Keynote speaker

Caroline Withey is the Programme Director for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), accountable for delivering the decarbonisation of this nation’s social housing through this Government grant fund.An experienced project and programme professional who has delivered transformational change and improved outcomes for various businesses and

David Pierpoint

David is the founder and chief executive of The Retrofit Academy CIC. David has spent over a decade addressing the skills gap in the retrofit sector. He works closely with government, industry and academia to scale up retrofit education. He is driven by The Retrofit Academy’s mission to train over 200,000 competent retrofitters by 2030.

Dr Lewis Akenji, Hot or Cool Institute

Dr Lewis Akenji, Managing Director, Hot or Cool Institute Dr. Lewis Akenji is the Managing Director of Hot or Cool Institute, a Berlin-based public-interest think tank that champions science-based collaboration towards building a sustainable civilisation. He has been featured on several global and local media outlets, including BBC, the Times, Reuters. He has consulted with

Duncan Baker-Brown

Duncan Baker-Brown, University of Brighton Climate Literacy Champion, Founder of BakerBrown Studio, Co-Chair of RIBA Climate Action Expert Advisory Group, UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard Governance BoardDuncan is a practicing architect, academic and environmental activist. Author of ‘The Re-Use Atlas: a designer’s guide towards a circular economy’ published by RIBA, he has practised, researched,

Indy Johar, Dark Matter Labs

Indy Johar, Co-founder Project 00 & Dark Matter labs, Senior Innovation Associate, Young Foundation Indy Johar is focused on the strategic design of new super scale civic assets for transition – specifically at the intersection of financing, contracting and governance for deeply democratic futures. Indy is co-founder of darkmatterlabs.org and of the RIBA award winning architecture

Mark Farmer, Cast Consultancy

Mark Farmer, Chief Executive, Cast Consultancy Mark is CEO and a Founding Director of Cast. He has over 30 years experience in construction and real estate and is a recognised international commentator on a variety of industry and policy related issues. Mark authored the Farmer Review, an influential 2016 independent government review of the UK’s

Minister Trudy Harrison, Conservative Party

A born and raised West Cumbrian, Trudy and her family now live in Bootle. She started her career at Sellafield working across the site in a variety of roles including Separation and Waste Retrieval and Decommissioning. The decline of village life in Bootle motivated Trudy’s interest in local politics, joining the Parish Council in 2006

Muyiwa Oki

Muyiwa Oki is President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) from 2023-25 and a senior Architect at Mace. Muyiwa was elected following a campaign which included pledges to promote more flexible routes into the profession, increase transparency, dial up efforts to improve diversity, and embrace digital culture. As a Senior Architect at

Sara Edmonds

Sara Edmonds is an architect and activist, Co-Director of the National Retrofit Hub whose mission is to enable the local delivery of housing retrofit at scale and Head of Citizen Engagement at Built Environment – Smarter Transformation. She is director of Studio seARCH, a consultancy that advocates for systemic change around low carbon domestic retrofit and co-founded

Sara Edmonds, Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN)

Sara Edmonds Coordinator, Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN) and Director at Studio seARCH Sara Edmonds architect, retrofit advocate and activist, working with Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN), Home Energy Action Lab (HEAL), Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST) and Studio seARCH.

Smith Mordak

As UKGBC Chief Executive, Smith is leading the organisation through a critical period for the UK to get back on track to net zero. Combining their deep science-based understanding of the climate emergency with a principled approach to transforming our built environment, Smith is a committed and passionate advocate for building a future economy where people, society, and ecology can flourish.

Smith’s distinguished career includes leadership roles in architecture and engineering firms Buro Happold, Webb Yates Engineers, and Studio Weave, as well as authorship of several high-impact initiatives and reports, including to COP26 in Glasgow. Smith has also held a wide range of industry positions from which they have campaigned for a just transition to a more sustainable future, including as Board Member for the Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy and The Architecture Foundation, and as a nationally elected Councillor at RIBA. A prolific thought leader, Smith has contributed regularly to national and trade press including the Guardian, Financial Times, Dezeen, and The Architect’s Journal.

Smith Mordak, Buro Happold

Director of Sustainability and Physics at Buro Happold, Smith is an architect-engineer-writer working across disciplines to realise a regenerative economy and built environment. They work with a broad range of built environment organisations from asset managers to international NGOs to develop and implement strategies for the transition to a fair and sustainable built environment. Smith