Event information

The UK faces both a housing shortage and a race to reduce carbon output. While our new government has pledged  to build 1.5m homes over the next five years, common perceptions of additional costs and a sector skills gap stand in the way of delivering high-performance new homes at scale.

Can fresh approaches help us tackle both climate and housing crises?

Panel speakers include Tom Dollard, Partner – Sustainability and Innovation, Pollard Thomas Edwards and Tom Westwood, Programme Director, The Green Register, as well as Emma Osmundsen from Ealing Council and Richard Pender of TOWN.

The panel discussion will be followed by networking and drinks.

Programme

17.00 Welcome and drinks

17.30 Panel Discussion and Debate

18.00 Drinks and Networking

19.30 Close

About the speakers

Tom Dollard, BArch DipArch ARB RIBA, Partner – Sustainability and Innovation, Pollard Thomas Edwards

As partner of sustainability and innovation, Tom leads PTE’s ever-evolving zero carbon culture providing project teams with training, support and inspiration. He is focused on practical, implementable solutions that ensure a building’s in-use energy performance matches the design intent.

Tom is Vice-Chair of the Good Homes Alliance, a member of the CIBSE homes for the future group and has been part of various publications and research projects for Government and industry to help increase supply of low carbon homes. He is a certified Passivhaus Designer, BREEAM Accredited Professional.

His work for the Zero Carbon Hub and Building for 2050 has helped address the performance gap in the delivery of energy efficient homes. A second printing of Tom’s best-selling 2018 book for RIBA, “Designed to Perform: An illustrated guide to delivering energy efficient homes” was published in 2022.

Emma Osmundsen, Assistant Director Housing Regeneration, Ealing Council

Emma has been championing Passivhaus in the UK since 2009 when she delivered the UK’s first multi-residential Passivhaus development in Exeter. Since then she has delivered hundreds of Passivhaus homes as well as the UK’s first Passivhaus Extra-Care village and the UK’s first Passivhaus Leisure Centre.

Emma is passionate about helping homes to be high performing, climate-ready and healthy within a realistic budget. She is a Chartered Building Surveyor and heads up Housing Regeneration at Ealing Council. Emma is a Trustee of the UK Passivhaus Trust.

Richard Pender, BA MSc MSc, Development Manager and Delivery Lead, TOWN

Richard's role at TOWN entails both individual project leadership, and a cross cutting company-wide role exploring how TOWN can work differently to affect better outcomes.  A relatively late entrant to the industry Richard's passion for development and construction was lit by the experience of building his parent's home, RIBA National Award winning home, Shawm House, before going on to found a Design and Build company that realised amongst other projects, Tyneside's first certified Passivhaus.

A systems thinker Richard is passionate about commercially viable delivery models that enable meaningful collaboration and facilitate genuine risk management as opposed to transfer.  He is a certified Passivhaus Consultant and leads TOWN's engagement as BuiltByNature frontrunner organisation.

Tom Westwood ARB, Programme Director, The Green Register

Tom is an architect with over 20 years experience designing and delivering both residential and commercial buildings. He is passionate about sustainability with particular expertise in modern timber structures such as Glulam and Cross Laminated Timber, and has advocated widely for their greater adoption.  

Tom has also worked client-side in Bristol City Council’s Housing Delivery Team before joining The Green Register to further his mission to help all those involved in the built environment design and build more sustainably. Tom is also a lecturer in architecture at Bath Spa University.  

This event is held in partnership with:

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