Episode 15
Overview
Traditional brickmaking produces over 1.3 billion tonnes of CO₂ each year – more than the entire aviation industry. So should we cling to the comforting familiarity of brick, or finally face up to the environmental cost of our most familiar building material?
In this episode of the University of the Built Environment’s BE Sustainable podcast, presenter Mike Speight explores one of the built environment’s most provocative questions: Should we bin the brick?
Guests
Dr James Ritson
Dr James Ritson, Programme Leader for MSc Innovation in Sustainable Built Environments at the University of the Built Environment — who argues the problem isn’t how we make bricks, but whether we should use them at all.
Cecilia Pesce
Cecilia Pesce, Principal Research Engineer at Earth4earth — pioneers of a carbon-storing brick designed to turn waste soil into a climate-positive material.
Jordan Turner
Jordan Turner, Senior Lecturer at the University of the Built Environment, whose PhD examined sustainability in the housing sector and the policy barriers preventing greener construction.
