Event details
Public bodies sit on some of the largest and oldest property portfolios in the country — schools, hospitals, social housing, and civic buildings that were never designed with net zero in mind.
With statutory carbon targets and mandatory biodiversity net gain laws now firmly in force, sustainability leads and estates managers are under real pressure to deliver measurable environmental progress without blowing already-stretched budgets.
This one-day conference brings together public finance specialists, planning authorities, estates leaders, and infrastructure providers to explore what's actually working: from funding legacy building retrofits and embedding biodiversity into planning decisions, to deploying smart estate technology and transitioning entire vehicle fleets to zero emission. Whether your remit covers sustainability strategy, estates management, or planning, this event will equip you with practical, real-world approaches to hit green targets across the public estate.
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WHO ATTENDS
Times are displayed in BST
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09:55 AM - 10:40 AM
Beyond the Chatbot: Deploying Autonomous Agents in Frontline Services
Decarbonising ageing schools, hospitals, and public buildings isn't held back by a lack of ambition — it's held back by funding. This panel brings together public decarbonisation finance experts, estates leaders, and green finance specialists to give delegates a clear, practical view of how to actually pay for the retrofits that legacy public buildings desperately need.
- Where public decarbonisation schemes like Salix funding are genuinely accessible — and where applications fall down
- How the DfE is prioritising retrofit investment across a vast and varied schools estate
- What a large university or NHS Trust has learned sequencing energy upgrades on a constrained budget
- How green bonds and private finance initiatives are opening up new funding routes for public bodies
Investment, resourcefulness, and long-term thinking define this opening session. Join us to explore how public bodies can fund a greener estate without letting cost become the barrier to progress.
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10:50 AM - 11:35 AM
Ethics, Bias, and Accountability in Algorithmic Decision-Making
Biodiversity Net Gain is now a legal requirement, not an aspiration — and public bodies delivering infrastructure, highways, and housing are on the front line of making it work in practice. This panel brings together national biodiversity policy, planning leadership, and ecological expertise to explore what genuinely effective BNG implementation looks like across large-scale public development.
- What Natural England expects from public bodies delivering BNG at scale
- How a regional county council is embedding biodiversity requirements into everyday planning decisions
- The RTPI's view on where planning policy and biodiversity law are creating friction — and where they align
- Practical lessons from ecological consultants on what trips up BNG delivery in real infrastructure projects
Nature, compliance, and practical delivery come together in this session. Join us to explore how public planning can turn a legal requirement into genuine environmental recovery.
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11:45 AM - 12:30 PM
Building the Backbone: Preparing Legacy Data Infrastructure for AI
Hundreds of council and public sector buildings are quietly wasting energy simply because no one can see where it's going. This panel examines how smart sensors, digital twins, and energy analytics are giving estates teams the visibility they need to cut carbon at scale — turning data into one of the most powerful decarbonisation tools available.
- How IoT sensor networks and digital twins are transforming visibility across sprawling public estates
- A progressive council's experience deploying smart energy management across hundreds of properties
- What telecoms and IoT providers see as the next wave of smart estate innovation for the public sector
- How PropTech tools are helping estates teams turn raw data into actionable carbon reduction
Precision, intelligence, and efficiency run through this whole discussion. Join us to explore how data can help the public estate work smarter on the road to net zero.
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12:40 PM - 13:40 PM
Reskilling the Civil Service for an AI-Augmented Future
Moving emergency and operational fleets to zero emission sounds straightforward in principle — until you're the one responsible for keeping heavy vehicles charged, operational, and ready around the clock. This panel gets into the operational reality of fleet electrification, bringing together frontline fleet leadership, national infrastructure policy, and charging network expertise.
- The infrastructure bottleneck: what it actually takes to keep a zero-emission emergency fleet operationally ready
- How DfT and OZEV are supporting the national rollout of EV charging infrastructure for public fleets
- What charging network providers are building to meet the specific demands of emergency and heavy vehicles
- Lessons from a city waste authority on transitioning heavy operational vehicles beyond just cars and vans
Readiness, reliability, and reinvention are at the centre of this closing session. Join us to explore how the public estate can transform its fleet while keeping essential services running without interruption.