Ray Brown heads a practice of 700 people with Architectus, which, after the merger with Conrad Gargett in April this year, is now the biggest architectural practice in Australia.He’s led some of Australia’s biggest projects – from buildings to urban planning, in most sectors, from offices to rail, social housing and heritage – sometimes, for the biggest projects, in collaboration with big global architectural names. These include the stunning 1 Bligh Street in Sydney, which scooped sustainability hearts and minds when it was completed in 2011.Host: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up for the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribeSupport The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-usLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estateTwitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAuHost: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu

Rob Bernard is chief sustainability officer for CBRE, the massive global property consultancy that has 115,000 people on its books across the planet and a responsibility to help transform real estate portfolios owned by the biggest institutional investors in the US where he is based, and across the world.Host: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu

Paolo Bevilacqua is group head of sustainability for Frasers Property Limited. The role is with the parent company that owns Fraser’s Property Australia, one of the earliest and most courageous movers on the sustainability and greening front. Think  Burwood Brickworks Shopping Centre in Melbourne, a Living Building Challenge project that really challenged the thinking on what is possible in development. Not to mention those who worked on it.Host: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu

Jua Cilliers, head of the School of Built Environment and Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Technology Sydney brings global framing to her view of the urgent challenges we face with nature and biodiversityHost: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu

On our latest podcast, our managing editor, Tina Perinotto, spoke with urban planner Rob Adams.Rob became Australia’s urban planning poster child when he launched an audacious goal to transform Melbourne’s CBD as director of planning at the City of Melbourne.In those days, the city was suffering from a prolonged recession. The city streets were abandoned, especially at night and on the weekends. People had not yet discovered that CBDs could be vibrant and active.So Rob started a program called Postcode three thousand.Part of the transformation involved refurbishing office buildings into apartments. As a result, the city’s population blossomed. Suddenly, living in the CBD was cool, not a sad, windy endurance test when the city workers departed for their homes.But that’s not all Rob is well known for. He’s recently launched a plan about concentrating development along the city’s transport routes, designed to leave the rest of suburban sites alone. This helps to “calm” residents so that they aren’t so fearful of development.Host: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu

 In this episode, our managing editor, Tina Perinotto, spoke with Amy Marks from Autodesk, the “queen of prefab”, on why building and construction is not an industry but an ecosystem. If the world’s buildings and cities are set to triple their footprint, as forecasters predict, sustainability will be a mighty challenge. Firstly, where are we sourcing our diminishing natural materials from? And can we still build and construct the way we’ve done traditionally?Amy Marks is head of Industrialised Construction Strategy and Evangelism at the global technology company Autodesk. She says so much needs to change.Her job is to transform building and construction so that it’s way more efficient and sustainable. This would have multiple dividends for businesses and the planet, she says.Amy is one of those brilliant American outperformers that rightfully stand out on the global stage. She’s educated at Harvard, she’s a successful entrepreneur, a great thinker and a great speaker.Thankfully, for the building and construction industry, she’s made her voice one to be reckoned with.She says building and construction is NOT an industry. It’s an eco system and this means it can’t be disrupted or reformed from the bottom up. It has to be disrupted from the top down. She means by influential clients such as large corporates or governments who can demand new outcomes through different methodologies.Amy is focused on the value and efficiency of digitalisation and prefabrication. These are the ways that we can start to be conserve and repurpose our dwindling natural resources. In construction, a wastage rate of 30 per cent is common. New technologies can go a long way to solving that problem. And they can also help the sector integrate new building materials that are more sustainable and efficient.Amy has construction in the blood. Her family owned a construction management company in New York and she grew up on construction sites. So it’s no surprise she is such a fascinating person to talk to about this sector.This episode was produced with the support of our corporate sponsor, Autodesk.Host: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu

On the podcast this week, Tina Perinotto, the managing editor of The Fifth Estate, was joined by Tim Hollo, the executive director of the Green Institute.Tim’s background is fascinating. He was a political advisor to Christine Milne during the highly volatile Gillard-Rudd years, which arguably had the biggest impact on the climate agenda in Australia.He’s also had a background in environmental activism, with many insights gained from his training in law, and the intriguing field of political theatre, where he learnt about some of our most deeply ingrained human traits. Among those is that when it comes to politics, we humans activate the most primitive parts of our brains – the part that works on our fight or flight responses.Now that goes a long way to explain the choices we make at the polling booths.Tim has also spent a lot of time thinking about democracy and why it’s crumbling: he says the deliberate obfuscation of reality in pursuit of self-interest can be truly frightening, but there are remedies. He’s a great believer in the power of trust and close communication with the people closest to us – our community. He has deep respect for the notion of political ecology, which challenges the dominant political theory over the last 100 years, which sees humans as separate from the natural world and each other. Although Darwinism has led us to believe that competition is the key to a species’ success, cooperation has been proven to be just as powerful.Host: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu

Some people have a knack for driving change, and Esther Bailey is one of them. Joining our managing editor Tina Perinotto on The Fifth Estate's podcast this week, Esther talked about what she’d been up to at NABERS, the government’s environmental rating program for buildings. NABERS has transformed the office sector and is now overhauling other energy intensive sectors, with hospitals one such quiet achiever. She’s really interested in the circular economy, and says growing piles of waste might be even harder to control than climate change. With her training in behavioural science, Esther knows how to influence people’s behavior, but all for the better. This skillset came in handy for her eight years at the City of Sydney, where she worked on the Better Building Partnership and CitySwitch, two collaborative programs designed to encourage learning between leaders already vying for change. For Esther, a bit of healthy competition is one easy way to inspire action. Also, a heads up: NABERS is offering free ratings for a limited time, doing their bit to keep assessors in work during this uncertain time.Host: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu

In this episode, the managing editor of The Fifth Estate Tina Perinotto talks to Dr Brad Pettitt, the longstanding Mayor of Fremantle. The Freo community has been receptive to Brad’s big, bold visions for a thriving, sustainable community, in fact, he says the locals actually push the council to do better.  But the portside city has had its ups and downs, and it’s already feeling the bite of climate change – it's seeing days and days of 40-plus degrees, and record-low rainfalls. Even though Fremantle is home to some top-notch buildings, including Josh Byrne’s 10-star house, there’s also a culture of sub-standard, unsustainable development in WA. That’s one reason the Greens member wants to have statewide impact, so is making a run at the next state election.Host: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu

If you ever need a dose of optimism, you can always rely on Professor Peter Newman, a true legend of sustainability. The professor of sustainability at Curtin University joined editor of The Fifth Estate, Tina Perinotto, on the podcast this week and worked his usual hope-inspiring magic. He tells us why, despite what the federal government says, gas is over and done with. He tells us how there are 400,000 jobs in iron ore processing, using renewables, just waiting for us in the Pilbara. He takes us on a bird’s eye view of how big countries, such as China, are navigating the low energy transition. Interestingly, the politics are strangely familiar. Peter isn’t afraid to get philosophical – he’s worried about Africa’s sustainable shift out of poverty when the global community is turning inwards, reminding us that aid is not just charity, but rather an investment in fellow humans that ultimately benefits us all. Host: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu

In this episode, managing editor of The Fifth Estate Tina Perinotto speaks to Sally Dominguez, who calls herself an “adventurous thinker”. She covers an array of topics, including her belief that hydrogen will be the fuel of the future, a future strategy she did for Ikea (that includes high connecting bridges in tower buildings so people feel protected from a potentially menacing climate), her love of cars and why, and the kind of thinking that has made her known, above all, as an inventor.Host: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu

In this episode, Tina Perinotto, managing editor of The Fifth Estate, talked to Head of GRESB Asia Pacific Ruben Langbroek. She was joined by our corporate partner and expert interviewer, Craig Roussac, who is chief executive officer of Buildings Alive. The Global Real Estate Investment Benchmark (GRESB) is increasingly well recognised by institutional investors around the world, with GRESB performance now among the first questions asked by investors when deciding to invest in a property asset. Craig, who’s career in sustainable property goes way back, helped out by asking the tough questions about the metrics that drive underlying value for investors.Host: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu

In this episode, managing editor of The Fifth Estate, Tina Perinotto, speaks to Caroline Pidcock, an award-winning Australian architect and advocate for sustainable design. Caroline has been pouring much of her energy into the Australian branch of Architects Declare as the group’s spokesperson, which involves working out how architects should respond to the climate and biodiversity emergencies. As lateral, creative thinkers with their feet firmly grounded in the physical world, Caroline says architects have a key role to play in creating human settlements that work with nature rather than against it.Host: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu

Tina Perinotto, managing editor of The Fifth Estate, sits down with Dr Tim Williams, Australasia Cities Leader at Arup, who has played a role in some of the biggest strategic planning decisions shaping Sydney. He offers his thoughts on the wins and losses in planning in both Sydney and Melbourne, and believes mass transit and good mobility is key to making these fast-growing cities work. Host: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu

In The Fifth Estate's first-ever podcast, our managing editor Tina Perinotto speaks to EnergyLab Australia co-founder and chair Piers Grove, who has a knack for sniffing out the best and brightest clean energy startups worthy of a leg up through the EnergyLab Australia accelerator program. Host: Tina PerinottoProduced by: The Fifth EstateThe Fifth Estate website: www.thefifthestate.com.auSign up to the newsletter: https://thefifthestate.com.au/subscribe Support The Fifth Estate: thefifthestate.com.au/support-us LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-fifth-estate Twitter: @FifthEstateAUFacebook: www.facebook.com/thefifthestateAu