Episode 270: Damien Crough & Martin Fenn on the huge opportunities available from Modern Methods of Construction (MMC)
Damien Crough from prefabAus, a recognised leader and advocate for Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) in Australia. As Co-founder and Executive Chairman of prefabAUS, Damien has been instrumental in positioning the organisation as the national peak body for offsite construction. Under his leadership, prefabAUS has grown from a grassroots initiative into a respected and influential voice shaping policy, driving research, and fostering collaboration across government, industry, and academia.We also have Martin Fenn, Chief Delivery Officer at PT Blink, a construction technology company transforming the delivery of multi-storey buildings. He leads the strategic rollout of its rapid-assembly kit-of-parts platform, partnering with developers to accelerate projects, mitigate delivery risk, and generate measurable commercial advantage through innovation.He also serves as the MMC Lead for Oceania with the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), the world’s largest professional body for construction management.In this interview, they explain how Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) is the future of a sustainable house building sector in Australia.This podcast is brought to you in association with Moddex, proud sponsors of our 2025 Commercial series of podcasts.
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Episode 269: Hassell's Moonshot - Xavier De Kestelier, Principal, Hassell Studio, on designing on the moon
“Technology is often seen as the answer, but I believe design is the real answer. Technology is there to enable and to empower.”Xavier De Kestelier is a global Head of Design and leader of Hassell’s design technology and innovation team, which sets strategy and advises on the tools and knowledge the international design firm needs to succeed. Both an architect and technologist, Xavier harnesses technology to create more powerful, future-focused design solutions. That means he’s responsible for overseeing Hassell’s work in computational design, building information modelling, visualisation and virtual reality worldwide. Over the past decade Xavier has forged a reputation as an industry leader in the exploration and adoption of parametric design and digital fabrication. Most recently, he was behind Hassell’s concept for a ‘home’ on Mars – part of NASA’s 3D Printed Habitat Challenge.A TED talker and regular speaker at major design and tech events, Xavier is also a director of Smartgeometry, a non-profit, global educational network for computational and digital design specialists.He talks exclusively top Talking Architecture & Design about the future of lunar design.
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Episode 268: City West Housing CEO Leonie King on affordable homes, funding, planning approvals and how to solve our housing crisis
As CEO of City West Housing, Leonie King leads a committed team that develops affordable housing and provide housing services to some 1,600 residents in metropolitan Sydney.In this episode, Leonie King will be talking about affordable homes, funding, planning approvals, land costs, how can we get governmental outcomes for housing, private developers, and community housing providers working together to better to solve our housing crisis & much, much more.This podcast is brought to you in association with AWS, proud sponsors of our 2025 Residential series of podcasts.
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Episode 267: Think Brick CEO Cathy Inglis & Architect Tone Wheeler on achieving greater urban density without compromising liveability while using low-carbon materials
Cathy Inglis AM is Group CEO for Think Brick, Concrete Masonry Association & Roofing Tile Associations Australia and is an experienced Materials Engineer and technical expert with nearly 30 years in the building industry with a focus on research, product development and product compliance.Cathy has worked in key leadership roles in management and business development with responsibility for research of new products, technical matters and leading innovation to improve the energy efficiency of operations and to create sustainable building products. Tone Wheeler is an Architect, author, educator and consultant with an abiding interest in environmentally sustainable design (ESD). Since 1986 he has been design leader at environa studio.Tone is a past chair of the AIA National Environment Committee & a past member of the Sustainability Committee. Tone was made AIA Life Fellow in 2022 for his contributions to the discipline and profession of architecture.In this episode, Cathy Inglis & Tone Wheeler explain how we can achieving greater urban density in Australian cities without compromising liveability while also embedding low-carbon materials.
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Episode 266: HDR's Alison Potter & Simon Fleet talk about Opacity, their annual global design review, collaborative design and data centres
Opacity is HDR’s annual global design review, bringing together diverse voices from across the design community to critically examine our best built and unbuilt work. It provides a platform for rigorous dialogue, sharpening our design conscience and pushing creative boundaries. In this episode, HDR's Melbourne Design Principal Alison Potter as well as Simon Fleet, who is HDR's Sydney Design Principal talk about Opacity, regenerative design framework, advanced data-driven capabilities, and a collaborative, cross-disciplinary approach and much, much more.
Now celebrating its 8th year (Season 9), Talking Architecture & Design is Australia’s first B2B architecture podcast that regularly talks about a range of issues that affect Australia’s architects, building designers and built environment professionals. Run by Australia’s most popular architecture magazine, Architecture & Design, the Talking Architecture & Design podcast gives a regular bite-sized dose of what is important and sometimes what is just plain old interesting to anyone and everyone in the business of building design.
New Zealand