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Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Building Talks podcast. As you may know, Building Magazine is 180 years old this year - having launched as “The Builder” back in 1843.  In this special one-off episode, we celebrate by going back to the not-too-distant past with four previous editors of Building Magazine. From the tail-end of Thatcherism, through the Blair years, and right up to Brexit - they were covering the major the stories affecting the construction industry.  We gathered Peter Bill, Adrian Barrick, Denise Chevin and Sarah Richardson in the studio to talk about their personal memories, the big projects, the larger-than- life characters, and the sagas that hit the front pages of Building magazine during their eras. To get in touch with the show go to: Twitter: @BuildingNews, Email: [email protected]. For more news and analysis go to www.building.co.uk. Hosted by Building’s editor Chloe McCulloch. Audio production by Tariq Aziz.

Our guest in episode 4 of Building Talks… Creating Communities is Anna Mansfield, a director at the research-based urban design consultancy Publica. Anna initially thought she wanted to be a fashion designer, but found her way into architecture, and from there into urban design and thinking about the city at a much larger scale.  Like many people now working in a sector that has community, engagement and place at its heart, Anna observes how much the urban design discussion has moved on over recent years. A key change that has occurred is the emphasis that is now put on celebrating and reinforcing the existing sense of place in every location where the built environment has an impact. To get in touch with the show go to: Twitter: @BuildingNews, Email: [email protected]. For more news and analysis go to www.building.co.uk. Hosted by Building’s Ben Flatman with Chloe McCulloch, Building’s editorial director. Audio production by Tariq Aziz.

Our guest in episode 3 of Building Talks… Creating Communities is David Rudlin, urban design director at BDP. David is one of the UK’s leading urban designers and planning experts. He began his career as a town planner and is a big supporter of the idea of the planner as someone who helps provide a clear strategic direction, and sets high standards for placemaking. The belief that British cities have much to learn from looking at successful international case studies has also been an important part of David’s approach, and one of the ideas that led him to spend several years working for Urbed, an innovative urban design and research company. To get in touch with the show go to: Twitter: @BuildingNews, Email: [email protected]. For more news and analysis go to www.building.co.uk. Hosted by Building’s Ben Flatman with Chloe McCulloch, Building’s editorial director. Audio production by Tariq Aziz.

Our guest in episode 2 of Building Talks… Creating Communities is Selina Mason, director of masterplanning and strategic design at Lendlease.  Selina has been at the heart of debates around urban design and how we build better cities for the last two decades. Few people have the wide-ranging experiencing of public and private sector that she draws on to inform her approach to practice. In her current role she is overseeing the development of the massive Smithfield masterplan in central Birmingham, but in her previous jobs, she has been director of architecture and design review at CABE, and was closely involved in the design of both the 2012 Olympics, and the delivery of the games’ legacy. She is a huge advocate for a greater focus on people-focused urbanism, and in this podcast interview, she highlights the need for engagement and consultation. To get in touch with the show go to: Twitter: @BuildingNews, Email: [email protected]. For more news and analysis go to www.building.co.uk. Hosted by Building’s Ben Flatman with Chloe McCulloch, Building’s editorial director. Audio production by Tariq Aziz.

Welcome to Building Talks …Creating Communities.  New developments can face massive local opposition, attacked for poor design, a lack of public services, and low quality civic space.  These are the challenges we'll be tackling in season 2 of the Building Talks podcast. By talking to built environment professionals over four weeks we will explore their personal stories, influences and motivations. We will ask them: why is there so much interest in the placemaking agenda? And how can we make the places we work and live in better? In episode 1 Building’s architectural editor Ben Flatman interviews Jo Wright, managing director of Perkins & Will. Jo has years of experience integrating complex multidisciplinary teams and working on largescale urban projects.  She discusses the influence that working in Berlin before the wall came down had on her career, and the need to build for the long term.  To get in touch with the show go to: Twitter: @BuildingNews, Email: [email protected]. For more news and analysis go to www.building.co.uk. Hosted by Building’s Ben Flatman with Chloe McCulloch, Building’s editorial director. Audio production by Tariq Aziz.

Episode 6 of our Building Talks Net Zero podcast is a bumper edition as it's the last in the current series. We talk to the engineering firm Webb Yates about key construction materials: Anna Beckett and Tom Webster explain the potential to reuse or recycle materials such as concrete and steel.  We also hear from Edmund Fowles and Fergus Feilden, the founding partners of Feilden Fowles, a young practice that has attracted attention for its sustainable approach to architecture, and which has its office co-located with a city farm in the centre of London. Simon Wyatt, partner at Cundall, provides our jargon buster session, this time taking on the hot topic of heat pumps. Are they the best option we currently have to decarbonise heating in our buildings? To get in touch with the show go to: Twitter: @BuildingNews, Email: [email protected].  For more news and analysis go to www.building.co.uk. Hosted by Building’s editor Chloe McCulloch with Elizabeth Hopkirk, assistant editor at Building Design. Audio production by Tariq Aziz.

Episode 5 of our Building Talks Net Zero podcast series features an interview with Ben Houchen, Tees Valley mayor, on his ambitions to make the region a hub for the government’s so-called “green industrial revolution”. Houchen is a strong advocate for hydrogen production and carbon capture and storage technology, and in this episode he criticises recent Whitehall policy that delayed any decision on whether to develop hydrogen as a fuel source until 2026. We hear why he is so critical of the strategic decision to back heat pumps and why he calls for a “technology agnostic” approach to net zero research and development. We also hear from Maria Smith, who is director of sustainability and physics at Buro Happold and has been involved in the Built Environment Declares recent survey of the sectors attitudes to radical net zero policies. Simon Wyatt, partner at Cundall, provides our regular jargon buster session, this time explaining the term carbon sequestration, the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide which is most commonly associated with trees growing and then turning those trees into timber. But how do we get the maximum benefit and how should carbon accounting work? To get in touch with the show go to: Twitter: @BuildingNews, Email: [email protected]. We'd love to know how you are working towards net zero on your project. For more news and analysis go to www.building.co.uk. Hosted by Building’s editor Chloe McCulloch with Elizabeth Hopkirk, assistant editor at Building Design. Audio production by Tariq Aziz. 

The fourth episode of our Building Talks Net Pero podcast series has a selection of interviews recorded in Glasgow during the COP26 climate conference. This week Building’s reporter Tom Lowe speaks to construction attendees in the ‘Green Zone’ of COP26 for the Cities, Regions & Built Environment Day, including Gregor Craig, Skanska UK chief executive, and Hannah Vickers, Mace's chief of staff.   We also hear from Alastair Mant, director of business transformation at the UKGBC, Steve Fernandez, director at Arup and 26-year-old Sarah Linnell, sustainability engineer at Cundall, who co-chaired at Construction Leadership Council event at COP26 after winning a competition to hear younger voices in the industry.    Our regular jargon buster session with Simon Wyatt, partner at Cundall, this time focuses how the industry assesses embodied and whole life carbon. He explains what can be missing in our assessments and why the Greenhouse Gas Protocol is useful. To get in touch with the show go to: Twitter: @BuildingNews, Email: [email protected]. We'd love to know how you are working towards net zero on your project. For more news and analysis go to www.building.co.uk. Hosted by Building’s editor Chloe McCulloch with Elizabeth Hopkirk, assistant editor at Building Design. Audio production by Tariq Aziz. 

The third episode of our Building Talks Net Zero podcast series is released today to coincide with the final week of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. This week’s keynote interview is with Tom Bennett, an eco-activist architect who combines his professional specialism in sustainable design at London practice Studio Bark with taking part in protest movements. He has caught media attention for being arrested during the wave of Extinction Rebellion (XR) protests back in 2019, and we managed to interview him just before he was travelling up to Glasgow to take part in what has been dubbed the ‘Global Day of Action’ at COP26. Simon Wyatt, partner at Cundall, returns for another net zero jargon buster session, this time focusing on NABERS UK. He explains the origins of this energy rating system for the commercial offices sector, how it has been introduced to the UK and how its robust processes will be a challenge for designers, contractors and developers alike. To get in touch with the show go to: Twitter: @BuildingNews, Email: [email protected]. We'd love to know how you are working towards net zero on your projects, so write in and we'll read out your comments in the next episode. For more news and analysis go to www.building.co.uk. Hosted by Building’s editor Chloe McCulloch with Elizabeth Hopkirk, assistant editor at Building Design. Audio production by Tariq Aziz. 

We're back with our second episode of the Building Talks... Net Zero podcast series looking at how the built environment can help us hit the UK’s net zero carbon targets. At the start of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, we talk to two of the founding members of the London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI), a volunteer group of professionals who have produced a phenomenal amount of net zero guidance in a short space of time. Clara Bagenal George at Elementa and Julie Godefroy at CIBSE give a very personal perspective on what motivates them and how they try to drive change. And Cundall’s Simon Wyatt, our regular net zero jargon buster, returns to talk about the financial jargon used when considering business risk and climate mitigation strategies.  To get in touch with the show go to: Twitter: @BuildingNews, Email: [email protected]. And if you have an example of net zero jargon or greenwashing do send them to us. For more news and analysis go to www.building.co.uk, where you will find recent analysis of the Heat and Building Strategy and the LETI Climate Emergency Retrofit Guide (www.leti.london). Hosted by Building’s editor Chloe McCulloch with Elizabeth Hopkirk, assistant editor at Building Design. Audio production by Tariq Aziz. 

The Building Talks... Net Zero podcast is a brand-new series looking at how the built environment can help us hit the UK’s net zero carbon targets. Just days from the start of the COP26 climate change conference, the government has published its long-awaited Heat and Buildings Strategy and its Net Zero Strategy, which we analyse with expert Simon Wyatt, a partner at Cundall. We also talk to new RIBA president Simon Allford about why he is optimistic that the construction industry can have a hugely positive impact on the carbon agenda. Simon Wyatt is also our regular net zero jargon buster, so do send in confusing terms that he can unpick for us, or tell us about some greenwashing you’ve seen in the industry. To get in touch with the show go to: Twitter: @BuildingNews, Email: [email protected]. Hosted by Building’s editor Chloe McCulloch with Elizabeth Hopkirk, assistant editor at Building Design. Audio production by Tariq Aziz. For more news and analysis go to www.building.co.uk.

Trailer episode: This is our introduction to our latest podcast series - Building Talks: Net Zero. Hear from the team on what to expect in the upcoming episodes - which will be in your feed from 25 October