Hub West Scotland is a private sector development company who work in partnership with the public sector in the West of Scotland. They were interested, not only in understanding how best to develop these strategies across large, varied estates, but also how local authorities and other public bodies could benefit from working collaboratively to tackle this challenge, and so created the Net Zero Collaboration Group.

The first phase of work in the retrofit of Scotland’s National Retrofit Centre (SNRC) is now complete. But what has the project taught us, and what’s next?

The Torry Heat Network in Aberdeen is a landmark project that demonstrates how retrofit heat networks can deliver both climate and social impact.

VASO Build Limited provide ecological services across sectors with the intent of bringing wider benefits to society. They are looking to realise these benefits through Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and a new sustainable panelling system.

Local opportunities are supported by nationwide expertise.

Retrofit Balsall Heath is a community-led neighbourhood project in the Balsall Heath area of Birmingham, made up of local people, community groups, and partners working together to retrofit the neighbourhood – possibly one of the first of its kind working at this scale.

On the journey to net zero, community-based initiatives like Loco Home Retrofit are key. Founded by Chris Carus and Tom Nockolds, Loco Home Retrofit is a retrofit co-operative of homeowners, trades and buildings professionals working together to make homes in Glasgow more energy efficient.

The firm is behind the award-winning Niddrie Road Retrofit project in Glasgow’s South Side and is using the breadth and depth of their experience to accelerate community-led placemaking, which they see as the key to unlocking successful retrofit.

The practice, John Gilbert Architects, also won BE-ST's Accelerate to Zero Award’s Retrofit Award.

Civic House has recently been retrofitted to EnerPHit Standard as well as being transformed into a small-scale power plant – generating three times as much electricity as it consumes over the course of the year. 

James Morton, a Scottish doctor, writer and former Bake-Off contestant, has been cooking up something new over the last year. He has gone from baking to building by tackling the challenge of retrofitting his and his partner’s own century-old home in Glasgow, getting hands-on with some of the installation himself.

Low Carbon Learning initially began as Scotland’s first National Passivhaus training programme.

Many Scottish dwellings are over 100 years old: 23% are pre-1919 tenement flats and most remain un-insulated, so a solution is needed for effectively retrofitting older dwellings.

The NearHome project is helping retrofit public spaces into sustainable office alternatives, reflecting the changing working patterns of a post-Covid Scotland.