Construction and The Climate 39 Essex Chambers

In this episode, Camilla ter Haar and Ruth Keating from 39 Essex Chambers are joined by Sarah Milne from H2 Green Steel. The Swedish start-up is building a plant in the Swedish town of Boden, just below the Arctic Circle. H2 Green Steel will produce steel, with a reduction of up to 95 percent reducing CO₂ emissions compared to traditional steelmaking – using green hydrogen. H2 Green Steel’s investors include Al Gore’s Just Climate fund.
Sarah has spent 20 years working in the steel industry – the last two and a half with H2 Green Steel. Camilla, Ruth and Sarah discusses how steel can be made more sustainably.

In this episode Camilla ter Haar and Ruth Keating are joined by Andrew Mellor. Andrew Mellor is a Partner at PRP Architects. He has extensive experience in large-scale regeneration and leads PRP’s Development Consultancy and Research team, overseeing the sustainability performance of the practice.
Andrew has said: “I cannot see the car manufacturers backing out of electric vehicles now; they are already on a trajectory to move all of their vehicle designs over.” There are clear parallels to the construction industry.
In this episode Camilla, Ruth and Andrew discuss the role of Regenerative Design.

In this episode Camilla ter Haar and Ruth Keating are joined by Simon Wyatt. Simon is a Sustainability Partner at Cundall. At Cundall Simon leads on net zero carbon and sustainable governance service streams, supporting clients realise their net zero carbon and wider ESG aspirations.
Simon has delivered the first WELL-certified projects in both Europe and MENA, as well as helping to develop net zero carbon and whole life carbon methodologies for the Greater London Authority, the UK Green Building Council, the Whole Life Carbon Network and the Construction Industry Council Hong Kong.
Camilla, Ruth and Simon discuss the ‘Eden’ project – the UK's first new build building to achieve a 5.5 NABERS ‘Design Reviewed’ Target Rating. This episode discusses how Eden minimised upfront embodied carbon and lessons for future projects.
Eden project: https://www.cundall.com/projects/eden-new-bailey

Jess Hrivnak is a Practice Technical Adviser (Sustainability) for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Jess has been involved in developing the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard since its inception, representing the RIBA on the Standard as a member of the Technical Steering Group, and co-leading one of the Tasks groups. In this podcast episode, Camilla, Ruth and Jess discuss the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard.

Biodiversity Net Gain is a way of creating and improving natural habitats – it is mandatory from 12 February 2024. In terms of the construction industry, developers are one of the groups who need to understand how Biodiversity Net Gain works. For this episode, Ruth Keating and Camilla ter Haar are joined by Simon Boyle and Stephen Poole from the Landmark Academy to discuss Biodiversity Net Gain – the opportunities and the challenges.

A building block in most construction projects, concrete is responsible for about 8 percent of global carbon emissions. Several companies are working to create a greener mix. One of those companies is CarbonCure Technologies a company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. For this episode, Ruth Keating and Camilla ter Haar are joined by Chad Mahoney of CarbonCure Technologies to discuss more sustainable concrete production.