Intelligence Talks

How can housebuilders and farmers power through the energy crisis?

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Episode notes

This week, Anna Ward is joined by Oliver Novakovik, technical and innovation director at UK housebuilder, Barratt Developments, and Andrew Shirley, editor of our Wealth Report magazine and head of rural research. 

Oliver is working on Barratt’s zero-carbon concept home, the Z House in Salford, Manchester. He explains how the current inflationary environment is impacting the project, discusses what Barratt has learned from trialling 50 new technologies within the home, and indicates a likely timeline for the UK housebuilder to scale up the technology across new homes nationwide.

You can read more about the Z House in our interview with Oliver in The Wealth Report.

We also talk about the current challenges facing British farms following surges in grain prices, fuel and energy costs. Andrew suggests farmers need to look to the past and follow less energy-intensive practices and that indoor farming can help supply certain higher value foods like salad products and fruits locally, rather than flying them in.

This is an area we explore in depth in this interview with Benjamin Swan, founder of Sustenir, a Singapore-based pioneer of urban, vertical farming in the Wealth Report.

 

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