PODCAST · society
Zero Ambitions Podcast
by Jeff and Dan
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, o
Episodes
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The reluctant house builder: Greencore is building homes that challenge expectations of what a house can deliver, and the performance modelling in PHPP, with Ian Pritchett (Greencore Homes)
We are joined by Ian Pritchett of Greencore Homes to talk about his science-based approach to green building and the work that has led him from developing green building materials becoming the co-founder of a vertically-integrated developer and house builder. There's a lot of history and legacy…
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How sustainable is Futurebuild? The state of green building through the lens of the UK’s biggest event, with Martin Hurn (Futurebuild)
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…
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The messy business of social value: retrofit, procurement, and the built environment, with Michael McLaughlin (LHC Procurement Group)
What is social value? It's a messy, ill-defined beast that's increasingly a core component of public procurement, and it's something that we worked on recently so it's been front of our minds. We invited Michael McLaughlin (LHC Procurement Group) onto the show to talk through what he thinks about...
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Infrared surveys for retrofit: triage, validation, and accountability, with Lucy Lyons (Kestrix)
Lucy Lyons of Kestrix joins us this week to talk about their use of drones, infrared imaging, and AI to quicken the pace of retrofit surveying. Specifically, with regard to a case study detailing their work with Peabody housing association. Kestrix is a software company that works with landlords…
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Musings on modelling performance and the impact of the Home Energy Model (HEM), with Baz Iyer (Vulcan) and Stephen Lloyd (Savills Earth)
Baz Iyer (Vulcan) and Stephen Lloyd (Savills Earth) join us to talk about the likely impact of the UK's long-awaited Future Homes Standard (FHS) and, perhaps more importantly, the Home Energy Model (HEM). HEM is the new model that will inform the UK's Energy Performance Certification (EPC) rating...
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Integrated asset management and the realpolitik of retrofit: building physics versus cost, with Anna Moore (Domna Group)
We sat down with Anna Moore, CEO of Domna Group, to talk about its approach to the business of retrofit, pragmatic retrofit strategy, and long-term asset management for landlords. All underpinned by a layer of data collation and machine learning. Domna is currently retrofitting around 10,000…
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Post-occupancy evaluation in the built environment: validating the quality of fabric, the impact of retrofit works, and anticipating car crashes, with Tom Robins and Leigh Fairbrother (Switchee)
We're back! And we’re talking about the value of post-occupancy evaluation (POE) with Tom Robins and Leigh Fairbrother of Switchee. Their business is POE for landlords that’s intended to improve the quality of life for the residents that they rely on. Capturing sensor data, analysing it, and...
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Delivering high-density, high-volume Passive House in Central London, with Attzaz Rashid (Barratt London) and Joel Callow (Beyond Carbon)
In this episode, we are joined by Attzaz Rashid (Barratt London) and Joel Callow (Beyond Carbon) to talk about Barratt London's move into Passive House. It was a chance to get into what attracted Barratt to developing this Lo-E homes proposition and how they came to feel confident about…
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Reducing the cost of retrofit through collaboration and opportunism, with Rafe Bertram
Is there a collaboration problem in retrofit within the social housing sector? That was the premise for this conversation with Rafe Bertram, an architect and retrofit expert—appearing in a personal capacity—who was very surprised when I posed the question because he's found collaboration to be a...
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Circularity, supply chains, and bringing a bio-based material to market, with Daniel Dinizo and Charmaine Cu-Unjieng (NaturLoop)
This episode is all about case study in circularity and a group of people turning waste into useful materials for the built environment. Daniel Dinizo and Charmaine Cu-Unjieng of NaturLoop are bringing a new bio-based product to market that transforms waste coconut husk into a material that's...
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Greening homes and creating growth—the UK finance sector is seriously interested in green building, with Ian Bhullar and Ronnell Reffell (UK Finance)
In this episode we are exploring the relationship between financial institutions and the built environment in relation to sustainability, building performance and mitigating climate change with Ian Bhullar and Ronnell Reffell from UK Finance, the UK financial sector's membership organisation. The...
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Big plans for tackling non-residential retrofit, with Nick Taylor and Olga Khroustaleva (Building Atlas)
We're joined by our new friends from Building Atlas, Nick Taylor and Olga Khroustaleva, who join us for a conversation about commercial retrofit—the non-residential kind. They’ve got a data driven business Building Atlas that helps commercial asset owners to plan pragmatic retrofit pathways for...
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Prescription heating and experiments for a just transition, with Rose Chard (Energy Systems Catapult)
In this episode Rose Chard joins us to describes her multilayered and multi textured approach to innovation and research. It's a conversation about Energy Systems Captapult's experiment in prescribing heating to keep people warm—that's pretty much it, but there was a lot to talk about. Notes from...
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Impact, innovation, and investment: how VCs aren't a good fit for climatetech and the need for economic biodiversity, with Richard Muscat (Untangled)
In a slight departure from our usual building performance themes joining us for this episode we have Richard Muscat, a man who has experienced the world of investment and tech from a fascinating range of angles and is seeking ways to do things differently. In essence, we’re looking at the way...
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Zero Bills Homes: a new building standard for residential construction? With Nigel Banks and Emma Fletcher (Octopus Energy)
In this episode we're talking about Zero Bills Homes, so we welcome back Nigel Banks, this time accompanied by his Octopus colleague Emma Fletcher*. We're not directly talking Fabric Fifth again but the concept is central to the Octopus zero bills strategy i.e. prioritising decarbonising energy…
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Retrofit rescue: lessons learned from fixing a disastrous programme of works in Fishwick, with Filipe Amarante and Joanna Curtis (National Energy Action)
This episode is all about a retrofit programme gone wrong in Preston and the effort required to fix it. It's a story that was covered in the pages of Passive House Plus back in 2018 under the headline "Disastrous Preston retrofit scheme remains unresolved" and until recently we thought it…
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Moisture: the bane of all buildings (also breathability, sweatability, and vapour), with Valentina Marincioni (UCL) and Toby Cambray (Greengauge)
We are joined by Valentina Marincioni (UCL, UKCMB) and returning guest Toby Cambray (Greengauge) to talk about the bane of all buildings: moisture. Recently, they they’ve produced a simple explainer video about "breathability" in buildings for the UK Centre for Moisture in Buildings. Given Jeff's...
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Battery storage, lancing boilers, and decentralised energy grids: a Decent way to manage your electricity, with Tom Cox and Sally Sattary (Decent Energy)
Joining us for this episode are Tom Cox and Sally Sattary co-founders of Decent Energy. They have a software startup borne of a retrofit experience that did not meet its homeowner expectations, a proprietary software that works to maximise the value of battery storage to improve two key metrics:...
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Translating retrofit for normal people, with retrofit influencer Judith Leary Joyce (Eco Home Retrofit)
This episode is a window into the consumer side of domestic retrofit that’s full of lessons for everyone involved in the retrofit sector. We speak with retrofit influencer Judith Leary Joyce about the experience of undergoing a deep retrofit and learning how to communicate about the subject with...
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Embodied carbon and how sustainable is MMC? With Richard O'Hegarty (RKD, UCD) and Oliver Kinnane (UCD)
Returning champions Richard O'Hegarty and Oliver Kinnane join us to discuss a recently co-authored paper: Understanding the embodied carbon credentials of modern methods of construction (MMC). Get ready for a long meandering discussion that gets into what they learned and what they think about...
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Can we meet the skills gap the way we currently deliver training and what is the purpose of education? With Nathan Gambling (BetaTalk and BetaTeach)
For this episode we were joined by Nathan Gambling. For those that are new to him, he's heating engineer of some repute, a renowned educator, and a fellow podcaster. The episode revolves around the nature of education and learning, the skills gap—specifically focusing on heat pump and retrofit...
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There is methodology for defining what ‘net zero carbon’ means for buildings in the UK and it looks great, with Jess Hrivnak (RIBA), Jane Anderson (ConstructionLCA), and Julie Godefroy (CIBSE)
This time around we're talking about the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (UKNZCBS) with three of its architects: Jess Hrivnak (RIBA), Jane Anderson (ConstructionLCA), and Julie Jodefroy (CIBSE). The UKNZCBS is the first cross-industry standard for net zero carbon-aligned buildings, albeit…
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A 'global' standard for residential retrofit? With Paul Bagust (RICS Head of Property Standards), Steven Lees (RICS Senior Specialist - Residential Survey), and Robert Toomey (RICS Senior Public Affairs Officer)
Last year the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) released its residential retrofit standard. Given that they're one of the construction industry's oldest, largest, and most influential institutions this felt significant. Importantly, the RICS organisation has a global footprint, so…
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Can we address the decarbonisation of homes by focusing on health? With Jenny Danson (Healthy Homes Hub)
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...
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Innovating and maturing: Loco Home Retrofit is an "emerging" retrofit one-stop-shop, with co-founder Chris Carus
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...
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Eliminate construction waste – Loop Your Spare instead: circular thinking and platform technology that reduces the cost of construction for everyone, with Jay Stuart
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...
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Speeding up external wall insulation installation and preparing a retrofit start-up for scale, with Max Bloomfield (VundaHaus) and Alex Whitcroft (KIN; VundaHaus)
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…
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Experiments in low-carbon retrofit for a high-status building (with a basement), with Natalie Black (Enbee Architecture + Design) and Toby McLean (Allt Environmental Structural Engineers)
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...
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Why we need to tell better stories about the built environment, with Liz Male (LMC)
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...
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Don't Waste Buildings, which means retrofitting them and building them better. With Leanne Tritton (Ing Media), Will Hurst (Architect's Journal), and Richard Nelson (Abyss Global)
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...
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Performance guarantees, measuring what works, and EPC reform, with Steven Heath (Knauf Insulation)
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…
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Sustainability, sufficiency, and sequestration – the language we use and what it means, with Lloyd Alter
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...
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Developers can build sustainably and at scale, if they want to. With Nicola Cronin and Stephen O'Shea (Cairn Homes Plc)
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…
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How can we embed sustainable design into the construction process? With Mhairi Grant (Paper Igloo)
Jeff invited Mhairi Grant, co founder of award-winning architectural practice Paper Igloo, to join us to talk about the challenges of ensuring that one's ideas for sustainable design actually make their way through to the construction phase. The subject was sparked by a conversation she and Jeff...
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Why is making UK homes more efficient so difficult? Leyla Boulton (Green Conservation; Financial Times)
Why is making UK homes more efficient so difficult? So asked journalist Leyla Boulton earlier this year in the pages of the Financial Times. Seeing a retrofit article in the FT piqued our interest, even more so once we realised Leyla is a senior editor with an esteemed background in political and...
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What can we do about waste in construction? Diversion from landfill isn't enough and there's money to be made. With Chris Clarke (SCAPE)
In the UK every day the construction industry produces enough waste to fill a football stadium. Rightly, former guest, Chris Clarke (SCAPE) has got a bee in his bonnet about construction waste and is making efforts to draw attention to the issue. He's not just concerned with the profligate use of...
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Net zero neighbourhoods and financing change, with Cat Magill (Living Places)
Something-like twelve months on from inception we thought we'd catch up with what's happening at Living Places, the multi-disciplinary, impact-focused consultancy co-founded by this week's guest Cat Magill. Where last year Rufus Grantham came on the podcast to tell us all about the organisation…
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Running a successful retrofit one-stop-shop isn't easy but it can be done, with Caroline Ashe Brady (KORE Retrofit)
This week's guest is Caroline Ashe Brady of KORE Retrofit in Ireland, one of the objectively successful one-stop-shop retrofit providers to have emerged over the past few years. Caroline is a business leader who we’re a proper fan of, so apologies in advance for our ‘so Caroline please tell us…
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The challenging life of a retrofit coordinator: problems with process, products, and performance, with returning champion Lisa Pasquale
Returning champion Lisa Ann Pasquale rejoins us on Zero Ambitions to talk about dogs and retrofit. Mainly retrofit though. Informed by Lisa's experiences as a retrofit coordinator, technical lead at RetrofitWorks, and Technical Manager at The Retrofit Academy she knows an awful lot about the...
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What should we do to get more women into retrofit? Well, we should get behind 'Her Retrofit Space', with Ellora Coupe (Her Own Space and now Her Retrofit Space)
Returning champion Ellora Coupe joins us to talk about the recent report that Her Own Space has published about the place of women in the retrofit sector, which is heartening, insightful, and damning in equal measure. A great piece of work that everyone interested in the sector should heed.…
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Building better performance: raising construction standards on site and in education, with Joseph Little (TUD)
This week we're going by Joseph Little, Head of Construction & Building Performance in the School of Architecture, Building and Environment at TU Dublin. He joined us to talk about the journey he's been on leading the MSc in Building Performance over the last seven years, but we got into a lot...
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Retrofit as a movement for social change (there's more to it all than fabric and finance), with Dan Hill (Dark Matter Labs)
This week we're thinking about retrofit differently with Dan Hill from Dark Matter Labs (DML). Or rather, we're talking about retrofit's potential to become a movement for social change. In reality, retrofit is about much more than fabric and economics, it's about people and how they live. With...
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Place-based hybrid finance to rebuild Ukraine and catalyse better building standards everywhere, with Iva Merheim Eyre (SMARTER4EU)
This week we're joined by Iva Merheim Eyre from SMARTER4EU to talk about her recently published report the Catalogue of Good Practices, a document that details a variety of place-based hybrid finance models that have been used to rebuild and renovate homes in locations as wide-ranging as the...
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Peter Rickaby returns to ZAP: a lot of words about energy, retrofit, and natural building materials, all the way from South Africa
Jeff and Dan are joined by Dr. Peter Rickaby again. We were due a catch up so we recorded the conversation because he's always interesting. Peter should need little introduction, so we'll just say he's our favourite retrofit expert (sorry everyone else) and our most frequent guest on the show.…
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The UK has a weird relationship with heat pumps: under appreciated influencers, wild pricing, and bad vibes. With Andrew Sissons (Nesta)
This week we're joined by Nesta's Deputy Mission Director, Andrew Sissons, to discuss his take on why the UK has such a weird relationship with heat pumps. It was inspired by an excellent Twitter thread on the subject that gained quite a bit of attention the other week. We talk through it all so...
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Building with straw on a continental scale and experiencing retrofit as a resident. With Cypren Edmunds (European Straw Building Association)
The other week we had a chance to have a conversation with Cypren Edmunds, President of the European Straw Building Association about building with straw, experiences in retrofit, and the meandering path that led him to the green building trade. For us, it was a really interesting chat because we...
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The energy performance of buildings matters, to me and EU and everyone we know, with Ciarán Cuffe (MEP)
The Recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive is now enshrined in EU law, which has big implications for the built environment everywhere. Even the South East of England. To mark the occasion and get the lowdown on what this all means, we invited friend of the show Ciarán Cuffe back on to...
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A new way to measure performance, negative energy use, and learning from disaster zones, with Kate Crawford (KLH Sustainability)
Kate Crawford is a building nerd who is obsessed with measuring performance. She's currently, Technical Director at KLH Sustainability, a multidisciplinary consultancy working in the built environment. Kate has a very interesting background in terms of her experience and she's now working on a…
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Designing for deconstruction using natural building materials. With Chloe Donovan (Natural Building Systems)
This week we're talking about modular construction and Natural Building Systems with MD Chloe Donovan. Chloe is a really interesting character with a fascinating product that she's bringing to market. Unusually, she's a farmer who got into building and then found herself as an entrepreneur in the...
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Monitoring will make your buildings be worth more money, Utopi has proved it, with Falk Bleyl (CTO at Utopi)
Up next we're speaking with Falk Bleyl, CTO at Utopi, about their sensor-based data platform technology. He describes it as an ESG platform which is true but it massively underplays the true value of what their product offers. Heads up, normally, we'll at least try to couch the conversation…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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, o
HOSTED BY
Jeff and Dan
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Zero Ambitions Podcast have?
Zero Ambitions Podcast currently has 196 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Zero Ambitions Podcast about?
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...
How often does Zero Ambitions Podcast release new episodes?
Zero Ambitions Podcast publishes regularly with 196 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Zero Ambitions Podcast?
You can listen to Zero Ambitions Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Zero Ambitions Podcast?
Zero Ambitions Podcast is created and hosted by Jeff and Dan.
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