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 showPhD #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 goals
Nottingham 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.
**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
What is Zero Ambitions Podcast?
Zero Ambitions is a consultancy and weekly podcast about sustainability and the built environment.
We find interesting and experienced guests who know what they're talking about, usually to discuss how we navigate the complexity of decarbonisation and sustainability in the built environment and its many related sectors.
Hosted by Jeff Colley and Dan Hyde, publishers of Passive House Plus magazine (UK and Ireland), the podcast has now grow into a consultancy, Zero Ambitions Partners.
The consultancy specialises in defensible sustainability communications. We create the strategy that makes built environment leaders stand out, enabling them to occupy positions that are distinct and defensible.
As with the podcast itself, we help organisations to communicate about what they do and the value that they offer. Usually, this means strategies to change a conversation from price to value and how to futureproof an offer with evidence that makes its claims watertight.
If you're a leader, or want to become one, we help you to make sense of where you stand in your sector, how to improve your positioning, how to communicate this to the market you operate in, and how to highlight the difference between you and your peer group.
If you can engage your value chain by speaking about what matters to them, you can educate your key stakeholders and turn them into evangelists for your cause.
Book a ‘ZAP Defensibility Audit’, but brace yourself
- Uncover value and opportunities that you may
not have recognised
- Find out if your sustainability claims are defensible
- Find out if your claims are too meek
- Change the conversation from price to value