Vintage Sustainability

In this episode we talk to June, a teenage anti road demonstrator in the 1990s who also happens to be John's niece. The £12m Cradlewell bypass routed traffic through a tunnel to bypass a narrow pinch point at the end of the Coast Road into Newcastle. The protest invented the idea of tree sitting and delayed the project for a few months. June's arrest and it's subsequent impacts on her career are explored. John wonders whether June has changed her views, well have a listen!

John and Gordon talk to Nick Huston of Daikin (Future Energy Business Manager). Nick tells us about some of the early domestic heat pumps projects he was involved in and we discuss how the future might play out over the next few years. Economics of current heat pumps are explored and contrasted to historical cases (1950s). Nick also lets us know about the "Tesla charge point races" playing out on our roads

Louise talks about running Central Square and her new role at the Spark Building. How to create a sense of place in the building and its occupants. She also lets us know about her first car and the informal DJ at the Spark

We continue our conversation with Peter Rolton, covering batteries, starting up the Rolton Group, cars and Gary Neville’s zero carbon testimonial. Some local north east flavour in this podcast including “gubby” jobs and Claude Gibb Hall.   Peter also tells us about being chairman of Gary Neville’s zero carbon testimonial team.  

In this episode we chat with Peter Rolton, chairman of the Rolton Group. Peter and Gordon have something in common, both studied Building Services Engineering at Newcastle Polytechnic ( now Northumbria University) in there early 80s, so there is some reflection on that period. We talk to Peter about the influence of BREEAM , the maturing debate about sustainability, the stop start nature of the UK Government's legislation in this area and Peter’s role as a government advisor 2006- 2010.

John and Gordon talk to Simon Murray about his role in the RICS and other organisations. We ask Simon, how were the sustainability awards judged and what were key projects over the last 15 years or so? John reminds us of the "circle of blame", this was first codified 20 years ago or more, is it still relevant?

In this episode we meet Peter Mullican, the chairman of Parabola, the developers of Central Square. Central Square, a featured building in an earlier episode was one of John and Gordon's first research projects. We discuss with Peter, what design features have been retained 25 years later in his new development , Edinburgh Park, a net zero development and how he sees the impact of sustainability in the property market today. John also has a trip down memory lane, recalling his protests at the building of Torness.

We talk to Jason Hodgson, Operation Director at SV Rutter Ltd. We know Jason from his days at Tolent and John in particular worked with Jason on BREEAM assessments (Design Centre of the North). John and Jason reflect on how the introduction of the sustainability tool, BREEAM, worked in projects. The discussion also looks at cost of assessment, collecting evidence(how close is that post box?) and need for a trundle wheel! The future for projects - perhaps less BREEAM and more focus on MEES is reflected on.