Fabric second, not fabric first: impact, heritage, retrofit, and strategy, with Kit Knowles (Ecospheric)

Zero Ambitions Podcast

Kit Knowles is a sustainability consultant whose pioneering practice, Ecospheric, is forging its own path, concerned with making the greatest impact, getting things done, and big backer of research so they can learn how to do better.

This week’s episode can be summarised as being about “the inherent conservation of energy principles associated with a building” i.e. design before fabric, and doing the work on paper before you get close to construction. Hence, ‘fabric second, not fabric first’.

His firm, Ecospheric, is an award-winning consultancy that supports planners, architects, and developers in designing and delivering pioneering eco developments that save carbon and drive technological change. There’s every chance that you’ll have encountered his work before, particularly the renowned Zetland Passive House in Manchester.

We touch on a bit of everything but there’s loads more to see to check the Ecospheric website.

Notes from the episode

• Ecospheric's website
• Zetland Road in Passive House Plus: The deepest greenest retrofit ever?
• Ecospheric on Twitter (or X as it's known now, apparently)

**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.

• Zero Ambitions Partners email address - [e-mail]
• Subscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)
• Check Lloyd's Substack: Carbon Upfront
• Join ACAN
• Join the AECB
• Join the IGBC
• Listen to Accelerate to Zero, Sara's podcast produced at BE-ST, on Apple or Spotify
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**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**