Inventing Construction

The reality is this: our buildings are full of surplus energy. And we waste most of it.

Across offices, hotels, hospitals, and data centres, enormous amounts of heat are generated every single day. Ventilation systems blow it away. Cooling systems spend electricity to remove it. Mechanical systems operate in isolation, unaware that the building next door might need exactly the energy being thrown away.

So perhaps the question isn’t how do we produce more energy? But how do we stop wasting the energy we already have?

In today's podcast episode, we speak with Nicolas Kastbjerg, CEO of Energy Machines, about a different way of thinking about building energy systems. One where buildings are not just consumers of energy, but active participants in the energy system itself.

Or put simply: Buildings as energy machines.

What you'll learn from today's episode of Inventing Construction:

- What is energy as a service?
- What are the low-hanging fruit of energy efficiency?
- Concrete examples of hidden energy waste
- Regulatory and market barriers to energy transformation
- The mindset shift needed to change our energy system

Link to Fælledbyen: https://faelledby.dk/

You can also listen to Inventing Construction on these platforms:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aAxc0iqOe2JJly3jCh9jV?si=8db208888a9a4e4c
Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inventing-construction/id1629403210
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmFqJlVzEa6Lc_7LOTjvac2oTbRRk9HdK

We would love for you to continue the conversation with us on LinkedIn:
Ross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-griffin-kosmos/
Elia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliaarquitectatecnica/
Nicolas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-kastbjerg-33505724/
KOSMOS: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kosmos-dk

Thanks for listening!

Walk onto almost any construction site today and you’ll find the same paradox.
Projects worth tens or hundreds of millions are being delivered with cutting-edge design tools, advanced materials, and increasingly strict sustainability targets. Yet when it comes to documenting what actually happens on site, many teams still fall back on the same tools they’ve used for decades.

Spreadsheets. Emails. Folders full of PDFs. And hours upon hours of manual data entry.

This isn’t just inefficient. It’s becoming a serious problem.Because across Europe, construction companies are now being asked to document something they’ve rarely tracked before in detail: the carbon impact of the construction phase itself.

And that changes everything.

In today's episode, we spoke with Oline Stærke, founder and CEO of the SaaS platform acembee, about one of the most underestimated challenges emerging on construction sites: collecting and managing LCA data during execution – LCA A4 and A5.

What you'll learn from today's episode of Inventing Construction:

- How we collect on-site LCA data today
- Why you should involve all stakeholders in digital solutions
- acembee: Visual tracking of project carbon targets
- What data is realistically possible to track today?
- Advice for contractors facing carbon documentation requirements

You can also listen to Inventing Construction on these platforms:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aAxc0iqOe2JJly3jCh9jV?si=8db208888a9a4e4c
Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inventing-construction/id1629403210
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmFqJlVzEa6Lc_7LOTjvac2oTbRRk9HdK

We would love for you to continue the conversation with us on LinkedIn:
Ross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-griffin-kosmos/
Elia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliaarquitectatecnica/
Oline: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oline-staerke/
KOSMOS: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kosmos-dk

Thanks for listening!

Cost and carbon are measured in two different worlds. Clients want lower carbon. But decisions are based on cost.
Not because they don’t care. Not because they lack ambition. But because the information rarely arrives aligned.

In many construction projects, cost consultants work in one silo. Sustainability consultants work in another. They use different assumptions. Different structures. Different timing. And always brought into the process too late.

The result?

Two reports. Two numbers. Two conversations. And one client trying to make a high-stakes decision without a shared factual foundation.

At KOSMOS, we align cost and carbon. This leads to confident, fast, and fact-based decision-making on our projects. In today’s episode Elia and Anders (from KOSMOS) discuss how you can align cost and carbon on your projects – using an integrated digital quantity surveying approach.

What you'll learn from today's episode of Inventing Construction:

- Why having strong ICT requirements changes the game
- Working with data before a 3D model exists
- Why communication over blame culture is vital
- How to assess carbon at business case stage
- Why embedding cost & carbon in design is unconventional
- How it all leads to better decision-making

You can also listen to Inventing Construction on these platforms:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aAxc0iqOe2JJly3jCh9jV?si=8db208888a9a4e4c
Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inventing-construction/id1629403210
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmFqJlVzEa6Lc_7LOTjvac2oTbRRk9HdK

We would love for you to continue the conversation with us on LinkedIn:
Ross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-griffin-kosmos/
Elia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliaarquitectatecnica/
Anders: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andershonorepedersen/
KOSMOS: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kosmos-dk

Thanks for listening!

7 out of 9 planetary boundaries have already been crossed. That’s seven critical global processes that regulate the stability and resilience of the Earth.

For years, sustainability in construction has focused primarily on carbon. But planetary boundaries introduce something far more systemic. They redefine the limits within which humanity, and therefore our industry can safely operate.

In today's episode of Inventing Construction, we sit down with Karl-Martin, senior advisor in architecture, strategic planning and innovation, to explore a difficult but necessary idea:

What if planetary boundaries are not just an environmental framework, but the new building code of Earth?

What you'll learn from today's episode of Inventing Construction:

- What are Planetary Boundaries?
- The current blind spots of sustainable construction
- What would Planetary Construction look like?
- Introducing "Planetary Pathways"
- A case study: Calculating a building’s full planetary footprint

You can also listen to Inventing Construction on these platforms:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aAxc0iqOe2JJly3jCh9jV?si=8db208888a9a4e4c
Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inventing-construction/id1629403210
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmFqJlVzEa6Lc_7LOTjvac2oTbRRk9HdK

We would love for you to continue the conversation with us on LinkedIn:
Ross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-griffin-kosmos/
Elia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliaarquitectatecnica/
Karl-Martin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karl-martin-buch-frederiksen-22b64853/
KOSMOS: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kosmos-dk

Thanks for listening!

If you read the headlines, you might think data centres are the problem. They use energy. They take up space. They create “just a few jobs.” They’re described as grey, windowless boxes that quietly sit in industrial zones, consuming power and giving little back.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth:
If you switched them off tomorrow, modern society would end.

In today's podcast episode, we sit down with Merima Dzanic Chief Operating Officer at the Danish Data Centre Industry, to discuss one of the most misunderstood sectors in construction and infrastructure today.

What you'll learn from today's episode of Inventing Construction:

- Why data centres are so critical
- Why Denmark became a data centre hub
- The grid problem
- What makes data centre construction unique?
- Why AI is disrupting the data centre industry
- The industry branding challenge

You can also listen to Inventing Construction on these platforms:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aAxc0iqOe2JJly3jCh9jV?si=8db208888a9a4e4c
Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inventing-construction/id1629403210
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmFqJlVzEa6Lc_7LOTjvac2oTbRRk9HdK

We would love for you to continue the conversation with us on LinkedIn:
Ross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-griffin-kosmos/
Elia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliaarquitectatecnica/
Merima: https://www.linkedin.com/in/merima-dzanic-86048938/
KOSMOS: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kosmos-dk

Thanks for listening!