A preview of Unlock Net Zero Live 2023
On the 22nd & 23rd November we will be opening the doors of London’s ExCeL to housing and sustainability professionals and the supply chain that supports them for the second Unlock Net Zero Live conference and exhibition.
Held in conjunction with the established HOMES UK exhibition our aim for the two days is to hold a series of honest and bold conversations to help push forward the practical solutions that will decarbonise our homes and places at scale.
And it is this latter point of scale which is particularly important.
As we look out to 2050 and the significant milestones in between – 2030 and 2035, we need to focus on action, as we need to increase our intensity of delivering solutions. We need urgency, the volume of what we need to deliver means we should not be holding back from implementation and we need to learn from doing, to inform our future actions from a position of understanding the solutions in action.
This is because we realistically know the technology solutions that will deliver us net zero. What we need to focus on is their implementation and help to commercialise them further to answer the question of how we ensure the transition is a just and fair one for all sectors of society.
Over the two days our main stage will cover a range of themes pertinent to the delivery of net zero.
Systems approach – Net Zero is a systems challenge and therefore we need a systems solution. We will start both days with a wide look at the challenge ahead in “Time is running out: how are we going to deliver net zero in the UK” and “A systems solution to a systems challenge”.
Speakers from: Climate Change Committee, UK Green Building Council, West Midlands Combined Authority, Green Alliance, Connect Housing, Oxford Net Zero Initiative, LETI and OnePlanet.
Cities, placemaking, housing and the net zero challenge – this session which is part of a wider focus on the linking up of these streams will explore how local authorities are responding to the climate emergencies they have declared. Linked to this theme we will also be running a session based on resilient and regenerative placemaking as we look towards a wider location wide solution to decarbonisation.
Speakers from: Places for People, Anthesis, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Design Council, Firstplanit, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council and Wienerberger UK.
Funding – the question always arises of how we are going to fund the transition. We will take this opportunity to examine not only how do we pay for this, but investigate what should be the new funding models to allow us to deliver at the volume, pace and scale for retrofitting the existing UK housing stock.
Speakers from: Housing Action Charitable Trust, The Good Economy Partnership, Climate Policy Initiative and Ineco.
Retrofit – we will devote several sessions to cover various aspects of the retrofit agenda. We will look at how we can collaborate better and work in partnership effectively. Seek to understand the skills we need and identify how we increase competency. We will have a session that looks specifically at how we need to engage tenants and residents, so they see retrofit as an aspirational activity, not simply something that is done to them and their property. We will ask can retrofit help tackle other housing issues such as damp and mould and we will bring all these themes together into a session entitled “The big retrofit debate”.
Speakers from: Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Clarion Housing Group, MITIE, Turner & Townsend, National Retrofit Hub, The Retrofit Academy, Fortem, Essex County Council, Ashden, Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, Energiesprong, Baily Garner, Stonewater, Social Housing Tenants Climate Jury, London Borough of Barnet, London South Bank University, Constructive Thinking and Ark Consultancy
New homes – as well as the retrofit agenda we will devote time to look into how we build new homes at scale that are zero carbon in construction and operation as well as looking at how we develop a future planning system fit for the net zero agenda.
Speakers from: Royal Town Planning Institute, Aldersgate Group, Wienerberger UK, Barker-Walsh, Sovereign Housing Association and South Lakes Housing.
Biodiversity – new legislation in January will require developers to provide biodiversity solutions in new developments so this session on day one will look at how we protect biodiversity and preserve habitats for wildlife whilst we create green liveable spaces.
Speakers from: Lancaster West Neighbourhood Team, Wienerberger UK and Building with Nature.
Data – we will discuss the importance of understanding housing stock and making decisions that are evidence based and not ideologically led.
Speakers from: Ineco, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing and Energy Saving Trust
And we will round all of this off with the unveiling of our 2023 Unlock Net Zero Climate Champions Power List, where we will highlight those individuals who are making a real positive individual contribution to climate action across the UK housing and built environment sectors. A real highlight of our year.
Alongside these sessions on the main stage, we have an exhibition of over 100 companies who are working to provide solutions across the housing sector around decarbonisation activity. We also have a number of workshop sessions in our collaborative hub which will cover – electric vehicle roll out, funding and policy for net zero homes and shading for housing to cope with overheating in homes. Together with talks from experts on our Technology Solutions Hub, it is two days that has something for everyone.
Join us. Register now using this link and become part of the debate (and the solution). It really is more important that ever to talk about net zero.
Related Content
- © Ocean Media Group