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Lt. General Richard Nugee CB, CVO, CBE is one of the ten experts who present peer reviewed papers as part of the National Emergency Briefing.  His experiences as a soldier inform his views on the implications of national security within the UK and his opinions carry weight.  On this podcast Richard explains the purpose of the National Emergency briefing and the reasons why the film version is aimed at local group, to give them agency and the ability to come together as a community to identify ways to solve the problems.

Listen to this podcast to hear the consequences of failed farming around the world, the population movements that this will create and the pressure on all communities as “non-state actors” vie for control of dwindling resources and the consequences for the United Kingdom.  Listen to hear Richard’s real world stories that demonstrated that consequences of global warming and the break-down of civil society.

Hear Richard’s call to arms for businesses to imagine life without fossil fuels and to assess their supply networks (not chains) and the resilience measures that they would develop if temperatures increased further, food and water became scarcer and rain was more intermittent and much heavier when it fell.  Image the scenarios, but then recognise that action is needed now!

Listen to the podcast to understand why Richard is optimistic, and the opportunities that need to be grasped now to maintain this optimism.

Richard Nugee CB CVO CBE | LinkedIn

National Emergency Briefing

National Emergency Briefing: Overview | LinkedIn

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Global warming creates ill health, extra costs and inefficiencies across economies.  One challenge remains on who and how to take national policies and deliver them on the ground within real communities.  Enter the elected Mayors around the world.  Individuals who have been voted by their constituencies and put into leadership positions to help influence and steer their communities to better health, wealth around a better future.

The Global Covenant of Mayors on Climate and Energy is ten years old.  Its leaders represent 150 countries and one in seven of the global population.  It is active in measuring renewable resources, promoting best practice and educating its members on the need for renewable energy and energy saving measures throughout their constituencies.  It is a vehicle for promoting best practice and creating an element of competition, as Mayors recognise that authorities with high levels of renewable energy generation are most likely to have residents and businesses with lower energy bills, more resilient communities and a healthier population.  This is why driving renewable generation, such as solar and battery storage is crucial to the economic survival of many regions.

Anna Reynolds is the Lord Mayor of Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania in Australia.  She has been active within the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and she is also an ambassador for the Global Solar Council.  She is passionate about the benefit of renewable generation to local communities, recognising that sunlight is free and energy generated at the place of consumption does not require significant distribution infrastructure.   Cheaper energy means less money spent on fuel, a problem that hits the poorest disproportionately, which means more money on other things.   Solar also encourages greater awareness of electricity costs and it is often an entry technology to much better ways of managing carbon emissions.

Listen to this podcast to hear how the Mayors around the world are and can influence, from a position of trust within their communities.  Listen to hear about the opportunities for Mayors to encourage wealth, health and resilience within their communities and the opportunities that this brings communities in terms of jobs and energy resilience.

Listen to this podcast to find out the primary target for the Global solar council's initiative to deliver 300 Million homes with solar by 2030.  Why homes across Africa will benefit from this initiative and the independence from fossil fuel exporting countries that this will unlock.  Listen to hear about the need for speed and for Mayors to act in concert, quickly and effectively and decisively.

Anna Reynolds | LinkedIn

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Solar Citizens

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Coventry City Council has entered into a fifteen-year partnership with Eon to support its transition to a low carbon future.  The Partnership focuses on four key themes of clean energy, creating sustainable jobs and careers, supporting innovation and driving community benefits.  Partnering with Eon has allowed the City Council to focus on new and interesting ways to unlock solutions that meet one or more of these goals.  A long term partnership must focus on people and communities, if it is going to be successful and this Energy Transition Partnership is no different.

John Martin is a Strategy & Programme Lead for Eon within their Energy Transition Partnership with Coventry City Council.  He has worked within energy all his life and recognises the value of partnership to help change people's lives.  He also recognises that a long term partnership needs to be based upon values and a shared vision, which is what Coventry City Council and Eon have achieved.

Listen to this podcast to gain some real-life examples of how local authorities can work with private companies to deliver real value to their communities.  Listen to hear how a culture of innovation within the team can overcome many barriers, allow a fail quick mentality and bring best practice to help solve some of the more challenging energy issues.

Listen to this podcast to hear how Coventry City and Eon have gone about creating a market and then growing it through community benefits and ESG procurement to drive as much value as possible into the communities within Coventry.  Listen to hear what makes a successful project and what makes the partnership team beam with pride.

John Martin | LinkedIn

Climate Change Strategy – Introduction

Sustainable ambitions: Transforming Coventry's Energy Landscape

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The Building Energy Management System (BEMS) is the central nervous system of any building.  It provides the intelligence to operate a building efficiently and effectively, whilst creating the optimum environment for its occupants.   A good BEMS can save 30% of a building's energy, reducing its carbon emissions and improve its EPC rating.  The first allows the occupier to reduce their running costs and improve their carbon reporting.  The latter may be the only way that building owners are going to be able to improve the Energy Performance Certificate of their building to a standard that allows them to rent or lease their building.

Ron Purcell has over 40 years' experience in this sector.  He works for Siemens as a Senior Product Manager, but is also the Vice-President of the Building Controls Industry Association.  The BCIA is a membership body that represents a wide variety of stakeholders who recognise the value and power of an effective BEMS in meeting clients' and occupiers' needs for an effective office workspace.

Listen to this podcast to find out the benefits of an effective Building Energy Management System and how quickly it can re-pay its initial investment.  Listen to understand how they can add value to a workplace, both through lowering energy consumption, but also by creating great work environments.  Listen to hear how property owners can use an updated BEMS to improve an EPC rating, which will become crucial as the requirements for lease continue to be tightened.

The podcast also covers the training initiative to bring more people into this sector as more building owners recognise the value of an updated BEMS.  80% of relevant buildings need to have an updated BEMS if the UK is to achieve its net-zero targets and the BCIA is working to ensure that there are adequate control engineers who understand and can implement BEMS.  They recognise that many of the allied skills in plumbing, HVAC and electrics will remain under pressure, but they believe that these jobs are going to be immune from AI as they are a mixture of dealing with people and competing priorities as well as manual jobs to effect change.

Ron Purcell | LinkedIn

BCIA - Building Controls Industry Association

Desigo building automation | Siemens

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Australia has shown the world how to encourage homeowners to install solar and battery storage on a scale not seen anywhere else in the world.  With over 1.7KW per person and 5% of all eligible homes installing battery storage last year, Australia has lessons for all of us as they reduce the cost of electricity for all and create a more resilient energy supply.

David McElrea is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Smart Energy Council, which is the national association responsible for guiding the politicians and renewable supply chain.  Their advocacy has been material in ensuring that the voice of the industry is heard amongst the political noise and that there is a competent supply chain to deliver these amazing results.

Listen to this podcast to understand the Australian solar and storage market, the environment that has created it and the challenges that have been overcome.  Listen to discover what helped and what hindered this expansion and see whether there are lessons for your own domestic market.

Listen to find out about the maturity of skills and supply chains within the Australian market that have responded to the demand from the domestic market.  Hear from the national association how it approaches the federal and state governments to support its aims.

David McElrea | LinkedIn

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Fraud accounts for 43% of all recorded crime and costs the UK around £1.3Bn each year and this figure continues to climb.  Kate Grove of the National Crime Agency talks through the extensive work of the agency, and the four Ps that they follow to reduce the impact on people and businesses.  Construction and energy sectors are a key target of fraudsters, given the long supply chains, the occasional large payments and the urgency with which many payments are demanded.

Listen to this podcast to hear how to run your accounts team to mitigate this risk and avoid invoice re-direction fraud.  Hear how people are the best defence, coupled with effective procedures, to combat most types of fraud, from invoice and salary fraud to deep fakes and cyber fraud.  Hear how the National Crime Agency treat each notification confidentially and with respect, noting that it is rarely the fault of the law abiding citizen that a crime has been perpetuated.

Listen to hear the personal side of fraud.  The importance of taking time to check payments are being made to the right places and if caught out the importance of reporting the incident and then talking about your experiences.  This is the only way that the Agency can help and for teams to learn about the risks that continue to threaten our very existence.

Listen to hear about the range of frauds that exist, from invoice and salary fraud to deep fakes and romance fraud.

 www.ncsc.gov.uk 

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Construction skills remain a challenge for the industry.  Construction is recruiting fewer new recruits, and our average age of tradesperson continues to increase.  Where and how is our sector going to find the people with the skills to provide a service?  The Government's solution for England is the ten Construction Technical Excellence Colleges scattered throughout the country.  These FE Colleges have already proven that they are exceptional and can act as regional training hubs for the industry.  There is some money to facilitate better courses with good lecturers and money to support SME engagement.  The industry is characterised with many small businesses, through which much of the trade training is delivered.  These jobs are relatively immune to Artificial Intelligence, yet the high cost of recruitment and employment is deterring many from making this investment in their workforce.

Sam Egan is the Group Director of CTECs at the Bedford College Group which has the responsibility for steering the ten CTECs.  She has the responsibility to make this investment work and to help solve the developing construction skills crisis.  Listen to this podcast to hear what is planned and why this time this initiative has the authority and breadth to make a difference.

Listen to hear how and why construction employers of all sizes should get involved.  Listen to hear the role of trade federations in assimilating knowledge and expectations from their members and distilling it in support of assessing curricula and demand.  Listen to hear about the support on offer for small businesses to employ apprentices and improve their competencies.

Sam Egan | LinkedIn

Find a CTEC - The National CTEC Hub

Bedford College Group | The Bedford College Group | Further and Higher Education

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Community Energy is heralded as the best way to mobilise communities to develop and invest in their own energy schemes, the easiest being wind or solar.  A project starts with the germ of an idea and a group of keen and curious individuals who want to form the nucleus of a diverse team to bring cheaper and secure energy to a community.  Great British Energy is here to support these schemes with an aspiration that every person in the UK will have access to a community scheme by the end of the decade.  They have a £1Bn budget to support 1000 schemes.  You can see the attraction to generating energy in the location that it is going to be used to reduce transmission costs and to increase the security of supply in times of heightened security risks.

Kirsty Shanahan set up Buckingham Community Energy with colleagues some six years ago.  She is also a Project Manager for Community Energy Pathways, an organisation that supports community groups to become successful community energy companies.  She has the knowledge and experience to know what, when and how to make a success of community energy!

Listen to this podcast to find out how the process works and how nearly anyone can create a community energy scheme with the right people, opportunity and support.  Listen to hear about the skills needed and the importance of good communication skills and governance within the organisation.  Find out about the wide range of support available and the opportunity to be one of the successful schemes that will help the UK achieve its net zero ambitions.

Community Energy schemes can be sophisticated energy providers that can fund battery, solar and wind.  Other models can exist for the imaginative, as Community Energy tends to provide a solution where the commercial market cannot.  Community Energy's super-powers include patient and kind capital, deploying locally raised funds within their own communities.  It is also possible to incorporate training for large schemes that can mobilise the local community further, providing careers as part of the "Just Transition".

Kirsty Shanahan | LinkedIn

Community Energy England - The voice of the community energy sector

Community Energy Pathways working to accelerate the growth of the community energy sector - Community Energy Pathways

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GB Energy has been created to drive the renewable energy revolution through out the United Kingdom.  One element of this is the near £1Bn fund for 1,000 community energy schemes to be delivered nationally by 2030.  This fund will generate jobs, investment opportunities and cheaper and more resilient energy generation, where local communities can own and benefit from the asset.   Done at scale and at pace, this initiative has the capability of driving changes in consumer behaviour and of de-risking our national grid.

Fraser Stewart, Head of Local Energy Strategy for GB Energy, talks about the new institution and the ideas behind community energy schemes.  Listen to this podcast to find out how it works, how to get engaged with the programme and what the constraints are likely to be.  Listen to hear how the programme is being developed and where the opportunities for community groups, solar businesses and other stakeholders might lie.  Listen to hear the focus on skilled UK labour and the ideal of using UK produced materials and products.

There is huge opportunity in this programme, as GB Energy seeks to make a return on their investment.  Listen to hear how ambition to service over 1000 separate schemes will drive a demand for skilled people and how GB Energy will unlock these schemes.

Fraser Stewart | LinkedIn

Great British Energy

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Government is planning for a £200 - £300Bn industry by 2030 and Agnes Wamagui is in the epicentre of this aspiration.  Agnes is the Knowledge Transfer Manager for Robots within Innovate UK, the Government’s agency for funding and promoting the best of British innovation.  She sits at the confluence of Government policy, university research, investors and industry, both developers and users.  Her role is to promote collaboration and trust in the sector to fund, train and introduce at pace and at scale the concept and use of robots across industry.  Agnes recognised the structural issues that exist within our construction industry, but is adamant that the opportunity is huge, particularly for the early adopters who are keen to improve quality, speed and productivity.

Listen to this podcast to find out what Innovate UK is doing to promote robots within the UK and how to get involved.  Find out the challenges that exist around system change to make the most of adopting this technology and the skills that we will all need to maximise the benefit of the technology.  Agnes believes that the hardware exists already and that the software is catching up rapidly.  She is also adamant that there is no excuse why the ideas and research that our top class universities are generating should not stay within the UK to benefit the UK, rather than being bought by foreigners and then returned at a price once honed and optimised.

Agnes Wamagui | LinkedIn

UKRI – UK Research and Innovation

Robots for a safer world – UKRI