A series of four 60-minute conversations on some of the themes of the Home-Grown Homes Project – Forestry, Manufacturing, Housing and the Foundational Economy. Each podcast features two individuals with a passion for the subject matter and a willingness to share their thinking. David Hedges, Home-Grown Homes Project Manager introduces each podcast and asks the questions.
Our Future Forests
Two chartered foresters in conversation: Jo O’Hara, Managing Director at FutureArk Ltd in Edinburgh and John Healey, Professor of Forest Sciences in Bangor University’s School of Natural Sciences. They discuss our forests, what they look like now, how and why they have changed over time and what the future holds. Plus, forest use, growth and management, culture and history, land use policy, governance and forestry as a career.
| Jo O’Hara | John Healey |
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Jo is a member of the Institute of Chartered Forester’s Council – see details here / And you can follow Jo on Twitter @mrsjo |
John Healey refers to his work in Bangor. You can find out more about the University’s work in forestry here. |
Future Homes and how we build (or make) them
Two timber housing manufacturers in conversation: Jasper Meade, Director of PYC Group in Welshpool and Neil Sutherland, Director of MAKAR in Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. They talk about natural materials, high performing homes, change and the barriers to it, specifications, legislation and regulations, energy and carbon, Passivhaus, collaboration, culture, behaviours and more.
| Jasper Meade | Neil Sutherland |
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| Jasper is a board member of Woodknowledge Wales and for more information about Jasper’s company, PYC Group, see here. | Neil’s company is MAKAR and their website is here. You can follow Neil on Twitter @makarneil |
Better Performing Homes
Two architects in conversation: Fionn Stevenson is Professor of Sustainable Design in Sheffield University’s School of Architecture and Rob Wheaton is Senior Associate Architect at Stride Treglown. They talk about how different the homes of the future will be from the homes we live in now, sustainability, standards, building performance, architecture education and more.
| Fionn Stevenson | Rob Wheaton |
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| Fionn is the author of Housing Fit For Purpose: Performance, Feedback and Learning, published by RIBA Publishing in September 2019. You can read more about Fionn and her work here. You can follow Fionn on Twitter at @fionnstevenson |
Rob is based in the Cardiff office of Stride Treglown which is a multi-disciplinary employee-owned practice working across the UK. He has recently been working with housing associations on schemes under the Welsh Government’s Innovative Housing Programme. See here. You can follow Rob on Twitter at @robwheaton |
The Foundational Economy
Two Housing Association people in conversation: Debbie Green, Chief Executive with Coastal Housing and Steve Cranston, Foundational Economy Lead at United Welsh. They talk about what the foundational economy is, the pandemic, risk aversion, communities of practice, decarbonisation, listening to people, paradigm shifts and a green recovery.
| Debbie Green | Steve Cranston |
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| Amongst other things Debbie, who is based in Swansea, has been chairing the Ministerial Foundational Economy Steering Group. You can find out more about her and her career here and follow Debbie on Twitter at @debbiegcoastal | Steve, who is based in Pontypridd, has been with United Welsh since 2009 heading up their community investment and in the last year, leading their FE work. He’s also had a period of secondment in the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner. You can find out more about Steve here. and follow him on Twitter @stevecr |
