Porotherm, Passive House & The Truth About “Sustainable” Construction with Andy Oram

How EH Smith is Shaping the Future of Building Materials and Challenging the Industry to Lead Differently

Sustainability has become one of the most overused words in construction. It’s splashed across brochures, used to win bids, and thrown into strategy meetings without much thought about what it really means.

But behind the buzzwords, there’s a much bigger conversation we need to have, one about leadership, collaboration, and the uncomfortable truths holding back real progress.

In a recent episode of The Heald Approach Podcast, I sat down with Andy Oram from EH Smith Builders Merchants, a company that has spent over 100 years innovating in the building materials sector and driving real change in sustainable construction. Andy has been instrumental in introducing products like Porotherm clay blocks to the UK market and delivering some of the first Passive House projects across England and Wales.

This wasn’t just another chat about eco-builds. It was a truth-telling conversation about why the industry is still lagging, what needs to change, and how leadership and decision-making shape our future.

The UK’s Missed Opportunity on Passive House

For those new to the term, Passive House is a building standard that focuses on energy efficiency, comfort, and long-term performance. It reduces energy bills dramatically while creating healthier, more liveable spaces. In Andy’s words, “It should be the standard, not the exception.”

So why, decades after its introduction, is Passive House still a niche approach in the UK?

Andy explains that while many European countries embraced innovative, low-carbon methods after the First World War, the UK doubled down on traditional concrete block construction. This “British way of doing things” became entrenched, with little appetite for change, even when alternatives were cheaper, cleaner, and more efficient.

This cultural resistance, a reluctance to try what we don’t fully understand, continues to cost us today. Projects default to “what we’ve always done,” and promising solutions are value-engineered out before they even make it to site.

Why “Sustainability” is Losing Its Meaning

Another powerful point Andy made was around the word itself: sustainability.

“Something that’s sustainable just means you can keep doing it. And if what we’re doing now has caused a climate crisis, why would we sustain it?”

Too many businesses treat sustainability as a marketing checkbox rather than a mindset shift. They slap an eco-label on products or processes without questioning the impact of every decision, from material sourcing to supply chain ethics to end-of-life reuse.

Real sustainability isn’t just about being “green.” It’s about balancing:

• Environmental impact

• Human well-being

• Business resilience

• 
  

That means making decisions that reduce carbon and create better places to live and work while ensuring the industry’s future is not built on burnout, poor retention, and outdated thinking.

Circulabrick: A Real Example of Change

One of the most exciting projects Andy highlighted was Circulabrick developed by Lyons & Annoot.

Instead of sending bricks from demolished buildings to landfill, they are carefully deconstructed, cleaned, and reintroduced into new builds.

EH Smith have partnered with them to bring this idea to market, even though it doesn’t make them more profit than selling new bricks. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do and it’s a glimpse of how the industry can innovate when businesses use their influence responsibly.

But projects like this only succeed when leaders collaborate across the value chain, clients, architects, suppliers, and contractors. Without that early conversation, sustainability ideas are often scrapped due to cost fears, lack of understanding, or a “we’ve never done it before” mindset.

Leadership is the Missing Piece

This is where my work comes in and why I wanted Andy on the show. The future of sustainable construction won’t be driven by materials alone. It will be driven by leadership transformation.

We can introduce every low-carbon product under the sun, but until leaders:

• Understand the long-term value of sustainable decisions

• Collaborate beyond silos

• Build inclusive teams where diverse ideas are heard and acted on

• Stop defaulting to short-term cost savings over future-proofing

• 
  

…the industry will keep making the same mistakes.

True sustainability will only become “business as usual” when leadership culture catches up with what’s possible.

Two Stories That Say It All

Andy shared two real-world examples that highlight the problem and the solution.

1️⃣ The Missed Million - A contractor rejected Porotherm clay blocks for a Passive House project because they didn’t understand the product. The decision cost them £1 million more than necessary and delivered a less sustainable outcome.

2️⃣ The Bristol Breakthrough – A social housing project brought residents, architects, and contractors together from day one. They chose breathable, low-impact materials like Porotherm – and because everyone understood the “why,” the project went ahead without value engineering gutting its sustainability goals.

These stories underline a simple truth: knowledge and collaboration save money, cut carbon, and build better places for people to live.

The Future of Construction Depends on Leadership

Listening to Andy, one thing is clear: the next wave of sustainable construction won’t come from a single product, technology, or regulation. It will come from leaders who are brave enough to challenge “the way it’s always been done.”

That means:

• Bringing sustainability into boardroom decisions, not just marketing slides.

• Investing in learning and understanding innovative methods, instead of defaulting to “cheap and known.”

• Partnering with others across the supply chain to create solutions that last.

• Building workplaces where talent stays, ideas thrive, and sustainability is a commercial advantage.

• 
  

If we can fix leadership culture in construction, Passive House will stop being an exception, circular bricks will become normal, and sustainability will finally mean something real.

Final Thoughts

Andy’s honesty about the challenges and opportunities in our industry was refreshing because we need more truth, less spin. The reality is this: the solutions already exist. We just need leaders with the courage, knowledge, and collaboration skills to make them happen.

Until then, sustainability risks being another empty word on a brochure while the climate, and the construction industry, pays the price.

If you’re ready to lead differently, challenge outdated thinking, and stop repeating the same mistakes on projects, let’s talk. Because the future of construction isn’t just about buildings, it’s about rewiring leadership for a better, fairer, more sustainable industry.