Hoare Lea Exploration Podcast

Hoare Lea

Welcome to the Exploration podcast from Hoare Lea: a place for curiosity, creative thinking and conversation. Each episode, we are joined by a variety of guests as they discuss the big topics shaping society, planet, and the built environment.

  1. Advocating for unsung scientists: Physicist and Wikipedian Dr Jessica Wade

    08/03/2024

    Advocating for unsung scientists: Physicist and Wikipedian Dr Jessica Wade

    In this episode, our guest host Frances Brown (Associate Director, Hoare Lea) chats to physicist and Faculty of Engineering material scientist Dr Jessica Wade of Imperial College London. Having also become known as a 'Wikipedian' and advocate for unsung scientists including women in STEM, Jess has written thousands of online bios for those deserving of recognition and was awarded a British Empire Medal in 2019 for services to gender diversity in science.

    30 min
  2. A world of pure imagination - Innovation for a sustainable built environment

    02/01/2024

    A world of pure imagination - Innovation for a sustainable built environment

    In this episode, Ellie Griffiths chats to Yewande Akinola – an engineer, consultant and Innovate UK ambassador recently awarded an MBE for services to innovation and industry diversification – whose human-centric built environment journey began with modelling her dream house from her mum's living room.

    23 min
  3. AI in the built environment

    07/11/2023

    AI in the built environment

    In this episode, our host Ellie Griffiths chats to Alan Mosca, co-founder and chief technology officer at nPlan – a machine learning-based platform that forecasts and predicts outcomes of construction, engineering and infrastructure projects. As well as the capability for innovation through optioneering, improving efficiency, and the flywheel that AI can give to designers, we discuss sustainability and energy consumption cost-benefit analysis, efficient AI chips of the future, and cautionary tales. Alan offers his perspective on concerns about bias in data sets, plus a new bias that he believes is soon to come, arising from models trained on the output of other models, and the risk of this 'hallucinatory' knowledge being perpetuated. It's thought-provoking stuff.

    29 min
  4. Data-led solutions for positive social change

    20/07/2023

    Data-led solutions for positive social change

    Imagine Eastenders without its community hotspots: the Queen Vic, the cafe, the market, the square. It'd be a lot harder for the main characters to mix, right? In this episode, Ellie Griffiths chats to Amir Hussain, the Bradford-born founder/CEO of Yeme Tech, about building inclusive communities. Amir uses his geospatial mapping platform to intelligently and compassionately bring people together in the real world – seeking out innovative built-environment solutions that inform place regeneration and facilitate connection, especially in challenged areas. Hear about his journey from traditional to tech; the localisation of place performance; the acceleration of Carlos Moreno's 15-minute neighbourhood and surrounding criticism; 'stranded' buildings; ESG benchmarking, and more.

    26 min
  5. Human first, designer second.

    30/01/2023

    Human first, designer second.

    In this episode, our host Ellie Griffiths hears from The Royal College of Art's Rama Gheerawo – an inclusive design innovator who has used his skillset to address societal issues around ageing, healthcare, ability and diversity. Together they discuss human-centric healthcare design today and juggling its multiple demands, as well as the importance of healthcare placement, localisation and access, getting comfortable with uncertainty, non-binary thinking and leadership models based around empathy, clarity and creativity.

    31 min
  6. Full STEAM ahead - Nurturing the talent pipeline

    22/11/2022

    Full STEAM ahead - Nurturing the talent pipeline

    In this episode, our host Ellie Griffiths chats to Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon – mathematician, computer scientist and co-founder of social enterprise Stemettes – about our sector today and Anne-Marie's own prodigal trajectory through it, including her road-to-Damascus moment, as well as the labour involved with changing cultures, and enriching the quality of the solution.

    37 min
  7. Newton to Net Zero - What's gravity got to do with it?

    01/09/2022

    Newton to Net Zero - What's gravity got to do with it?

    In this episode Alex chats to Charlie Blair, of Gravitricity, about the development of a storage technology based on a simple principle: raising and lowering a heavy weight. Offering some of the best characteristics of lithium batteries and pumped hydro storage, Charlie shares the journey so far for this novel innovation that will enable existing grid infrastructure to go further in a renewable energy world.

    26 min
  8. Higher education powering innovation.

    13/05/2022

    Higher education powering innovation.

    We hear from Professor Michele Barbour, the University of Bristol's Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise and Innovation – a new role created just six months ago. Following a recent study which has found that the university's spinout companies generate higher average returns on investment than those of any other UK university, Michele shares her own experience in founding a spinout.

    26 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.2
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

Welcome to the Exploration podcast from Hoare Lea: a place for curiosity, creative thinking and conversation. Each episode, we are joined by a variety of guests as they discuss the big topics shaping society, planet, and the built environment.

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