A GROUND-BREAKING breakfast club bringing together sustainability professionals from across Scotland’s built environment is launching in two new cities – spurred on by overwhelming support for its Edinburgh event.
Sustainabuild Scotland, a networking movement which launched in January 2024, has been running its Breakfast Club, networking and learning events in Edinburgh each month to great acclaim. Following their Edinburgh success organisers have announced plans to expand to Dundee and Glasgow.
The Dundee Breakfast Club will be hosted at Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc on Tuesday 14th May with the theme ‘Building for Net Zero.’
The lively networking club will then move to Glasgow’s newly opened The Social Hub on Thursday 30th May examining the topic: ‘Decarbonising Heat in Buildings’. A second event on Wednesday June 19th will look at ‘Retrofitting for Net Zero’.
The events will bring together sustainability-minded organisations and individuals from the construction and built environment to collaborate, share ideas and create opportunities to drive more sustainable practices.
They will follow the format of the established Edinburgh gathering, which includes coffee, pastries and networking opportunities followed by industry leading presentations and a Q&A session.
The trio of Dundee speakers include Councillor Heather Anderson from Dundee City Council, Guillem Arraez, project architect at Holmes Miller and Peter McConnachie, Passivhaus Manager at Robertson Construction Tayside.
Matt Colgan, Director of Sustainabuild, said Dundee and Glasgow were ideal locations for the May events, and an exciting next step for the breakfast club’s expansion across Scotland.
He said: “It’s fantastic to be growing our Sustainabuild community across the country. Since we launched in January, we have been hugely encouraged at the support that we’ve received and the great value attendees are getting from participation.
“Launching in two new Scottish cities is a natural progression of this ground-breaking event and we are looking forward to offering more great networking opportunities alongside insightful debate at both venues”.
Speaking about the importance of working together, Matt added: “With the recent realisation that Scotland will not be meetings its 2030 targets for greenhouse gas emissions, it is imperative that we continue to drive the agenda for more sustainable solutions. We still have a local and national plan to achieve net zero by 2045, and it is only by collaborating and
meeting with the industry regularly that we are going to create real opportunities for change and keep commitments and actions at the forefront of people’s and organisations’ minds.”
The venue for the Dundee event, The Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc, has been built with carbon footprint in mind, with natural construction materials used, fuelled by wind power and heated from a neighbouring waste plant.
Gill Simpson, Marketing and Communications Director at Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc added: “We’re excited to be a venue partner with Sustainabuild, bringing this impactful series of events for sustainable building to Dundee. The audience can learn from the Innovation Hub story and be inspired by this unique building. We look forward to welcoming sector-leading sustainable businesses into our engaging space.”
The two Glasgow events are being held at the newly-opened The Social Hub, in the city’s Merchant City. This unique space is the 18th hub for the Amsterdam-based company, which was founded in 2012 by Edinburgh-born entrepreneur Charlie MacGregor.
The Social Hub Glasgow features a combination of 494 hotel, student and extended stay rooms and spaces with the aim to welcome “a diverse community can come to learn, stay, work and play.
Ben McLeod, General Manager at The Social Hub, Glasgow said they were delighted to be part of the Sustainabuild movement.
He said: “We are proud to be partnering with Sustainabuild on their Breakfast Club, an organisation creating opportunities for learning, innovation and collaboration for those driving sustainability within Scotland’s built environment and construction sector.
Explaining the ethos of the venue, he added: “As a pioneer in hybrid hospitality The Social Hub is committed to ensuring we monitor the impact of our business operations across our portfolio. This is accomplished through our comprehensive social impact program; working with grass roots initiatives, local partners, suppliers and brands that share our values.
“We understand that by bringing people with vision together from all walks of life we can create a better society. By setting ambitious sustainability goals for our current (and future) expansion we can ensure we help to safeguard the environment.”
In a further exciting Sustainabuild Scotland development, the Breakfast Club has welcomed its first event partner, Brewster Brothers. A recycled aggregate producer in Scotland with operations in Livingston and Cumbernauld – Brewster Brothers has prevented over a billion tonnes of CDE waste going to landfill.
