Speakers

Here you'll find biographies of the speakers appearing at this year's seminars. More will be added shortly.

You can download the agenda for the day by clicking the link on the right.

Gordon CrichtonGordon Crichton - Colorcoat Urban(TM)

Mr. Crichton is the national sales manager for Color Coat Urban having joined Corus in November, after many years working in the Tile and slate market, to generate sales and awareness of Colorcoat Urban into the market.  Corus Colorcoat Urban a new roofing and cladding product designed specifically  to be the sustainable product of choice for the urban building.  Colorcoat Urban has been wholly developed and produced in Wales using eco-design principles, aimed at minimising the environmental impact of the product from raw material production all the way to re-use or recycling and as such he been rated A+ for the BRE green guide. Compatible with rain water harvesting and including at least 25% recycled material. The manufacturing processes are carefully controlled to the highest environmental standards and are ISO 14001 certified.

Aled DaviesDr Aled Davies CEng MIED MICE - Director of WDS Environmental Ltd

WDS Environmental is a Welsh company specialising in the provision of renewable energy solutions for public and private customers, using proven sustainable technology.  He is an Accredited European Heat Pump Installer and Designer and an approved installer under the Micro-generation Certification Scheme.  WDS Environmental provide a range of services from conceptual system design, through to the supply, installation and commissioning of complete energy systems, including on-going maintenance and performance monitoring.  They were recently awarded the Dimplex UK Domestic Installer 2008.

Grenville HamGrenville Ham - Brecon Beacons National Park Authority    

Grenville is a resident of Brecon and works for the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority. He has been developing low carbon initiatives in Mid Wales for several years and is the founder of The Green Valleys Community Interest Company which is a finalist in The Big Green Challenge, the £1 million environmental prize from NESTA. The Green Valleys, with over 400 active volunteers, is planning to make the entire Brecon Beacons a net exporter of renewable energy and is currently developing over 100 micro generation installations.

Phil Horton, Special Projects Officer, Centre for Alternative Technology Charity Limited 

Phil is a Chartered Engineer who worked for the BBC's capital projects department for 9 years before moving to CAT in 1998 to work for their free Information service.  He is now the Project Manager for the Wales Institute for Sustainable Education (WISE), a £4 million building being constructed to expand CAT's ability to deliver education in all areas of sustainability. WISE reflects CAT's latest thinking about sustainable building design and will be extensively monitored to confirm its performance in use.

Marc Howell, C.Eng, MIET -  Business Development Manager for Wood Energy Ltd

He is a Chartered Engineer who has been active in the commercial/industrial wood-heating sector for approximately 10 years. He has been involved with some of the most high-profile wood-chip/pellet installations in Wales to-date including the Senedd building in Cardiff and the new Ysbyty Alltwen Hospital in Tremadog.

Lance JonesLance Jones - WRAP Cymru

Lance is a professional Wastes Manger, he first joined the waste industry in 1989 as a development manager for what is now Viridor Waste Management.  He developed CWM Environmental Limited, a local authority waste disposal company (LAWDC) owned by Carmarthenshire County Council. Lance went on to run his own environmental consultancy and plant hire and groundworks organisations until he joined the newly established devolved Welsh Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) team last November which covers WRAP’s (UK wide) work in Wales. WRAP helps individuals, businesses and local authorities to reduce waste and recycle more, making better use of resources and helping to tackle climate change.

Phil JonesProfessor Phillip Jones - Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University

He is Chair of Architectural Science and Director of Architectural Science Research at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University. Since 2003 he has held the position of Head of School. His research activities encompass a range of subjects in the field of energy use, environmental design and sustainability in the built environment and he has published extensively in the field and carried out numerous funded research projects in the UK, Europe, Malaysia, Middle East and China. He currently chairs the Wales Low Carbon Research Institute (LCRI), with six Welsh university partners, and funded (£5.1million) by the Higher Education Council for Wales (HEFCW). He is chair of the European COST Action C23, Low Carbon Urban Built Environments (L-CUBE) with nineteen European partner countries.

Chris Lord-SmithChris Lord-Smith - Llani Solar Ltd 

Chris has 35 years experience in the building industry and 20 years as an installer of solar water heating systems.  Over recent years he has expanded his expertise to include all forms of renewable heating, and specialises in the installation of biomass heating systems, (wood pellet, high efficiency log boilers and wood chip systems) as well as heat pump heating systems.  It is important to ensure that these systems, if combined, are designed correctly to work along side each other, and Llanisolar has experience in small to medium sized projects.

Neil MorganNeil Morgan - Retrofit for the Future

He is the Project Manager of the Retrofit for the Future programme at the Technology Strategy, part of a wider activity in Low Impact Building and the Low Carbon Economy. Neil joined the Technology Strategy Board in July 2007 when it was set up as an independent, arms length body from government. Much of Neil’s career has been spent in the manufacturing industries both in the UK and USA. Neil was formerly responsible for implementing the Technology Strategy Board’s High Value Manufacturing programmes.

Sam Organ - CO2 Designs For Life Ltd

CO2 designs for life limited is a family run architectural design company.
Established in 2001 the company has quickly established a reputation for modern innovative design, that is creative and powerful, yet responsive and holistic, working in a broad range of urban and environmentally sensitive areas within Wales, England and France.
The Partners all have a passion for high quality sustainable architecture and strive to get the most out of every opportunity each project can offer. Stimulating and rewarding buildings can be achieved, no matter how large or small the budget.

Stephen Passmore - Energy Saving Trust 

Stephen joined the housing development team at the Energy Saving Trust in 2007 and covers a wide range of activity including the development of best practice guidance; development of outreach refurbishment projects; liaison with industry and managing technical projects.  He was responsible for the development and launch of the Enhanced Construction Details set by the Energy Saving Trust and is now responsible for the development of a design tool for analysing the embodied energy of housing projects.

Before this he worked for an environmental charity providing community advice on sustainable consumption and worked in the energy supply sector with E.on for four years managing high profile accounts for the industrial and commercial sector.  Here he was involved in developing a green electricity tariff for SMEs.

Jeff PerrenJeff Perren - Zero/Low Carbon Hub Wales

Jeff Perren is a Chartered Civil Engineer who has been involved in the Project Management of building and infrastructure schemes for over 30 years. He is currently the Director of the Zero/Low Carbon Hub Wales which is a partnership between the public, private and voluntary sectors. The Hub will take forward the work of reducing carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment, provide a route map for the targets and aspirations and act as a focal point for the provision of information and guidance.

Carol Purslow - nPower

She joined npower in 2006 to manage the delivery of energy savings through retail partnerships.  These contributed in excess of 10% of npower’s EEC2 achievement.

She now heads a team within npower’s CERT delivery department which focuses specifically on achieving carbon reduction through community initiatives.  The effectiveness of the area-based approach in both fulfilling our CERT obligaton and tackling fuel poverty is clear and she is working to develop their existing programmes whilst also looking for new opportunities, especially around the proposed CESP obligation.

Prior to joining npower she worked in Sales and Marketing within the manufacturing industry.  She is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and graduated from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 2006 with a BA in English and Drama.

Tim RotherayDr Tim Rotheray - Policy Officer, Micropower Council

The Micropower Council is the umbrella voice of the UK microgeneration industry and the only body representing the full cross-section of low and zero carbon technologies available to households and small businesses. Dr Tim Rotheray joined the Micropower Council after completing a PhD at Cardiff University and working for the National Assembly of Wales’ Members Research Service. Tim currently leads the Micropower Council’s work on the Zero Carbon Building and Retrofit agendas and engagement with the devolved administrations.

Francois SamuelFrancois Samuel - Head of Construction Unit within the Housing Directorate of the Welsh Assembly Government.
Responsibilities include: Building Regulations in Wales, Construction legislation and industry liaison, Promotion of Constructing Excellence in Wales, Standards for Social Housing including new housing design, specification and consortia procurement and The Welsh Housing Quality Standard, Domestic radon policy.

Previous responsibilities included the transfer of Fire and Rescue policy to the Wales, domestic energy efficiency and fuel poverty policy and the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme.  A Chartered Surveyor by profession with experience in the Social Housing field gained within the Assembly Government, Tai Cymru and the Housing Corporation. Earlier career in private practice for 13 years including 5 years as a consultant to the Ministry of Finance, Saudi Arabia.

Nick Tune - BRE Wales    

Nick Tune set up the BRE Wales operation in August 2005 and has grown the business to 9 staff and 2 chairs at Cardiff University. The BRE in Wales have developed close working relationships with all key main construction bodies in Wales including the Welsh Assembly  Government, Construct Wales, Construction Skills , Constructing Excellence,  Housing Associations and RSL’s and major Construction Contractors.

Nick is an advisor to the Heads of the Valleys Programme to help deliver sustainable construction initiatives, and has instigated a £50m renewable energy programme.  He also sits and participates on many sustainable construction initiatives and steering groups in Wales, such as TAN 22 the development of the sustainable construction guidance for planning.

Mai DaviesMai Davies - TV Presenter

Stunning television presenter Mai Davies has had an impressive career in television to-date.

She was, for several years,  the main Sky Television news presenter.  Mai has  presented many other television programmes, including  ‘On the Edge’; ‘Wales This Week’;  ‘First Past The Post’; ‘Sharp End Debates’; Question Time’; ‘Sharp End’, and ‘Wales Decides’, live Assembly Election results.  She also presented many programmes for Meridian Television and TVS, including ‘Coast to Coast’ which won the RTS Award for Best Regional News Magazine.

Mai  has  regular programmes on Radio 4; Radio 5 Live; BBC World Service and BBC Radio Wales. She was the youngest news editor in the network for Red Dragon Radio.  Mai has hosted events all over the UK and  as far away as Carnegie Hall, New York.