Zero Ambitions Podcast

We take a look at the state of the green building sector through the lens of itss biggest dedicated show in the UK, Futurebuild.

It on 12–14 May this year and you can sign up here.

Helping us to peek behind the curtain is the event's director, Martin Hurn, a man who is, ultimately, responsible for it all.

It seemed with a conversation because this year Futurebuild was acquired by a new owner and repackaged to become a super event. The green building great big networking event has merged with UK Construction Week and the Stone and Surfaces Show.

In light of this we get into the history of Futurebuild that sheds a little light on how the impact of changes that it’s going through right now are a little more like a return to its roots.

The episode has a bit of a long wind up because we’ve included a chunk of preamble in which Jeff explains his background to Martin which wasn’t intended for the episode but it ended up revealing similarities, and differences, in their backgrounds that felt worth including.

Both Martin and Jeff have been in this working within the business of the built environment for about the same amount of time (early 00s), and both coming from publishing backgrounds. They’ve seen the heydays, boom times, and catastrophes created by the Celtic Tiger and the UK’s solar subsidisation and feed-in tariffs.

Consequently, the pair of them are able to offer a some illuminating and interesting perspectives on where they see the sector at this strange point in time.

We also let Martin plug the show.

And, at the end we do get around to asking ‘how sustainable are events?’



Notes from the show


**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
We don't actually earn anything from this podcast, 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 and Dan about Zero Ambitions Partners (the consultancy) for help with positioning and communications strategy, customer/user research and engagement strategy, carbon calculations and EPDs – we're up to all sorts
  • Subscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)
  • Check Lloyd Alter's Substack: Carbon Upfront
  • Join ACAN
  • Join the AECB 
  • Join the IGBC
  • Check out Her Retrofit Space, the renovation and retrofit platform for women



**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