PLEASE NOTE: You should listen to Episode 17 before Episode 18 as they are two parts of the same event.

The Post Cop26 Roadmap For The Built Environment Sectors will be opened by Neal Maxwell who has made the transition that many of us need to! Then we will have the main interview with our featured guest, Victoria Kate Burrows, who is the Director of Advancing Net Zero, at the World Green Building Council. Victoria’s interview aims to inform you of what the potential roadmap for the built environment sectors looks like post-COP26. 

Top Worldwide Experts Question Victoria Kate Burrows, World Green Building Council

Next, we will open up to questions from the panel. Each panellist will ask Victoria a question that relates to the overall topic but reflects their own specific niche.

Joined By A Panel Of Industry Thought Leaders

Claire Wansbury, Award-Winning Ecologist & Associate Director at Atkins

Focus: Biodiversity

Dr Darshil Shah – Lecturer at the University of Cambridge

Focus: Biomaterials

Dr Wendy Jones – Science Engagement Lead at Changing Streams CIC

Focus: Plastic in Construction

Vicente Guallart – Global Award-Winning Architect

Focus – Ecological Cities

Sumele Aruofor – Senior Strategic Marketing Manager for SketchUp at Trimble

Focus: How the AEC industry can create sustainable change through design and inclusivity

Sangeeta Waldron – Author and Award-Winning PR Consultant

Focus: Why Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is Vital for all Types of Businesses

Panellists

Claire Wansbury, Award-Winning Ecologist & Associate Director at Atkins – Focus: Biodiversity

Claire Wansbury is an Associate Director at Atkins, a world-leading engineering and environmental consultancy. She will share her particular expertise in biodiversity and natural capital. Claire is one of the UK’s top experts on biodiversity net gain, including having co-authored national good practice principles.

With nearly 30 years of experience as an award-winning ecologist, in the last few years, Claire has been working with environmental economists and others to build a shared understanding of the value of benefits our natural world provides to people.

Below is a quote from an article that Claire co-authored with her colleague, Senior Environmentalist at Atkins, Jonathan Nichols:

What we found most compelling in the Dasgupta Review was the comparison of biodiversity (a key part of the world’s “Natural Capital”) to an investment portfolio – no sensible investor would rely on only a few assets for their profits; they would ensure they have a diverse portfolio to secure a return and mitigate their risks. The same can be said of life on Earth. By cultivating only a few species at the expense of the rest we are putting our prosperity at risk. The effect of humans, particularly in the last thousand years, has been to erode this diversity. The more we lose biodiversity, the more we undermine the resilience of our asset portfolio; an action that is already having grave consequences across the globe, including our ability to achieve carbon Net-Zero.

Dr Darshil Shah – Lecturer at the University of Cambridge – Focus: Biomaterials

As a senior researcher within the Centre for Natural Material Innovation, Dr Darshil Shah works with scientists across disciplines on developing biomaterials, such as engineered wood, bamboo and natural fibre composites, as light-weight, sustainable and structural alternatives to conventional materials for various application sectors, including wind energy, construction, transport, health care, and consumer products.

As a senior researcher within the Centre for Natural Material Innovation, Dr Darshil Shah works with scientists across disciplines on developing biomaterials, such as engineered wood, bamboo and natural fibre composites, as light-weight, sustainable and structural alternatives to conventional materials for various application sectors, including wind energy, construction, transport, health care, and consumer products.

Some of Darshil’s current active research grants include:
‘Precision Engineered Timber: Digital design and delivery of healthier schools’, Centre for Digital Built Britain (Co-I, Jul 2019 – Jun 2022, £500k) 
‘FLOWER: Flax composites, LOW weight, End-of-life, and Recycling’, EU Interreg (Co-I R, Feb 2018 – Sept 2022, €4.6M)
‘Crop-Cam: Hemp biocomposite professional camera casing’ (Co-I, Feb 2017 – Sept 2018)
‘Natural material innovation for sustainable living’, Leverhulme (Post-doc, Oct 2014 – Oct 2019)

Darshil specialises in natural materials science and technology. Combining sustainability with performance and functionality in natural materials is a major driver of his research. His research covers three principal areas which you can learn about here.

A quote from Episode 15 of Constructive Voices:

So nature has always been a source of grandeur and inspiration for me. And after graduating as an engineer, I had the opportunity to undertake PhD research on sustainable materials and manufacturing methods for the wind energy sector. And that was the first time when, as an engineer, I was challenged to foresee problems of material sustainability in a sector that was already green, because we always associate with wind turbines with sustainable energy production methods. And that made me understand think of and design solutions that could actually make it greener. And to do that I had to look at plants for solutions…

Dr Wendy Jones – Science Engagement Lead at Changing Streams CIC – Focus: Plastic in Construction

Wendy is a scientist with many years experience in business development on both sides of the academic-industry interface. She has lived and worked in the North-West of England for the last 40 years, mainly in clinical nutrition and life sciences but also in developing corporate partnerships for UMIST in computation and construction science.

At SHS in Liverpool, she was responsible for the registration of the first probiotic organism approved for food use in the UK, and for the development of her company’s intellectual property portfolio.

She has held board positions with the Wirral Health Authority and at Blackburne House (women’s technology education centre in Liverpool) where I was deputy chair of the board, and for the last 5 years had a voluntary position as Honorary Secretary of her local sailing club on the Wirral.

As a sailor, gardener and grandmother, Wendy believes that it is extremely important to minimise damage to the environment for future generations.

Currently, Wendy is the Company Secretary of Changing Streams and contributes to the work of the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership Trust as an Associate Manager.

Recently she has also been awarded an Honorary Research Fellowship at the University of Liverpool. She is keen to put her scientific and business expertise to use in support of the objectives of Changing Streams.

Vicente Guallart, Global Award-Winning Ecological Cities Architect – Focus: Ecological Cities

Vicente Guallart ( b. Valencia 1963) chief architect of the city of Barcelona and general director of Urban Habitat since 2011.

He is the founder of Guallart Architects (1993) and of IAAC (Institute of Advanced Architecture in Catalunya) (2001).

Pioneer of interaction between nature, technology and architecture proposes new paradigms based in urban, social and cultural conditions emerging from the information society. He crosses boundaries through collaborations in geology, sociology, engineering, fabrication, economics, and software design merging architecture, nature and new technology. His projects follow a “natural” logic, referring to components originating in nature, as well as to environmental systems. A logic that connects nature with the transformations of urban spaces, social organizations, and the digital world.

His most relevant and recent projects include, among others, Sociópolis in Valencia: an innovative housing project for urban and environmental development with projects by international architects; Sharing Bloks in Gandía: a residence for students, the first in Spain where the dynamical relation between private and shared areas can generate a continuous reconfiguration and extension of the spaces to live; Fugee Port and Keelung Port in Taiwan. He is the author of Geologics (Actar), and co-author of the Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture and Hypercatalonia.

PRIZES
-1st Prize in the Competition “Sociopolis Green House”, Valencia Spain
-1st Prize in the Competition “New Taiwan by Design”: the re-design of Fugge Port and Batouz Port. Taiwan
-1st Prize in the Competition Taiwan Gateways, for the re-design of Keelung Waterfront.
-1st Prize in the Competition for the design for the waterfront of Vinaroz (Castellón. Spain)
-1st Prize in the Competition “Vinaròs Sea Pavillion”, Fora Forat beach, Vinaròs, Castellón Spain.
-1st Prize in the Competition for the “Hotel HUSA”, Reus, Tarragona. Spain
-1st Prize in the Competition for the design of 2 km of the South Coast (Castellón. Spain)
-1st Prize in the National Projects Competition for the multifunctional Center in the castle quarry in Denia.
-1st Prize for the construction of the Hotel HUSA Reus.
-2nd prize Prize in the Competition “ Museum of Contemporary Art “in Wroclaw, Poland
-Finalist in Premio FAD 2008. Barcelona, Spain.
-Finalist in the “Premio Europeo del Espacio Urbano”. CCCB. Barcelona, Spain.
-1st ex quo in the” Premio Nacional a la Cultura Arquitectónica y Urbanística Sostenible del Foro Civitas Nova 2007”. Spain
-3rd Prize in the Competition “Spanish Pavillion Project for Shanghai Expo”.
-Nomination for the Prize “Rey Jaime I” de Urbanismo, Paisaje y Sostenibilidad 2007.
-Selectión for the Master Plan, Wroclaw, International Expo 2012.
-Building selection for the Master Plan for Wroclaw Expo 2012
-Award Ciutat de Barcelona Prize 2002, for the Media House.
-FAD Award 1992 for an apartment in Barcelona
-Finalist in the IberFAD Prize with a house in Liria in 1996.
-Finalist in EUROPAN IV with a housing project in L’Hospitalet.
-Mention in EUROPAN II with a project for the Plaza del Arbol and environs in Valencia 1991.
-Möbius Prize for the best Spanish CD-ROM 2000.
-Möbius Prize for the best Spanish CD-ROM 1995 for Mateo at ETH.

Sumele Aruofor – Senior Strategic Marketing Manager for SketchUp at Trimble – Focus: How the AEC industry can create sustainable change through design and inclusivity

Sumele is a wonderful, passionate speaker when it comes to how women can create sustainable change. In Episode Thirteen, Henry McDonald interviewed Sumele and Emma Nicholson, B.A, MSc, FCIOB, FIEMA, FWES, CEnv, FAPM, the Founding Director of Women in Sustainable Construction and Property, both of whom are leading lights when it comes to creating sustainable change within the construction industry, especially in light of the IPCC Report of August 2021.

Every day in work, Sumele Aruofor (RIBA Associate) uses her training and experience in architecture, interior architecture, and building performance design to create content that enables professionals in the AEC industry to leverage innovative technologies for better design and a more sustainable built environment. She applies this knowledge in her role as the Senior Strategic Marketing Manager at Trimble’s SketchUp and in designing residential projects in the UK.

Sumele believes that architects are uniquely positioned to positively impact the day-to-day experience of people, communities, economies, and the global climate. Through her work, she advocates for architects to see occupant comfort and building performance as a distinct criterion of great design, and for all AEC professionals to go beyond minimum regulatory requirements by analyzing energy and daylight early and often as part of the design process.

“I think an understanding of space and context, can make a massive impact on how we design as architects, and as people in the built environment, I think just that consciousness of context, and a care for the world, is kind of the starting point of any project that wants to be sustainable.”

“I feel like architects have a really unique role in shaping the built environment. The spaces that they create are almost like the backdrop for the theatre of humanity. But then they use real things, right? They use real resources. And we can, you know, we have the ability to influence the ways that people live”

Sangeeta Waldron – Author and Award-Winning PR Consultant – Focus: Why Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is Vital for all Types of Businesses

Sangeeta Waldron is a multi-award winning Public Relations professional and was recently named in Commetric’s top ‘15 of Women Influencers in PR & Communications’ and in the ‘Top 100 of the PR Influencer Index.’ She runs her own London based PR agency, Serendipity PR & Media.

Sangeeta’s new book, Corporate Social Responsibility Is Not Public Relations is out. Her first business book, The PR Knowledge Book was published in 2019.

A regular international speaker and moderator, she is also a podcaster for the award-winning podcast platform, Irish Tech News and contributing global editor for the India CSR Network, the largest news platform on sustainable business news in India. She guest lectures at Coventry University.

Sangeeta started out her career writing speeches for a previous UK Prime Minister and Ministers. She has worked at the top level with big, powerful global brands, including being the Global Communications Director for the Economist Group; the Mayor of London; Cass Business School; and charities.

“Why is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) vital for all types of businesses? It creates sustainable, strong, and profitable businesses, and drives authentic PR. Investors, the workforce, and consumers are tired of greenwashing and those caught doing so, now face brand damage; and sometimes, what we call these days, ‘being cancelled’.”

If you haven’t listened to the first part please go to Episode 17.