We are delighted to bring you a conversation with Professor Emeritus Susan Roaf, of Heriot-Watt University this week to talk about a bunch of fundamental problems in building design and the management of thermal comfort.

She is a wonderful guest and we're looking forward to having her back.

Originally, we planned to talk about her article COP 28: Net zero buildings by 2050? You have got to be joking! a well-judged critique of the outcomes at the most recent COP but we meandered a bit more than expected, but we still managed to cover most of the issues she raises.

In the end, we took in a shared colonial history and its influence on the way we approach managing thermal comfort, problems with architectural education, the flaws in solely thinking about decarbonisation of the grid as a panacea, problems with designing buildings have an over-reliance on technology, as well as her colourful and storied background.

In some ways with could be considered a counterpart to last year's episode about thermal comfort with Huda Elsherfif and Andy Simmonds, so check that too if you haven't heard it already.



Notes from the show

**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.