Zero Ambitions Podcast

Can we address the decarbonisation of homes by focusing on health? That's the mission that Jenny Danson has set for herself in establishing Healthy Homes Hub, and it's a question that manages to subvert Betteridge's Law of headlines, too.  Healthy Homes Hub is a network, built around an online platform, that's dedicated to transforming the way people experience social housing, and its environmental impact, by creating healthier housing environments. Comprising a series of eight dedicated hubs that cover everything from policy and finance, to retrofit and air quality, the platform enable easy access to important information, insights, and thought leadership.Jenny has over 25 years of experience in social housing, as a supplier and client-side, driving innovation, delivery and improving lives so she knows what she's talking about.The project was borne of a frustration with seeing time and effort wasted as people across the sector carry out the same kinds of work, repeatedly, starting from scratch when they could share resources and pool experience. In a sector where capacity is in short supply this time could be easily put to better use.We talk through the challenges faced by the sector and how a focus on people and health can be used to drive us towards delivering on decarbonisation targets, but train our attention on outcomes for the people living in the 'building assets' not just the performance of the fabric and technology that comprises their home.While it's explicitly aimed at the social housing sector, the platform offers a wealth of information resources and sharing of experience that could be useful far beyond the provision of social housing.Notes from the showThe Healthy Homes Hub websiteJenny on LinkedIn Healthy Homes Hub on LinkedInOperational excellence in social housing - a roundtable readout Those ventilation papers that Jeff mentionedVentilation and Indoor Air Quality in Part F 2006 Homes (BD 2702) by S. McKay, D. Ross, I. Mawditt, and S. Kirk (2010)Occupant Interactions and Effectiveness of Natural Ventilation Strategies in Contemporary New Housing in Scotland, UK by Tim Sharpe, Paul Farren, Stirling Howieson, Paul Tuohy, Jonathan McQuillan**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 page (we still don't have a proper website)Jeff, 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**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

Joining us on Zero Ambitions this week is Chris Carus co-founder of Loco Home Retrofit, a Glasgow-based 'emerging one-step shop'.Loco Home Retrofit is a retrofit operation that's most interesting for its approach to developing a viable retrofit offer, focused on building trust in communities and with its supply chain as a means to catalysing the decarbonisation of our homes (or at least Glasgow's homes). And now, they're hiring, seeking to fill three positions (below) so if you know of anyone suitable please share the ads:Marketing and community engagement manager Technical manager Innovation programme managerAs much as anything else, we love how they think about the retrofit challenge. Their considered approach to building a proposition and a method is what has really sold us, possibly because it resonates with our UX-focused approach to everything, but mainly because it seems to make sense.Notes from the showThe Loco Home Retrofit websiteChris on LinkedIn Loco Home Retrofit on LinkedInAll three job ads, againChris's interview with BE-ST after winning the Gamechanger award at the Accelerate to Zero Awards 2023Designing an ‘optimal’ domestic retrofit programme by Aaron Gillich et al (2017) – The paper Chris couldn't remember the name forLoco Home Retrofit's 2023/24 impact report detailing their innovation efforts to dateResearch Report - The right time for heat pumps in retrofit (Alan Clarke for Passive House Trust) – the other paper that Chris and Jeff reference**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 page (we still don't have a proper website)Jeff, 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**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

The first episode of January 2025 marks the long overdue, first appearance of Jay Stuart, a long-time friend and colleague of Jeff and a firm fixture of the green building scene in Ireland. Jay joined us to talk about his latest project: Loop Your Spare. It’s a SaaS platform designed to match 'spare' construction materials with projects that need them on other sites before they have a chance to be classified as waste. It’s a concept that could largely eliminate the concept of waste and minimise the need for recycling in construction by enabling materials to remain in their highest-value states, thus retaining their value and mitigating the need to put them through all of the (ultimately destructive) processes involved in recycling. While we’re looking to Ireland in this specific case the issues are universal and the solutions should be able to cross borders with relative ease. It’s really an episode about smart thinking, with specific reference to a bunch of the projects Jay has worked on in the past and what’s coming up in the future.We've wanted to get Jay on for ages because he’s an innovative and unconventional thinker who simplifies complex challenges in accessible and unexpected ways. He’s also massively experienced, having lectured at University College Dublin’s School of Architecture, worked with leading Irish construction businesses like Ecofix and D/RES, and worked as a government advisor to name just a few things.Also, it’s an episode that continues the conversations from last year’s episodes with Chris Clarke and Don’t Waste Buildings and their calls to do something about egregious construction waste in the UK.Notes from the showThe Loop Your Spare website Jay Stuart on LinkedIn Loop Your Spare on LinkedInEmail Loop Your Spare here**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 page (we still don't have a proper website)Jeff, 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**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

What's it like trying to scale a retrofit start-up? This episode welcomes Max Bloomfield and Alex Whitcroft, two of the folks from VundaHaus, to talk about their product, its ongoing design and development, and their preparations to scale the business as they raise investment.VundaHaus designs and manufactures a rapid-fit insulation solution for external wall insulation (EWI) of residential homes. It's a a sophisticated off-site, MMC, insulation jigsaw that’s been developed to make the logistics of installation much easier than traditional EWI.There's more to the story but you can listen to that on the episode.Notes from the showThe VundaHaus website The KIN website Max Bloomfield on LinkedIn; email Max hereAlex Whitcroft on LinkedIn; email Alex hereThe TransformER project **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 page (we still don't have a proper website)Jeff, 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**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

This week's episode is all about the lessons learned in carrying out a low-carbon retrofit. Natalie Black (Enbee Architecture + Design) and Toby McLean (Allt Environmental Structural Engineers) joined us to talk through their experiments and experiences on the renovation of a derelict house in Muswell Hill, London that was shortlisted for the Architects Journal Retrofit and Reuse awards this year.This is a project that could easily be misrepresented as a Grand Designs-style endeavour that's only representative of what you can do if you've got loads of capital and capacity, but that wouldn't be fair. This project should really be seen as an example of what you can achieve when you've got loads of capital and the capacity to experiment. The lessons learned here aren't going to solve the housing crisis but they can contribute to resolving the climate crisis, and this is what's motivating our guests. Like many of our listeners, Natalie and Toby are built environment professionals who have become increasingly driven to change how they work by the dawning realisation that the climate crisis is upon us. We also discuss whether you can actually have a low-carbon basement.Links for the PhD applications are below too.Notes from the showNatalie Black on LinkedIn The Muswell Hill low-carbon houseThe Enbee Architecture + Design websiteThe Allt Environmental Structural Engineers' websiteNatalie's LinkedIn post about low-carbon basementsEnbee's 12-minute diary film about the Muswell Hill projectEnbee's short film (under 2 mins) about the Muswell Hill projectNatalie's blog about her workPhD #1 - Balancing Supply and Demand: Developing a Net Zero Energy Framework for Difficult-to-Retrofit Buildings in NottinghamshireNottingham Trent University deadline 8th Dec, start Apr 2025, Led by: Dr Orla Williams (UoN), Co-Supervisors: Dr Kate Simpson (NTU) and Prof Richard Bull (NTU); Community Supervisor(s): Phil Berrill (Nottinghamshire County Council), Chris Beattie (Inspire)PhD #2 - Sustainable Construction UK: Investigating the UK construction industry’s culture in relation to meeting long-term social, economic and environmental goalsNottingham Trent University, deadline 14th Feb, start Sep 2025, led by Prof Gavin Killip and Dr Ani RaidenPhD #3 - Re-imagining energy retrofit and home adaptation to deliver safe and resilient homes during interconnected energy, health, housing and climate crisesNottingham Trent University, deadline 14th Feb, start Sep 2025, led by myself with Dr Penelope Siebert and Prof Rowena Hill**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 page (we still don't have a proper website)Jeff, 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**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

Our guest, Liz Male has been on our radar for a while. She is a figure who has been working in the construction sector since the 1990s, an ally to the sustainability sector, a great communicator, and an experienced thinker.When we met earlier in the year we talked about a lot of things, but the consistent theme of our conversation was 'why we need to tell better stories about the built environment'. That said, we kept our powder as dry as we could and moved on to discuss when we might be able to get her onto the podcast to talk about it from the ZAP platform.We get a lot into the chat. Of particular interest is the historical perspective that Liz can offer. A lot has changed since Koyoto Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.Notes from the showLiz Male on LinkedInLiz Male Consulting Ltd website (LMC) websiteLMC on LinkedInNational Energy Foundation**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 page (we still don't have a proper website)Jeff, 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**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

Apologies for the delay, the lost podcast has been returned and is ready for release.'Don't Waste Buildings' should be a straightforward proposition. It seems obvious. Especially so in the face of the climate crisis. Unfortunately, the business of the built environment is not yet on board completely. Our guests for this episode are the founders of UK-based campaign group Don't Waste Buildings, Will Hurst (Architects Journal) Leanne Tritton (Ing Media), and Richard Nelson (Abyss Global).They're a group who are seeking to remedy this challenge by pressuring government and persuading business to both do better. They're doing some really interesting work and they're new, so they need support.Please note: the graphic we refer can be found here (about 15 minutes in). I'll update this reference with a link to the Passive House Plus article once it's published. Notes from the showDon't Waste Buildings on LinkedIn (the best starting point)The Don't Waste Buildings holding page (a proper website is imminent, so keep an eye on www.dontwastebuildings.com)Will Hurst on LinkedInLeanne Tritton on LinkedInRichard Nelson on LinkedInZero Ambitions - Construction's embodied carbon problem: how do we incentivise retrofit over 'demolish and rebuild', with Joseph Kilroy (CIOB)The AJ article by Kunle Barker that Will refers to: Without architects’ close expert involvement, government plans to retrofit millions of homes will be prone to unintended consequences such as mouldSomething about that 'burning fossil fuels to save the planet' nonsense that Jeff was referring to Future Energy Scenarios 2023 Released, sadly he couldn't find the actual article he rememberedHe found this as well: Ability of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) to generate negative emissionsThe Indy Johar LinkedIn post that Will refers toLRB's James Butler article about Grenfell: ‘This much evidence, still no charges’**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 page (we still don't have a proper website)Jeff, 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**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

This week we're speaking with Steven Heath, technical director at Knauf Insulation (UK and Ireland) and a really interesting and experienced person in the sector.So while we had him, we ran through a bunch of our favourite hoary subjects: measuring performance, performance guarantees, and what we think about EPCs.Knauf is a firm that's done some really interesting work in all of these areas and has even managed to make headway with the UK state in getting them to think about the value of testing performance, with EPCs and whatever SHDF is called now (the state-driven money tap for decarbonising social housing).Notes from the showSteven Heath on LinkedInKnauf Insulation's websiteThe ZAP episode with Kate Crawford about HTC and the 'snug factor': A new way to measure performance, negative energy use, and learning from disaster zones, with Kate Crawford (KLH Sustainability)**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 page (we still don't have a proper website)Jeff, 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**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

A long-overdue episode with friend of the show, Lloyd Alter, about a blog he wrote and his book "The Story of Upfront Carbon". We get into the language of sustainability, carbon, and lots of the words that are ubiquitous in this space (sustainability and the built environment, obviously).We get into the sustainability of travel, to some extent too,Lloyd's book: The Story of Upfront Carbon: How a Life of Just Enough Offers a Way Out of the Climate CrisisBuy it from the independent bookshop website (you can switch regions)You can also buy it from Amazon, but only if you really have no other optionInnovateUK – Net Zero Heat Open DayA showcase of IUK innovation lab projects including Transform-ERThursday 3rd October, online, 9am-12pmRegister here Notes from the show"Sustainable design is dead, long live regenerative design!" from Lloyd's Substack, Upfront CarbonA sustainable architecture Google Images search A regenerative architecture Google Images search That absurd vertical forest building in MilanCOP26: Sufficiency Should be First - Yamina SahebWe Have to Put Sufficiency First in a Low-Carbon World - Lloyd's old Treehugger blog about the SER frameworkZAP episode 144 - “Use less stuff”: embodied carbon, value chains, and the potential for change in the Declaration de Chaillot. With Lloyd Alter (Carbon Upfront), Kelly Alvarez Doran (Ha/f Climate Design), and Will Arnold (The Institution of Structural Engineers)**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 page (we still don't have a proper website)Jeff, 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**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

A wise woman once said: "sustainability is the doing, ESG is the talking about it".Today an Irish house-building giant has made a major move on Passive House — publishing a positioning paper and announcing the ongoing construction of over 1,700 homes to the standard.Joining us to talk about this are Nicola Cronin (Senior Sustainability Analyst) and Stephen O'Shea (Head of Sustainable Construction and ESG Reporting).Rather than this being another episode about Passive House we're more concerned with why a massive housebuilder has chosen to build to the standard. In this case, the answer highlights the positive impact that corporate reporting – in this case ESG – can have on the practice of construction. Where we've often derided ESG factors as a corporate fig leaf, in this instance ESG factors have driven institutional change. Most importantly, the scale of this change clearly illustrates the massive impact that big developers can have. If they choose to try.In short, we're talking about how change is made and why change is made.Links are below.Notes from the showNicola Cronin on LinkedInStephen O'Shea on LinkedInCairn Homes' Passive House positioning paperCairn on LinkedInCairn Homes' 2023 sustainability report**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 page (we still don't have a proper website)Jeff, 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**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**