In this final Accelerate to Zero episode from BE-ST Fest 2025, Hannah Lloyd speaks with Roddy Yarr, Director of Sustainability at the University of Glasgow, about turning net zero ambition into action.

From decarbonising a complex estate to navigating cost, infrastructure, and live operational challenges, Roddy shares how the university is moving into delivery and why collaboration at a regional scale is key.

A practical and optimistic conversation on scaling what works, working together, and building a more sustainable future.

In this episode, we’re joined by Tara Gbolade, co-founder of Gbolade Design Studio, to explore what it really takes to scale climate solutions in the built environment.

From wildlife led masterplanning to large scale retrofit programmes, Tara shares how a people first, data led approach is shaping projects across the UK. The conversation covers collaboration, skills, and why looking beyond project boundaries matters. It’s a practical, honest take on how we move from one off success stories to consistent, system wide impact.

At the Accelerate to Zero Awards 2025, Brogan MacDonald was recognised as a BE-ST Beacon for her leadership in advancing low carbon, circular and regeneration-focused work across the built environment. Her influence spans both her professional role at Ramboll and her wider advocacy, where she champions sustainability, equity and systems change. 

In this episode of the Accelerate to Zero podcast, the discussion explores what it really takes to scale solutions, and the culture change needed to make this happen. 

In this episode, host Hannah sits down with Amandeep Kalra, CEO and co-founder of GreenFlip, a climate tech startup on a mission to make decarbonising investable.

Amandeep's path to founding GreenFlip started in a cold, damp council flat in southwest London and led through architecture, social housing delivery, and the messy reality of trying to retrofit 29,000 homes without the data or tools to make projects fundable. Now, GreenFlip is working with energy suppliers, local authorities, and housing associations across the UK to predict energy use, costs, and savings at scale, turning retrofit from a pilot-stage idea into a scalable investment opportunity.

In this episode of the Accelerate to Zero Podcast, Hannah Lloyd speaks to Matthew Clubb, founder of mwclubb and double winner at the Accelerate to Zero Awards, recognised for his leadership in community-led retrofit and tackling fuel poverty.

Matthew shares his journey from oil and gas engineer to climate-focused architecture, and explains why retrofit is one of the biggest opportunities we have to cut emissions, improve health and create local jobs. From whole house retrofit in the North East to working with community buildings and Scottish rugby clubs, he makes the case for people-first design, trusted conversations and scaling solutions from the ground up.

This is a discussion about what it will really take to accelerate retrofit, and why community, skills and action now matter more than ever.

In this episode of the Accelerate to Zero podcast, Hannah Lloyd is joined by Lizzy Westmacott, Associate Director and Regional Head of Sustainability at ECD Architects, to explore what it really means to scale low-carbon solutions in the built environment.

The conversation builds on the Scaling Solutions theme highlighted at BE-ST Fest, where Lizzy took part in the panel From Pilot to Portfolio: Financing Retrofit at Scale. Together, they discuss the challenges and opportunities of scaling retrofit, from funding and skills to community engagement and legislation.

Drawing on real project experience, Lizzy shares why planning, communication and collaboration are essential to moving beyond pilots and delivering retrofit at pace, with lasting benefits for people, places and the planet.

Today we are recording live from BE-ST Fest where we are focusing on ‘Scaling Solutions’. This means we’re exploring how we chart a viable path to a sustainable future. Over the past few years, we’ve seen inspiring projects that prove change is possible, from new materials, products, and systems, to radical rethinking around how we deliver the kind of better new and existing, housing and infrastructure we need.

Now the question is: how do we take what works and scale it at pace, so it has a real, lasting positive impact on our places, our people, and our planet? 

In our first episode of the series, we welcome Tomas O'Leary, Managing Director of Mosart. With over 30 years’ experience, Tomas has been a pioneer in zero-carbon, energy-efficient design—blending Passivhaus expertise, innovation, and collaboration to create sustainable, high-comfort buildings that contribute to a better, more inclusive future.

In this episode, we are joined by Professor Sean Smith from the University of Edinburgh. Sean has had an incredible career and has most recently launched Centre for Net Zero High Density Buildings.

CeNZ-HighDB will develop, test and underpin delivery of identified new ‘green’ innovations including high-energy efficiency building fabrics, new lower cost rapid-fit heating technologies, novel community heating-cooling systems for complex multi-use streetscapes and advancements in thermal-cooling modelling and data driven innovation to drive green economy growth.

In this episode, we are joined by Emily Carr, Emily is a chartered architect with experience in the historic built environment, now working as a design manager for Kier Construction.

She is passionate about creating places that reflect today's society and current values, and preserve and celebrate the heritage of the building's context, while also embracing new technologies to create a more sustainable environment for future generations. 

Emily is also an advocate for promoting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in construction.

In this episode, we are joined by Professor Robert Hairstains, Robert is the founding Director of the Centre for Advanced Timber Technologies (CATT) at the New Model Institute of Technology and Engineering (NMITE) and Head of the Centre for Offsite Construction + Innovative Structures (COCIS) at Edinburgh Napier University. His specialist expertise is in the fields of timber engineering and technology with a focus on adding value to the timber supply chain with an emphasis on engineered timber products and offsite (modular) construction.