland’s homes. Patrick also gives his thoughts on tenants’ rights and the role of the private rented sector, and the role that local authorities can play through local heat and energy efficiency strategies.

There's no question that we must decarbonise our housing stock. But we believe there must be a comprehensive approach to demanding the reduction in the first place, and not just a focus on low carbon heating sources. As part of this approach, retrofit can deliver so many other benefits besides more efficient buildings. Healthier places for communities to thrive? Why wouldn't we want to do that?https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmbeis/1038/report.html

Lisa is one of the most experienced building performance consultants working in the UK. She has extensive knowledge of in-use building operation and management, building physics, low-energy services, and fabric design for new build and retrofits domestic and non-domestic buildings. She takes an evidence-based approach to building performance and is an expert in built environment research, technical risk management and post-occupancy evaluation. We spoke to Lisa about PAS 2035, how it can be improved, and some of the projects she has been evaluating over the last few years. Through our discussion with Lisa, it’s clear that if we’re to meet our climate change objectives and decarbonise our homes, we need to understand the lessons of the past so as not to repeat them in the future. Evaluation is critical, and as a wise man once said, if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. 

Putting our time and energy where our mouths are! Want to know more about taking action on making the changes we need to see around decarbonising our homes? Tune in and hear more about an exciting collaboration between the NEF and ACAN Here are some links referred to in the episodehttps://greathomesupgrade.org/ https://www.householdsdeclare.org/Join the campaign collaboration working grouphttps://chat.whatsapp.com/I63Wguu8lpMCYvDdUK3BRd