A ’global’ standard for residential retrofit? With Paul Bagust (RICS Head of Property Standards), Steven Lees (RICS Senior Specialist - Residential Survey), and Robert Toomey (RICS Senior Public Affairs Officer)

2025-02-18

Last year the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) released its residential retrofit standard. Given that they're one of the construction industry's oldest, largest, and most influential institutions this felt significant.Importantly, the RICS organisation has a global footprint, so it has the potential to influence good behaviour far and wide. We're also hopeful in light of the success of the RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessment standard. That is in terms of its apparent impact, adoption, and reach.In order to get into the subject a bit more we...

Importantly, the RICS organisation has a global footprint, so it has the potential to influence good behaviour far and wide. We're also hopeful in light of the success of the RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessment standard. That is in terms of its apparent impact, adoption, and reach.

In order to get into the subject a bit more we invited Paul Bagust (Head of Property Standards), Steven Lees (Senior Specialist - Residential Survey), and Robert Toomey (Senior Public Affairs Officer) to join us to talk about the standard and the impact they want to see it have.

Notes from the show

Paul Bagust on LinkedIn
Steven Lees on LinkedIn
Robert Toomey on LinkedIn
The old Passive House Plus article about the Preston retrofit catastrophe that Jeff mentions
The RICS consumer guide to energy will be here once it's published (one for the listeners of the future)
The website for Scotland's Green Home Festival – details for 2025 are incoming

**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.

Follow us on the Zero Ambitions LinkedIn page (we still don't have a proper website)
Jeff and Dan about Zero Ambitions Partners (the consultancy) for help with positioning and communications strategy, customer/user research and engagement strategy, carbon calculations and EPDs – we're up to all sorts
Subscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)
Check Lloyd Alter's Substack: Carbon Upfront
Join ACAN
Join the AECB
Join the IGBC
Check out Her Own Space, the renovation and retrofit platform for women

**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

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