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Clinton Cole is a boundary-pushing architect and builder who believes we can all be a force for good. With industry-leading expertise in regenerative design, he creates premium homes that actively repair damage to our planet and give back to future generations. In the same spirit, he puts ethics and responsibility front and centre at CplusC, one of only five Australian architects to earn B Corp certification. Clinton holds two degrees in Architecture and is a registered Architect, a licenced Builder and accredited Construction Supervisor with over 20 years’ experience in the industry. A frank and fearless contributor to professional debate, he’s often invited to present to industry peers, academic panels and design publications. In this revealing interview, Clinton Cole talks about what it takes to build a genuinely sustainable home in Australia. This podcast was sponsored by CSR

In our first Shortcast in over two years, we talk with Will Messiter, Chief Operating Officer - Residential Communities and Home Building at Sekisui House Australia, at the company's manufacturing and assembly facility in southwest Sydney, about house building, the bottlenecks in Australia's building market, and how prefab and modular can offer a solution to our house affordability woes.

As operational energy efficiency improves, attention is increasingly turning to embodied carbon—the emissions associated with extracting raw materials, manufacturing products, transporting them, installing them, and, ultimately, dealing with them at the end of their useful life.  That puts materials and material innovation firmly at the centre of the conversation.  Jonathan Mountfort, Creative Director at Autex Acoustics, has more than two decades of experience across design and manufacturing, with a career spanning mechanical engineering, product design, materials innovation, and acoustics.  At Autex, he leads a team across design and engineering and has contributed to recycling technologies, product development, and the company's broader sustainability journey.  In this episode, Jonathan shares a particularly interesting perspective from the intersection of product design, manufacturing, and architecture—three areas that increasingly need to work together if we're going to reduce the built environment's carbon impact.  This podcast is brought to you in association with Autex Acoustics, proud sponsors of our 2026 Sustainability series of podcasts.

Tara Veldman, Managing Director and Principal at Billard Leece Partnership, has played a major role in growing BLP’s health architecture practice and has worked across hospitals, health hubs, research facilities, education precincts, and other complex environments.  In 2025, Tara was named the inaugural recipient of the Australian Health Design Council Gold Medal, recognising her leadership and contribution to healthcare design in Australia and internationally.  Her approach is particularly interesting because it goes beyond simply designing healthcare buildings.  She’s a strong advocate for evidence-based, user-focused design and for thinking about how architecture can influence how people feel, heal, and connect.

Kevin Hogan, Head of Design & Digital Engineering at Kapitol Group leads an in-house team of more than 20 digital engineers, design managers and architects, driving Virtual Design and Construction (VDC), Building Information Modelling (BIM), and the development of custom digital tools including Kapitol’s 3D Construction Tracker.  He’s also become a leading voice across Australia’s construction sector, advocating for the practical use of BIM and artificial intelligence to reduce waste, improve productivity and fundamentally change how buildings are delivered.  Kapitol now models every project before construction begins, helping eliminate costly clashes, reduce rework and improve project certainty.

We talk with BVN CEOS & principals, Ali Bounds, Principal & Co-CEO (Sydney) and Neil Logan, Principal & Co-CEO (Brisbane) about the signifance of BVN reaching its' 100th birthday. In August 1926, Arthur Bligh, BVNs founding principal, set in motion a trajectory of architectural endeavour defined by curiosity, reinvention and collective effort that has endured for 100 years.  Through recession, war, boom times, low times and a new millennium, 44 principals have passed on the baton of shared partnership and authorship, bolstered by thousands of alums, countless collaborators, clients, supporters and friends, united by a shared purpose to design a better future. So, a century later, BVN's journey is now all about looking to the future with optimism and gratitude for those who have persevered, fostering the belief that architecture matters to society and pursuing that with integrity, creativity and care.

After more than a decade with the HIA in senior leadership roles, Jocelyn Martin, Managing Director of the Housing Industry Association stepped into the organisation’s top position at a time when Australia’s housing sector is facing unprecedented pressure—from affordability and supply constraints to skills shortages, planning reform and the challenge of delivering enough homes for a growing population.  In this episode, Jocelyn discussed her vision for HIA, the role of industry advocacy, what governments need to do differently, and how the residential building sector can innovate while staying firmly focused on people.  This podcast was sponsored by CSR

Australia has committed to building 1.2 million new homes over five years, but there's one enormous obstacle standing in the way: people.  According to BuildSkills Australia, the nation needs around 90,000 additional construction workers if we're to have any realistic chance of meeting that target. At the same time, automation, robotics, AI, and advanced manufacturing are beginning to transform how buildings are designed and constructed.  So, can technology solve our workforce crisis? Or do we simply need to rethink how we attract, train, and retain the next generation of tradespeople?  In this episode, Robert Sobyra, Executive Director of Research and Planning at BuildSkills Australia, whose research has become central to Australia's conversation about construction skills, housing delivery, and the future workforce, offers a range of solutions to our building industry skills shortage woes.

In this episode, we're talking with Renee Gigliotti, Associate Director at The Studio Collaborative* at how thoughtful interior architecture can transform not just a venue, but the entire visitor experience.  Australia's major entertainment venues are increasingly becoming destinations in their own right, where hospitality, technology, branding and design converge to create memorable experiences long before the main event begins.   One of the latest examples is the transformation of the hospitality spaces at Afterpay Arena, where two distinctly different bar environments have been reimagined to deliver unique experiences while maintaining a cohesive architectural language.  The project also incorporates Australia's most comprehensive square-powered venue commerce deployment, seamlessly integrating technology into the hospitality experience.

Australia is facing one of its biggest housing challenges in decades, with the federal government's National Housing Accord aiming to deliver 1.2 million new homes by 2029. But what if the biggest obstacle isn't planning approvals, land supply, or even skills shortages?  A major new report from RMIT University, prepared for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, argues that the industry's chronic boom-and-bust cycles are the real culprit—creating labour shortages during the good times, losing skilled workers during downturns, and ultimately reducing both productivity and build quality.  Joining us for this episode is the report's lead author, Associate Professor Andrea Sharam from RMIT University, to unpack why Australia's housing system needs structural reform if we're serious about delivering more homes.

For decades, airport lounges were viewed simply as waiting rooms for premium travellers. Today, they're something much more sophisticated—extensions of airline brands, wellness spaces, workplaces, hospitality venues and, increasingly, destinations in their own right. But what actually makes a great airport lounge? How do architects and designers balance luxury with durability, privacy with openness, and local identity with a consistent global brand? Joining us in this episode are Joanna Ho, interior designer, and Rosie Morley, principal architect from Hassell, who share with us their extensive experience designing airport lounges and aviation hospitality environments. This podcast is brought to you in association with Autex Acoustics, proud sponsors of our 2026 Sustainability series of podcasts.

According to PhD graduate Isabel Lasala, who is also an architect and landscape architect, and one of the directors of Lasala & Lasala Design Studio, "Cemeteries have long been central to our relationship with death, traditionally viewed as sacred and static places.  "But what if we reimagined cemeteries as dynamic, hybrid spaces shaped by time, memory, and ecological processes?   "Rather than viewing their gradual decay as failure, we could explore design-driven alternatives that merge the contrasting forces of grief and play, transforming decay into a catalyst for civic engagement.  "This approach could inspire innovative design strategies for revitalising forgotten urban spaces, creating a new type of urban environment that bridges grief and play, memory and adaptation." In this episode, we talk to Isabel about applying urban design ideas to a necropolis.

In this episode, sponsored by Autex Acoustics, we talk with Tamara White from Warren and Mahoney (WAM), whose work spans creating environments that support human performance, connection, and healthier futures.  We discuss how designers are redefining what sustainable spaces look and feel like — and what that means for the people using them.”  Our theme is on how can architects and designers create spaces that are not only environmentally sustainable, but actively support human health, wellbeing, performance, and connection?  This conversation also explores the evolving relationship between sustainability and wellbeing across workplace, airport, and hospitality design and will examine how designers are responding to changing expectations around equity, flexibility, resilience, and the human experience.  This podcast is brought to you in association with Autex Acoustics, proud sponsors of our 2026 Sustainability series of podcasts.

Drawing from his local and overseas architecture experience, recently appointed Plus Studio principal John Walsh, in this episode, unpacks how shared-use, hybrid buildings—blending education, civic, and commercial functions—are redefining how we design for density, community, and long-term value.  From navigating security and adaptability to stretching the design brief for greater impact, this conversation looks at how architects can respond creatively to the pressures of urban growth.

Derek Layfield, Managing Director of Durra Panel, who has championed straw-based panel technology for decades, and Michael Jones, Studio Lead – Design at AJC Architects, a registered architect with a wealth of experience specifying bio-based materials, including Durra Panel projects and recent Byera Hadley research into straw and prefabricated systems, explain why straw is the ultimate building material when it comes to acoustic and temperature insulation. This podcast was sponsored by Durra Panel.