Think Future

EP58 Optimising for Sustainable Outcomes

Alexis Davison of Major Road Projects Victoria, joins the Think.Future conversation to tell us about the Victorian Government’s innovative ecologiQ program and Recycled First policy which are focussed on optimising the use of recycled and reused materials on Victorian infrastructure projects. Alexis is an industry leader with extensive experience in all stages of infrastructure delivery and has held key roles on major projects in the public and private sectors in Australia and the UK. Alexis played a key role in establishing the ecologiQ program in recent years which takes a systematic approach to the use of recycled content. Alexis is very passionate about progressing and increasing the use of recycled content used in infrastructure and she is proud of the fact that this program is the first of its kind in Australia.

EP57 Going Full Circle with Steel

Jerusha Beresford, Sustainability Lead at the Australian Steel Institute (ASI) manages the development and implementation of the Steel Sustainability Australia (SSA) certification program, a best practice sustainability assessment scheme for steel companies. Over the past 17 years, Jerusha has gained experience across finance, property and research industries, and endeavors to use her skills in project and operations management, strategic delivery, and communication to promote and progress sustainable development within Australia. Jerusha joins the Think.Future podcast to bring us up to date with leading practices and all things related to steel, such as design for disassembly, circularity, and resource management through all stages including at the end of its life.  

EP56 Authentic Leadership in a Complex Built Environment

Paolo Bevilacqua of Frasers Property is an Executive that has delivered industry leading programs and solutions at both a project and organisational level across real estate and energy sectors in multiple geographies over a 20-year career. Paolo joins the ARKANCE Think.Future podcast to share his insights and experience in leading in a complex Built Environment by focusing primarily on building meaningful relationships so that people work together collaboratively, in a more impactful way with stronger purpose.

EP55 New Zealand’s Green Building Council Rating Schemes

Sam Archer, the Director of Market Transformation at the of New Zealand Green Building Council joins the conversation with Think.Future to talk about the opportunities in bringing mainstream designers and builders up to speed and challenges them to lift their game. Sam is passionately dedicated to improving the sustainable development of the built environment. In his role at NZ GBC, he creates a common language to help increase consumer appetite for more sustainable housing and offers insights to the market drivers, demonstrating the value of a green star rating.
 
Bhumika Mistry is a Senior Technical Coordinator with New Zealand Building Council and an expert in the GBC’s rating tools. In the second half of the podcast, Bhumika explains the evolution of the rating tools and the minimum requirements that mainstream need for sustainable outcomes achievable through certification with GBC’s more advanced tools that address Environmental, Social and Governance reporting (ESG) requirements by focusing on both community, people and place.  

EP54 Cities as Nature

Adrian McGregor is the Chief Design Officer at McGregor Coxall and an award-winning expert in Biourbanism, a scalable resilience planning model helping cities become resilient to the impacts of a changing climate. Adrian created the world’s first biourbansim lab in 2006 and his book, Biourbanism: Cities as Nature, integrates the five bio systems and five urban systems in the design of a city’s green and blue infrastructure.  Adrian joins the conversation to share his proudest moments in his career by showcasing some global examples of the radical shift in design needed for cities of the future.

EP53 The Future of Community Precincts

Dr. Kimberly Camrass is the Director for the Climate Futures department for the Queensland Government. Kimberly is a passionate sustainability professional, and joins Think.Future to share the highlights of her award-winning essay Regenerative Futures: 8 Principles for Thinking and Practice as applied to precinct scale in an urban environment. Join the conversation as we explore the importance of moving beyond mitigating further harm to the planet, challenging designers to push the opportunity envelope in the design of precincts resulting in both positive environmental and social impacts. To design according to these principles requires a powerful shift in thinking and practice and above all depends on integrating community vision through the art of storytelling, connecting people to place, to nature and to each other.

EP52 Villages for the Future

Dean D’Cruz, Partner and Principal Architect in MOZAIC conducts workshops and seminars globally focused on sustainable architecture practices. At the core, Dean believes architects can be the change agents for a better Built Environment and he joins the conversation to share how low-cost solutions for sustainable housing are being inspired by regional and cultural influences from the rural villages in India. Requiring less investment in infrastructure and providing a higher standard of 'liveability’, the rural villages of India are demonstrating the benefits of decentralization and potentially shaping the way for the villages of the future. 

EP51 A Vision for a Waste Free Australia

Brad Searle is the Head of Development at BINGO Industries. Brad joins the VinZero Think.Future podcast to share the innovative and impressive progress BINGO Industries is making in supporting the circularity and decarbonisation agenda for the Built Environment. BINGO Industries is focused on transforming the recycling and waste industry, particularly in innovating to increase recycling rates and the diversion of valuable waste materials from landfill and maximising the circular value of recovered products. Through strategic partnerships, Brad aspires to develop a circular economy model for reuse, repair, remanufacture, and repurposing, in return for significant environmental and economic benefits. BINGO Industries has an inspiring vision of a waste free Australia, underpinned by their ‘never say never’ mindset.

EP50 Sustainable pathways to purpose and profit

Bob Willard, Founder and Chief Sustainability Champion of Sustainability Advantage, is a leading expert on quantifying the business value of sustainability strategies and a dedicated BCORP advocate, prioritizing both people and planet. In this interview, he delves into the crucial mindset necessary for effectively addressing sustainability within the construction and infrastructure sectors, particularly in project procurement practices. He emphasizes the possibility of integrating profit and purpose by illuminating the demand side of procurement and how this can drive essential changes. Bob addresses the hindrances affecting the global achievement of net-zero targets, the market dynamics propelling sustainability, and stresses the significance of government procurement processes in shaping the market, and the importance of the Science Based Target Initiatives in upholding global governance.

EP49 The Principles of Connected Design

Dr.Matthias Irger/Head of Sustainability/Cox Architecture; With a long-standing history serving sustainability outcomes Cox Architecture is seeking to maintain the livability of cities amidst rising temperatures and extreme weather. Join in the conversation as Dr Matthias Irger unpacks the factors that drive urban heat and create heat islands at a localized level. An experienced architect with a PhD is Sustainability Urbanism, Matthias is Head of Sustainability for Cox, overseeing its practices for sustainable design and planning. Through his role as Senior Research Fellow and Industry Adviser at the University of New South Wales in Australia, Matthias is actively engaged in bridging science and design practices. Join us as we explore how architects, urban designers and planners can mitigate urban heat and design for nature and comfort through connected design principals.