Talking Architecture & Design

In this episode, we’ll talk about sustainability—but not simply as a checklist of energy ratings, materials, and technical performance. We’re looking at how sustainable design is evolving, what a genuinely regenerative approach to architecture might look like, and whether traditional models of designing, building, and inhabiting our homes still fit the future. 
Joining me is architect Talina Edwards, a director at Envirotecture, with more than 25 years’ experience in architecture and a particular focus on sustainable, healthy and high-performance buildings. Talina is also a certified passive house designer and a strong advocate for more sustainable practice across the profession. 
This podcast is brought to you in association with Autex Acoustics, proud sponsors of our 2026 Sustainability series of podcasts.

Engineering has traditionally been understood as a discipline focused on solving technical problems—designing structures, calculating loads, moving people and water, generating and distributing energy, and ensuring the infrastructure around us works safely and efficiently.
But that role is changing.
Engineers are increasingly asked to think beyond individual assets and projects—and instead consider how infrastructure interacts with cities, communities, the environment, technology, energy systems, and an increasingly uncertain future.
At the same time, artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape how design and engineering work is actually done — raising questions about productivity, skills, creativity, professional judgement and what the engineer of the future will look like.
And then there is the question of uncertainty itself.
Liam O’Donohue, Managing Principal for Australia and New Zealand at Arup, explains how you design infrastructure today when tomorrow's technology, climate, demographics, energy systems, and community expectations may look very different.

Clinton Cole is a boundary-pushing architect and builder who believes we can all be a force for good. With industry-leading expertise in regenerative design, he creates premium homes that actively repair damage to our planet and give back to future generations. In the same spirit, he puts ethics and responsibility front and centre at CplusC, one of only five Australian architects to earn B Corp certification.

Clinton holds two degrees in Architecture and is a registered Architect, a licenced Builder and accredited Construction Supervisor with over 20 years’ experience in the industry. A frank and fearless contributor to professional debate, he’s often invited to present to industry peers, academic panels and design publications.
In this revealing interview, Clinton Cole talks about what it takes to build a genuinely sustainable home in Australia.
This podcast was sponsored by CSR

In our first Shortcast in over two years, we talk with Will Messiter, Chief Operating Officer - Residential Communities and Home Building at Sekisui House Australia, at the company's manufacturing and assembly facility in southwest Sydney, about house building, the bottlenecks in Australia's building market, and how prefab and modular can offer a solution to our house affordability woes.

As operational energy efficiency improves, attention is increasingly turning to embodied carbon—the emissions associated with extracting raw materials, manufacturing products, transporting them, installing them, and, ultimately, dealing with them at the end of their useful life. 
That puts materials and material innovation firmly at the centre of the conversation. 
Jonathan Mountfort, Creative Director at Autex Acoustics, has more than two decades of experience across design and manufacturing, with a career spanning mechanical engineering, product design, materials innovation, and acoustics. 
At Autex, he leads a team across design and engineering and has contributed to recycling technologies, product development, and the company's broader sustainability journey. 
In this episode, Jonathan shares a particularly interesting perspective from the intersection of product design, manufacturing, and architecture—three areas that increasingly need to work together if we're going to reduce the built environment's carbon impact. 
This podcast is brought to you in association with Autex Acoustics, proud sponsors of our 2026 Sustainability series of podcasts.