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.
The success of the podcast has seen it grow into a consultancy, Zero Ambitions Partners. The consultancy works with blue chip clients, public sector institutions, and niche-market innovators that operate in the built environment, advising about the development and delivery of sustainability strategy and how it should be communicated.
Hosted by Jeff Colley (Passive House Plus), Dan Hyde (Everything is User Experience) and Alex Blondin (Everything is User Experience).
- Update frequency
- every 9 days
- Average duration
- 63 minutes
- Episodes
- 188
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
Air quality matters: health, ventilation, and (obviously) retrofit, with Simon Jones (Air Quality Matters)
Air quality matters, that's the subject for this week in our conversation with Simon Jones and it's all about ventilation. In this instance, Air Quality Matters is Simon's new consultancy offering ou…
The Buildings Action Coalition: collective action to accelerate progress in all areas of the built environment, with Scott Foster and Barbara-Ann Murphy
This week we are spreading the word about the Buildings Action Coalition (BAC), a coalition of professionals from all areas of the built environment, from all over the planet, brought together to sup…
Influencing retrofit policy and the things you need to make it work, with Gillian Campbell (Policy Lead at Existing Homes Alliance Scotland)
This week we're joined by Gillian Campbell, the Communications and Public Affairs Lead at Existing Homes Alliance Scotland, a professional with a wealth of experience in the housing sector.
Gillian ha…
How do we build better? Advice and training for low energy building, with Peter Warm and Sally Godber (Warm and Coaction)
This week we met Peter Warm and Sally Godber, a father and daughter team well known in low energy building for their work at their Warm consultancy. Although Peter may now be retured they've both bee…
A structural engineer who 'gets' green building: managing risk, climate, and the future, with Beth Williams (Build Collective)
This week Beth Williams joined us to talk about structural engineering and sustainability.
She's an associate at Build Collective, (one of Jeff's favourites), and a professional who is long-steeped i…
An outsider's view on green building in UK and Ireland, AKA 'Lloyd loves wood now', with Lloyd Alter (Upfront Carbon; Passive House Accelerator)
This week we have a transatlantic expert's perspective on the state of sustainable building in Ireland and the UK. Friend of the show, Lloyd’s Alter joined us after a research trip and drinking holid…
Meeting the skills gap: one-stop-shop training, an Irish approach to education, with Lis O'Brien and Benny McDonagh (TUS)
With the world waking up to the need to rapidly decarbonise buildings, quick-fire, quality education and training tailored to the industry's needs is essential. But doesn't training in how to fly dro…
Architects don't need to solve every problem with a building, with Charlie Luxton
People off the telly don't tend to know the first thing about sustainability, let alone possess a properly anoraky understanding of the subject, but Charlie Luxton is different.
Retrofit - Who do you trust? With Dr. Peter Rickaby
This week, Jeff, Alex and Dan are joined by Dr. Peter Rickaby, a man who should need little introduction to those who know the sector well, and to the listeners of our podcast, he's been on twice bef…
How should we calculate carbon and how long should a building last? With Dr Oliver Kinnane and Dr Richard O'Hegarty of University College Dublin
This week we're joined by Dr. Oliver Kinnane and Dr. Richard O'Hegarty of University College Dublin to discuss their recently published paper: A whole life carbon analysis of the Irish residential se…
MMC is value engineering that should benefit everyone, with Emma Elston and Amandeep Singh Kalra of Be First Regeneration
This week Alex and Dan were joined by Emma Elston (Sustainability Associate) and Amandeep Singh Kalra (Associate Director) to talk about all things MMC (modern methods of construction).
The pair are …
Informed architects will want to do more: convincing clients to do better and Michelin stars for building performance, with James Woodall (Sustainability Lead at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill)
For a change, it's an episode that mainly concerns sustainability for non-residential building design.
Friend of the show, James Woodall joined us to talk about his experiences in sustainable archite…
Retrofit, risk, and reward: how energy efficiency is set to increasingly affect the value of property, with John Baguley (Director of Technical, Risk and Compliance, Countrywide Surveying Services)
John Baguley, Director of Technical, Risk and Compliance at Countrywide Surveying Services joined us to talk about how sustainability in the built environment is being affected by market forces, and …
Unsustainable ambition and the absence of content
Events conspired against us this week and we didn't manage to get a recording together. Sorry.
In lieu of having something ready for you, we decided that we'd recommend some of the things that we're l…
Learning from our mistakes? Looking back at ten retrofits, ten years later, with retrofit pioneer Marion Baeli (PDP, Passivhaus Trust)
This week we're with Marion Baeli, an architect who is a retrofit pioneer, a partner at PDP London, a board member of the Passive House Trust, and the author of seminal retrofit-related text Resident…
Systems design for passive houses, radon research as a proxy for ventilation, and some further education. With Dr. Barry MCarron (PHAI, CREST)
In this episode, we had the pleasure of Dr. Barry McCarron's company, from his car, during a break in the conference he was attending.
If you’re looking for an inspiring journey into academia and lea…
Passive house can lead to more than just houses: community engagement, control pathologies. and propagating systemic change. With Helena Fitzgerald (Department of Economics at the University of Limerick)
Our guest on this episode is Helena Fitzgerald, a passive house designer, and architect whose experience of building her own passive house led her to move beyond architecture.
Taking a stance on passi…
Unconventional approaches to space heating: infra red, ceramics, and the necessity for good design. With John Morehead (Wain Morehead Architects)
This week we’re talking space heating, with John Morehead of Wain Morehead Architects.
Last week Jeff had hoped to talk about the absurd space heating assumptions in the standardised calculations tha…
EPCs are just a ritual (pt. 2): what could we be doing in order to do better, with Adrian Leaman and Bill Bordass (UsableBuildings.co.uk)
Here we go, part two of last week's recording with returning guests, Bill Bordass and Adrian Leaman.
This continues our response to that Times article that was doing the rounds last week, now looking…
EPCs are just a ritual (pt. 1): fundamental flaws in how we assess energy performance and how we got here, with Adrian Leaman and Bill Bordass (UsableBuildings.co.uk)
This week we've got a two-parter for you with returning guests, Bill Bordass and Adrian Leaman.
At first, we thought we'd do an episode in response to that Times article that was doing the rounds las…