This week we hear from Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn, two artists in London, driven by a desire to bring about change in their community. Hilary and Dan's project POWER is a ‘show and do’ project building a solar power station across the rooftops of their street in Walthamstow, London through enacting a grassroots Green New Deal – working with art and infrastructure to tackle the interlinked climate/energy/cost of living crises ..read more

There is a movement building in communities across the UK in response to a deep need for improving our homes. This series we are taking a look at inspiring examples of community driven and place based retrofit initiatives. In this episode Sara, part of the retrofit team at BE-ST, hears from John Christophers, an architect and passionate retrofit and social justice advocate, all about Retrofit Balsall Heath, where their aim is to see no one left behind in their community. Oh and insulation? Though it might feature later, this scheme has bigger ambitions. Find out more about Retrofit Balsall Hea ..read more

Construction underpins society. Skills underpin construction. According to Skills Development Scotland, developing construction skills is at the heart of new major changes – it is front and centre in getting us to a net zero society. Hear two sides of the story from Government and industry, Elaine Ellis of Skills Development Scotland and Jennifer Finn of AC Whyte, discuss action, implementation and the importance of changing the way we approach things in order to make these changes and build skills for the future. www.cs-ic.org ..read more

The built environment is facing unprecedented challenges: Brexit, Covid-19 and climate change.   In the next instalment of the Built Environment Innovation Podcast we hear from CSIC’s new Chairman of the Board – Andy Outram, Lead Real Estate Director for Scotland at Turner & Townsend – as he sits down with Stephen to grapple with these challenges and help lead us into a new era through digital transformation, cultural change, sustainable building, and advanced manufacturing techniques. If you're interested in learning more about innovation in the built environment and construction ind ..read more

Hear from Russell Smith, Managing Director of Parity Projects, and David Peerpoint, CEO of the Retrofit Academy, as they discuss the retrofit challenge with Stephen.  Dubbed ‘the greatest challenge of our age’, our guests explore how we can turn this challenge into opportunity and find viable methods to move forward in reaching a decarbonised housing stock by 2050 ..read more

A conversation with Alex MacLaren of Team ESTEEM, a student team participating in the Solar Decathlon Middle East, the world’s largest design and construction competition. Their aim is to build an innovative house of the future powered exclusively with solar energy and using Scottish homegrown mass timber and they are manufacturing the timber panels in our own Innovation Factory. Recorded from the inside of our Innovation Factory, you will hear about the project, our equipment and the importance of the work the team are doing to showcase Scottish innovation on the international stage.  ..read more

At CSIC we aim to supercharge culture change in the built environment and help build an industry that represents our society.  In this episode we sit down with key change makers in this space: Emily Carr, Kier Construction, Douglas Morrison, CSIC, and Anne Johnstone, Fair Futures Partnership.  ..read more

To celebrate Scottish Apprenticeships Week we hear from apprentices Emily and Hannah, and Director Neil Sutherland from Makar on the changing face of apprenticeships and the key role they play. View the episode with video here ..read more

In this first episode, CSIC CEO Stephen Good is joined by John Forster to bring you insights into innovation in the built environment. John Forster has founded 3 successful construction businesses as founder of the Forster Group, is one of the founders of the CSIC's Governance board, the former Chairperson of CSIC and sits in the Solar Trade Association in Scotland. He also opened the first roofing skills academy in Scotland resulting in a long and deep history rooted in innovation in construction. View the episode in video here ..read more

Construction underpins society. Skills underpin construction. According to Skills Development Scotland, developing construction skills is at the heart of new major changes – it is front and centre in getting us to a net zero society. Hear two sides of the story from Government and industry, Elaine Ellis of Skills Development Scotland and Jennifer Finn of AC Whyte, discuss action, implementation and the importance of changing the way we approach things in order to make these changes and build skills for the future. www.cs-ic.org ..read more