From sketching and art to discovering the visionary American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Peter's journey has been one of creativity and purpose. Inspired by good and sustainable design, his path to becoming the Head of Urban Futures is rich with insights and experiences.

Peter shares his enthusiasm for fostering retrofit innovation partnerships, especially through the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator. He highlights the immense potential of testing retrofit technologies on existing UK building stock before applying them to new builds.

Reflecting on the UK's current rate of replacing building stock—just 2-3% annually—Peter emphasizes the need to work collaboratively to future-proof our buildings and achieve Net Zero. The vast majority of UK buildings already exist, making retrofit solutions critical in reducing our environmental impact.

Peter envisions the Earls Court Development Company as a hub for clean climate technology, fostering purposeful job creation and linking to a network of innovation districts across the UK. His advice to entrepreneurs in this space? “You don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time. Work with those already making strides and integrate with them.”

The podcast team

Directed and produced by Panji Kaonga and Shamita Harsh | Hosted by Lydia Chen

Produced in collaboration with Undaunted & Fabulr Studios

Get in touch with Peter Runacres via LinkendIn | Learn more about The Earls Court Development Company here.

Never miss an update from Undaunted and sign up to our newsletter.

The Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator is supported by the Greater London Authority’s Better Futures programme, co-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. 

Meet James Dearsley, CEO of the award-winning Verv Energy, a company revolutionizing energy efficiency with its patented technology designed to eliminate the 4% of energy wasted by heating and cooling systems. From contributing to the sustainability vision of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics to staying ahead of emerging trends, James’ journey with Verv provides invaluable insights into the challenges and opportunities within the built environment.

In this episode of Accelerating to a Better Future, James shares his inspiring story, from his passion for travel and innovation strategy to driving change at an organizational level. He delves into his experiences with Imperial’s Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator, where his work at Verv aligned his mission to advance sustainability in the real estate industry with groundbreaking technology.

Verv's innovative approach brings building management systems online, enabling instant reporting and optimization of energy use. This synergy of technology and sustainability showcases James’ commitment to reshaping the built environment for a better future.

As part of the first cohort of the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator, James shares invaluable advice for the retrofit industry: It’s not about the technology alone, but the strength of the team behind it. He emphasizes the enduring importance of collaboration, envisioning innovators 500 years from now still focusing on bringing the right people together to create impactful solutions.

In this conversation, James also explores if governments and local authorities are willing to bridge the accountability gap in retrofitting buildings to meet the demands of a more sustainable future in London. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion on innovation, sustainability, and the transformative power of teamwork in shaping the built environment.

Listen to the fourth episode of Accelerating to a Better Future on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify. 

Directed and produced by Panji Kaonga and Shamita Harsh | Hosted by Lydia Chen

Produced in collaboration with Undaunted & Fabulr Studios

Get in touch with James via LinkendIn | Learn more about Verv here.

 Never miss an update from Undaunted and sign up to our newsletter.

The Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator is supported by the Greater London Authority’s Better Futures programme, co-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. 

Meet Josephine Bromley, who didn’t essentially have a linear sustainability co-founder story, but that didn’t stop her from moulding her career in the built environment to bring impact in the sector. As the COO of MapMortar, the platform for portfolio decarbonisation at speed and scale, she has played an integral role in how the user interface evolved. 

Hear her talk about their journey of representing all kinds of use-cases, especially ones which are underserved. MapMortar works in portfolio decarbonisation which allows them to take a lot of that modelling intelligence mixed with smart technology for unique application. From making profitable yet empowering decarbonisation decisions, the team offers a one-of-a-kind software based on principles inspired by Digital Twins.

As part of the second cohort of the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator, Josephine’s advice to the retrofit industry as she sits down in this episode to visualise the future of buildings is straightforward – we need to start treating buildings as products and not just static assets, patting ourselves for changing window once and thinking we don’t need to retrofit beyond that.. Listen to the third episode of Accelerating to a Better Future on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify. 

Directed and produced by Panji Kaonga and Shamita Harsh | Hosted by Lydia Chen

Produced in collaboration with Undaunted & Fabulr Studios

Get in touch with Josephine via LinkendIn | Learn more about MapMortar here.

Never miss an update from Undaunted and sign up to our newsletter.

The Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator is supported by the Greater London Authority’s Better Futures programme, co-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Episode 2 – Effortless home energy design | Accelerating to a Better Future with Baz Iyer 

The dream of spreading our innovations in the UK to the rest of the world 

Founder of Vulcan, Baz Iyer, has previously contributed to the worlds of FinTech and healthcare. However, with his latest stint in clean technology, he believes that he can make a bigger difference and improve the world around us. Eager to travel 500 years in the future to see if we would still have Victorian buildings across seaside towns in the UK, Baz is content in knowing he wants to contribute to the future of resilient and sustainable built environment. 

Vulcan facilitates cutting down the time it takes for professionals to advice homeowners and property owners to define effective energy conservation. With the intention of expanding their Home Energy Model across the UK and the world, Baz is hopeful to build synergies where innovation moves beyond borders.  

Vulcan is a professional tool to design low-energy, low-carbon homes. Vulcan uses the Home Energy Model for high precision and realistic impact estimation. Rightfully so, Baz shared how Captain Planet would be an ideal and fitting theme song for Vulcan. 

As part of the second cohort of the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator, Baz’ advice is to talk to as many founders as you can as it gives you access to a network of architects, solution providers and designers who can contribute to the success story of your business. Listen to the first episode of Accelerating to a Better Future on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.  

The podcast team 

Directed and produced by Panji Kaonga and Shamita Harsh | Hosted by Lydia Chen 

Produced in collaboration with Undaunted & Fabulr Studios 

Get in touch 

Never miss an update from Undaunted and sign up to our newsletter. 

Get in touch with Baz via LinkendIn | Learn more about Vulcan here. 

The Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator is supported by the Greater London Authority’s Better Futures programme, co-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.  

Destined to become an architect, inspired by big buildings and churches since a young age, Maximilian Bloomfield is now at the heart of providing solutions to buildings in a way that doesn’t increase people’s energy bills. Co-founder and COO of VundaHaus, Max talks about the inspiration behind starting a career in clean technology, a conversation during a walk about the state of the buildings in UK and his background in materials engineering. 

At VundaHaus, they are creting prefabricated insulation kits to retrofit existing homes. Their mission is focused on building a pathway for more jobs in the design and pre-fabrication stage as opposed to reworking a building on a scaffold. 

As part of the first cohort of the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator, Max shares his journey of meeting other founders through the programme and the potentials of collaborating in the space. Listen to the first episode of Accelerating to a Better Future on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify. 

Directed and produced by Panji Kaonga and Shamita Harsh | Hosted by Lydia Chen

Produced in collaboration with Undaunted & Fabulr Studios

Never miss an update from Undaunted and sign up to our newsletter.

Get in touch with Max via LinkendIn | Learn more about VundaHaus here.