Zero Ambitions is a consultancy and weekly podcast about sustainability and the built environment.
We find interesting and experienced guests who know what they're talking about, usually to discuss how we navigate the complexity of decarbonisation and sustainability in the built environment and its many related sectors.
Hosted by Jeff Colley and Dan Hyde, publishers of Passive House Plus magazine (UK and Ireland), the podcast has now grow into a consultancy, Zero Ambitions Partners.
The consultancy specialises in defensible sustainability communications. We create the strategy that makes built environment leaders stand out, enabling them to occupy positions that are distinct and defensible.
As with the podcast itself, we help organisations to communicate about what they do and the value that they offer. Usually, this means strategies to change a conversation from price to value and how to futureproof an offer with evidence that makes its claims watertight.
If you're a leader, or want to become one, we help you to make sense of where you stand in your sector, how to improve your positioning, how to communicate this to the market you operate in, and how to highlight the difference between you and your peer group.
If you can engage your value chain by speaking about what matters to them, you can educate your key stakeholders and turn them into evangelists for your cause.
Book a ‘ZAP Defensibility Audit’, but brace yourself
- Uncover value and opportunities that you may not have recognised
- Find out if your sustainability claims are defensible
- Find out if your claims are too meek
- Change the conversation from price to value
The reluctant house builder: Greencore is building homes that challenge expectations of what a house can deliver, and the performance modelling in PHPP, with Ian Pritchett (Greencore Homes)
We are joined by Ian Pritchett of Greencore Homes to talk about his science-based approach to green building and the work that has led him from developing green building materials becoming the co-founder of a vertically-integrated developer and house builder.
There's a lot of history and legacy to cover because Ian has been in the green building game for decades and it's this that has informed the approach being taken right now.
Greencore is also challenging the Passive House Institute about the accuracy of its PHPP (passive house planning package) modelling software because their homes outperform the model's predictions because of their use of phase-change materials.
Be warned, this is nerd business—Jeff gets to interrogate the build up specification—but it doesn't get too technical to be able to follow the thread.
Notes from the show
The Greencore Homes website (https://www.linkedin.com/company/greencore-homes/)
Ian Pritchett on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/greencore-homes/)
A PH+ article about Neil May (https://passivehouseplus.ie/news/general/neil-may-1962-2018)
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
We don't actually earn anything from this podcast, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.
Follow us on the Zero Ambitions LinkedIn page (https://www.linkedin.com/company/zero-ambitions-podcast/) (we still don't have a proper website)
Jeff (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-colley-11b2414/) and Dan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-hyde-61863112/) about Zero Ambitions Partners (the consultancy) for help with positioning and communications strategy, customer/user research and engagement strategy, carbon calculations and EPDs – we're up to all sorts
Subscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (https://passivehouseplus.ie/) (UK edition here (https://passivehouseplus.co.uk/) too)
Check Lloyd Alter's Substack: Carbon Upfront (https://lloydalter.substack.com/)
Join ACAN (https://www.architectscan.org/)
Join the AECB (https://aecb.net/)
Join the IGBC (https://www.igbc.ie/)
Check out Her Retrofit Space (https://www.herownspace.com/), the renovation and retrofit platform for women
**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
21 Apr 2026
How sustainable is Futurebuild? The state of green building through the lens of the UK’s biggest event, with Martin Hurn (Futurebuild)
We take a look at the state of the green building sector through the lens of itss biggest dedicated show in the UK, Futurebuild (https://www.futurebuild.co.uk/?utm_source=ZeroAmbitions&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Futurebuild2026&utm_term=&actioncode=3002).
It on 12–14 May this year and you can sign up here (https://register.visitcloud.com/survey/00jckvxw5jvn9?actioncode=3002).
Helping us to peek behind the curtain is the event's director, Martin Hurn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-hurn-b829423/), a man who is, ultimately, responsible for it all.
It seemed with a conversation because this year Futurebuild (https://www.futurebuild.co.uk/?utm_source=ZeroAmbitions&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Futurebuild2026&utm_term=&actioncode=3002) was acquired by a new owner and repackaged to become a super event. The green building great big networking event has merged with UK Construction Week and the Stone and Surfaces Show.
In light of this we get into the history of Futurebuild that sheds a little light on how the impact of changes that it’s going through right now are a little more like a return to its roots.
The episode has a bit of a long wind up because we’ve included a chunk of preamble in which Jeff explains his background to Martin which wasn’t intended for the episode but it ended up revealing similarities, and differences, in their backgrounds that felt worth including.
Both Martin and Jeff have been in this working within the business of the built environment for about the same amount of time (early 00s), and both coming from publishing backgrounds. They’ve seen the heydays, boom times, and catastrophes created by the Celtic Tiger and the UK’s solar subsidisation and feed-in tariffs.
Consequently, the pair of them are able to offer a some illuminating and interesting perspectives on where they see the sector at this strange point in time.
We also let Martin plug the show.
And, at the end we do get around to asking ‘how sustainable are events?’
Notes from the show
Register with Futurebuild (https://register.visitcloud.com/survey/00jckvxw5jvn9?actioncode=3002) 2026 for your event pass
The Futurebuild website (https://www.futurebuild.co.uk?utm_source=ZeroAmbitions&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Futurebuild2026&utm_term=&actioncode=3002)
Martin Hurn on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-hurn-b829423/)
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
We don't actually earn anything from this podcast, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.
Follow us on the Zero Ambitions LinkedIn page (https://www.linkedin.com/company/zero-ambitions-podcast/) (we still don't have a proper website)
Jeff (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-colley-11b2414/) and Dan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-hyde-61863112/) about Zero Ambitions Partners (the consultancy) for help with positioning and communications strategy, customer/user research and engagement strategy, carbon calculations and EPDs – we're up to all sorts
Subscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (https://passivehouseplus.ie/) (UK edition here (https://passivehouseplus.co.uk/) too)
Check Lloyd Alter's Substack: Carbon Upfront (https://lloydalter.substack.com/)
Join ACAN (https://www.architectscan.org/)
Join the AECB (https://aecb.net/)
Join the IGBC (https://www.igbc.ie/)
Check out Her Retrofit Space (https://www.herownspace.com/), the renovation and retrofit platform for women
**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
7 Apr 2026
The messy business of social value: retrofit, procurement, and the built environment, with Michael McLaughlin (LHC Procurement Group)
What is social value? It's a messy, ill-defined beast that's increasingly a core component of public procurement, and it's something that we worked on recently so it's been front of our minds.
We invited Michael McLaughlin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-mclaughlin1982/) (LHC Procurement Group (https://www.lhcprocure.org.uk)) onto the show to talk through what he thinks about social value, and what he thinks it could be if the sector was able to organise itself better.
No shade intended and we're not suggesting that it's easy to fix things, but we have looked into it. While there's a lot of great work being done there are an unconscionable number of opportunities being wasted, and not for want of trying.
Notes from the show
Michael McLaughlin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-mclaughlin1982/) on LinkedIn
The LHC Procurement Group (https://www.lhcprocure.org.uk) website
LHC (https://www.linkedin.com/company/lhc/) on LinkedIn
**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
We don't actually earn anything from this podcast, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.
Follow us on the Zero Ambitions LinkedIn page (https://www.linkedin.com/company/zero-ambitions-podcast/) (we still don't have a proper website)
Jeff (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-colley-11b2414/) and Dan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-hyde-61863112/) about Zero Ambitions Partners (the consultancy) for help with positioning and communications strategy, customer/user research and engagement strategy, carbon calculations and EPDs – we're up to all sorts
Subscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (https://passivehouseplus.ie/) (UK edition here (https://passivehouseplus.co.uk/) too)
Check Lloyd Alter's Substack: Carbon Upfront (https://lloydalter.substack.com/)
Join ACAN (https://www.architectscan.org/)
Join the AECB (https://aecb.net/)
Join the IGBC (https://www.igbc.ie/)
Check out Her Retrofit Space (https://www.herownspace.com/), the renovation and retrofit platform for women
**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
Who has been a guest on Zero Ambitions Podcast
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Richard Muscat
Nigel Banks
Emma Fletcher
Filipe Amarante
Joanna Curtis
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Spotify
4.9 / 5
72 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 62 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
88
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
90
Contact Zero Ambitions Podcast
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
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