T1C collaborators Morrison Construction, Kier Construction, Balfour Beatty, Robertsons and Morgan Sindall, their supply chains and BE-ST, has built a box in BE-ST’s factory, aptly called the Tardis as there is more to it than meets the eye. 

Social Bite, a charity and social business that aims to end homelessness, commissioned Ecosystems Technologies to deliver a new kind of housing for their Social Bite Village. 

Chloë Yuill, a newly qualified Architect at ECD Architects, was the winner of the 2023 Change Maker Award at the Accelerate to Zero Awards for her significant commitment and contribution to solving the challenges faced in decarbonising the built environment.

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.

BE-ST launched a fully-funded digital construction skills training program in partnership with the HCI Skills Gateway.

The DIveIN programme is an initiative aimed at promoting equity and inclusion within the built environment industry that is delivered by BE-ST, and funded by the Workplace Equality Fund by Scottish Government. 

Alongside partners we are aiming to establish the UK’s first commercially viable homegrown wood fibre insulation to validate its feasibility. This would drive the greater adoption of English-grown wood in construction, increase the amount of carbon stored within the built environment, and establish novel supply chains for forestry and manufacturing.

Glasgow University’s digital twin was fully developed by a company called Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES),150 years after its Gilmorehill campus was first established.

Timber TED (Timber Technology Engineering & Design) is a training course designed to provide construction students and professionals with a suite of in-person and online training to upskill in timber offsite construction techniques. 

Kenoteq is the company behind the world’s first 95% recycled brick, the K-Briq. This disruptive brick turns old construction waste into a new ultra-low carbon construction material, while still having the strength, durability and workability to fit in well back on construction sites.  

BE-ST and ZWS asked the University of Edinburgh to prepare a report looking into the availability, performance, manufacturing supply chains and market analysis of Natural Fibre and Circular Insulation options.

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. 

Equipping Scotland’s public asset owners with the skills, knowledge and connections to accelerate their zero carbon.

Case studies from the work our students do through the Built Environment Innovation Masters Fund.

Local opportunities are supported by nationwide expertise.

Following on from proof-of-concept timber concrete composites manufactured at BE-ST for a live build at Laing O’ Rourke, Laing O’ Rourke are now looking to decarbonise the concrete used in this system and in all of their projects.

Timber piling as a responsible way of building houses on peatland.

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.