Ecobuild has unveiled its full conference programme with a host of industry and Westminster speakers.
• Ed Davey, Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change
• Natalie Bennett, Head of the Green Party
• Lord John Prescott, former Deputy Prime Minister and UK negotiator for the Kyoto Protocol on climate change
• Alistair Campbell, former British PM spokesman
Other names on the line-up at the event are: RIBA Stirling Prize-winning architect, Steve Tompkins of Haworth Tompkins; Sir John Armitt, former chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority; and, Lord Deben, chairman of the Committee on Climate Change.
With extreme weather events increasing in frequency and severity, Prescott will tackle a debate at Ecobuild asking the big question: Is it time for a national environmental resilience plan? The discussion will focus upon climate change mitigation strategies, which require a long-term national infrastructure plan backed with sufficient funding. Prescott will ask – what should this look like and can the money be made available?
Biophilic designer, Oliver Heath, is set to cover how incorporating nature creates value and improves wellbeing in buildings. Heath will talk about maximising natural light, providing views out onto nature and incorporating natural objects, materials and textures within buildings.
Housed within two arenas in the heart of the event, the conference will include a future gazing first for the event; cross-party political discussion around the future of the sustainable built environment. The full Ecobuild politician line-up will be publicised nearer the event.
Key sessions include:
• Does a ‘no’ vote for European membership mean the end of UK sustainability policy?
• The mainstream zero carbon home – will it ever happen?
• Greening the grid – is low-carbon electricity a vote loser?
• Are smart cities a positive sustainability benefit or an unwelcome invasion of privacy?
• Happiness by design: How the built environment drives feeling and behaviour
• Innovation and new materials: Could they revolutionise sustainable construction?