Swathes of Scotland are being bought up with the intention of marketing their carbon locking potential to companies which want to “offset” their CO2 emissions.  The World Economic Forum describes carbon trading thus, “..planting trees or investing in a reforestation project….can buy carbon credits to establish an ongoing programme of carbon offsetting, so that for every action – a new division or building, a new fleet of vehicles, or a flight and so on – you simply buy more credits to cancel out your emissions.” The Scottish Government see carbon finance as a money spinner. But there is real concern carbon trading and offsetting simply allows CO2 emitters to carry on emitting while trading escalates land prices.

SEDA Land recently held two very popular webinars; one looking at the potential community benefits and problems with such “ecosystem markets”, and the other considering the options for private investment in them, while avoiding the potential disbenefits. 

Carbon Trading: Shifting Responsibility? takes a step back to ask some more fundamental questions, including, should SEDA support these markets?

A SEDA Solar Event

Venue: Online

Ticket Price: £6 – Non-member | £3 – Member/Student/Concession

Sustainable architecture has been focused, over these last 40 years, on performance and efficiency: Architects aim to deliver a recognizable product, albeit with a more efficient mode of operation. A sustainable building performs better, marginally or only under optimal conditions. Yet, carbon emissions continue to rise. Sustainable architecture based on efficiency measures and metrics has not worked.

The challenge to architecture is to move away from efficiency towards sufficiency, which consumes less energy and resources in absolute terms. In this lecture, Professor Daniel Barber will share his deep insight on historical precedents to sufficiency issues in architecture, as opposed to the efficiency imperative of sustainability.

The session will be moderated by Prof Colin Porteous.

The bioeconomy – obstacles and how to overcome them

1-3:30pm roundtable discussion organised by SEDA Land. (Online tickets only)

This event is free.

This is the third event SEDA Land has held about bioproducts  following our introductory events "Imagining Bioproducts" and “Reimagining Food” both of which were held in June 2022. 

“Imagining a Fossil-Fuel-Free Future” is a roundtable discussion with the aim of identifying the obstacles facing bioeconomy start-ups in Scotland and how these might be overcome, with particular reference to Scottish Government policy and incentives. We will hear from successful bioeconomy players as – in areas including fuels, plastics, textiles, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals – well as new start-ups (even ones that are considering relocating to the EU), and learn how the Republic of Ireland and Scandinavia are leading the way in terms of policy. We will also be covering the value chains a bioeconomy can bring including well paid jobs in rural areas, 

Location: Square Deal, Huntly, 22-23 The Square Huntly AB54 8BR.

SEDA Land are delighted to announce a screening of the eagerly anticipated documentary film, Six Inches of Soil. The film tells the inspiring story of young British farmers standing up against the industrial food system and transforming the way they produce food - to heal the soil, our health and provide for local communities. The screening will take place at the Square Deal, on 28 March at 5.30pm and will include a discussion led by David Miller, Knowledge Exchange Coordinator at James Hutton Institute. We will also aim to provide a summary of the roundtable discussion from the event funded by the Scottish Government and hosted by SEDA Land at Knock Farm near Huntly titled “You Are What Your Food Eats”. The participants are collectively investigating the long-term effects of land-use decisions on climate change and the food chain.

This event is now Sold Out, however there is an alternative screening on the same day at MacLaren Stuart Room in Old College, University of Edinburgh, South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH8 9YL.

To learn more about this event, follow the link above. Tickets for this alternative screening will become available shortly.

Film Screening in the MacLaren Stuart Room in Old College, University of Edinburgh, South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH8 9YL.

Six Inches of Soil is a British independent full feature documentary shining a spotlight on soil health and regenerative farming. It tells the inspiring story of young British farmers standing up against the industrial food system and transforming the way they produce food - to heal the soil, our health and provide for local communities. The aims of the film are to sound the alarm on a broken system, but to also give hope that there is a way to fix it; to inspire farmers to adopt agro-ecological and regenerative farming practices; and to encourage consumers, food corporations and policymakers to support their efforts.

The 96 minute film, with its original music score and beautiful animation, was completed at the end of 2023, and was launched at the Oxford Real Farming Conference on 4th January 2024. It was also shown at COP 28 in December 2023 through EIT Food Systems.

There is a 5:30pm start and finished at 9:30pm. This includes the showing of film and discussion with Soil and Climate Scientists from University of Edinburgh, James Hutton Institute and SRUC.

Are regional climate change Hubs a key route to channelling change, with increasing capacity and resilience, how can we feed that?

On this last day we will invite participants to self-organise into clusters of interest to discuss new delivery strategies, which they will present to the whole group for comment. 

We are delighted to be joined in the afternoon by Patrick Harvie, Scottish Government Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights.

To give us your input, ask to participate, or just for more information, please email BigConversation@seda.net

Find out more about this event!

TREES, LANDSCAPE AND AFFORDABLE HOMES

In “Which Trees For Homes?” we will investigate the long-term effects of land-use decisions on climate  change and the timber chain, particularly in relation to affordable homes. This event will involve scientists,  landowners, foresters, distributors and housebuilders. 

A one-day event organised by SEDA  Land in collaboration with the James Hutton Institute  and Scotland's Rural College.

10am – 12pm: Tour of Crofthead, Moffat – Award winning forest by manager Andrew Macqueen.

12:30 – 1:30pm: Lunch, Kirkmichael conference room at the SRUC Barony campus, Dumfries.

1:30– 4pm: Roundtable discussion. Details of panel below.

Let’s talk about the emerging Heat in Buildings Strategy as a way not this. Thinking in Government is advanced, there’s a consultation ongoing, so it’s coming soon. Let’s talk about those plans and see give them a 360 degree sanity check. We really need to avoid repeating the well-meaning delivery disasters of ferries and bottle recycling. 

Given it’s scale, poorly designed delivery in the built environment would be a disaster for the Just Transition. But a good alignment of funding with effective delivery for the Heat in Buildings strategy could be a strong model for successful implementation in Retrofit and Circular Economy. Let’s dig into that.

To give us your input, ask to participate, or just for more information, please email BigConversation@seda.net

Find Out more about this event!

As part of a Scottish Government’s Climate Change Engagement Programme, SEDA Land is holding a one day event near Huntly, Aberdeenshire including a farm tour and roundtable discussion about nutritional food chains.

In “You Are What Your Food Eats” we aim to investigate the long-term effects of land-use decisions on climate change and the food chain. This is part of a long-term project SEDA Land is running with Huntly. The event forms part a collaboration between the community, scientists, landowners, farmers, food processors, distributors and retailers.

We want to help the community, landowners and managers understand and visualise alternative ways of producing food in a productive ecological landscape that serves the climate and the community. This could lead to innovative new forms of employment in the area.

10:00 - 12:00 am: Tour of Knock Farm, Huntly – a 1400 acre organic mixed farm by owner Roger Polson. There are limited spaces for this event allocated on a first come first served basis.

12:30 - 1:30 pm: Lunch at, Knock Farm, Huntly.

1:30 - 4:00 pm: Roundtable discussion, Knock Farm, Huntly. Attendance in person by invitation only. Unlimited online attendance.

Macdonald Hotel, Aviemore

The aim of SEDA Land’s Building Futures series is to stimulate more sustainable placemaking in rural Scotland in order to reverse depopulation – through a focus on housing, communal spaces, workplaces, economic development and infrastructure, including good broadband connections.

In the fourth Conversation, we will look at what the Scottish Government can do to speed up the creation of more sustainable communities, referring back to obstacles identified in the previous discussions:

• How can communities access more land to build new homes?

• Can social value be clearly defined as a legally-binding benchmark, attracting recognition of the wider and multiple benefits that sustainable placemaking brings including better health? Could this justify the redirection of funds from other government departments such as NHS Scotland?

• Can funds be better distributed between communities and intermediary organisations such as the Communities Housing Trust?

How big an impediment to a Just Transition is gender inequality? Would promoting women to positions of power accelerate change because they are less vested in the status quo as well as being better-informed decision-makers? 

Is social and technological change coming inevitably, so we shouldn’t worry about it and we really need just to focus on cutting carbon emissions because that is the species level threat, or is social justice a prerequisite to a successful change process? 

To give us your input, ask to participate, or just for more information, please email BigConversation@seda.net

Find out more about this event!

Which bodies have a key role in leading this change through procurement, faster than regulation and tax, and able to change the market through their scale of the market – if targeted and resourced?

And let’s not forget landscape – how do we wean ourself off concrete? Will Dunbar Cement Works still be there in 2045? What does a circular material landscape look like and how do we get there?

To give us your input, ask to participate, or just for more information, please email BigConversation@seda.net

Find out more about this event!

We are all on that journey. Some people and organisations are already there, acting & thinking as we all will in 21 years. Others still live like we did in the 19th century, the era of extraction and empire that created the wealth that made us the 6th richest country in the world, but also the emissions from coal, gas and oil that makes us responsible for 10 times more cumulated emission than average, our unpaid debt to the planet. What can we learn from past change processes?

A public consultation on a draft Scottish National Adaptation Plan 2024-29 will be published early-2024 and we will use a discussion on Adaptation to frame our Conversation on how we approach the Future from a systems change perspective.

To give us your input, ask to participate, or just for more information, please email BigConversation@seda.net

Find out more about this event!

The event will take place on 18th January 2024, 6-8pm, at the Reid Building, Glasgow Schol of Art, Principal Seminar Room 1 – Ground floor.

Our speakers will discuss ways of supporting health and wellbeing of the ageing population:

Lesley Palmer, Stirling University 

Dementia-friendly design principles; a non-pharmacological approach to supporting people living with dementia.

Dr Luca Brunelli, Glasgow School of Art

How well-being of older people can be supported by local high streets; social psychology approach to health and well-being.

Dr Martin Quirke, Stirling University

Designing Housing for Healthy Cognitive Ageing (DesHCA); scalable innovations in housing design to support longer and healthier lives for people experiencing cognitive change. 

Andy Duncan, Gannochy Trust

Healthy, affordable housing designed for the changing needs of people throughout their lives.

 There will also be a Q&A, a Discussion and an opportunity to Network at the event.

The event will be hosted in a hybrid format. If attended in person, please ensure to arrive at least 10 minutes before the start. The Zoom call will close after Q&A and discussion.

How to get there:

Glasgow School of Art

Reid Building

167 Renfrew Street

Glasgow

G3 6RQ

Public transport: The GSA is about a 20-minute walk from Buchanan Bus Station and Queens Street and Central train stations. The nearest local railway station is Charing Cross and the nearest subway station is Cowcaddens.

Car Parking: There is metered on-street parking locally and the nearest public car parks are located at Cambridge Street and Concert Square. Note that the GSA is within Glasgow’s Low Emission Zone.

Getting to the GSA - please note that voucher system is not longer in operation. Parking can be paid for via RinGo App.

Friday 08th December, 6pm
Adam House Lecture Theatre, 3 Chambers Street Edinburgh EH1 1HT

Eventbrite Link

It’s time again for our annual ‘Show and Tell’ night, back again in Edinburgh and this time in Edinburgh University, co-orgainsed with ESALA and with contributions from within the architecture school (from which this years KJ Award winner Rona Bisset comes).

Members are being invited to show off their work, research and interests to the others, catch up over some food and drinks, and meet the students and staff of ESALA. This is open to non SEDA Members as well, though only members can present, and we hope many Members will attend in person if you can make it into Edinburgh, but you can also sign up to watch or present online as well. Any members wanting to present are asked to get in touch at the first opportunity to flag this up through: info@seda.uk.net

The work will be presented as ever ‘Pecha-Kucha’ style as short slide presentation on screen: full details of requirements will be emailed out to Members, or will be on the SEDA website shortly.

We will put together a buffet of veggie / vegan hot and cold food and drinks for those in the room, for which we will ask a donation on the night (typically this has been no more than £10, plus drinks at your discretion). Anyone buying a virtual place will be sent a Zoom link in the confirmation email on reserving a place and will have this sent as a reminder in the run up to the event.

This is a friendly and informal event, and we hope non-members can come along to meet the membership and the students. As ever these days, please d not attend if you are not feeling well and especially if you have any Covid-like symptoms, at present we don’t see it as an issue but we will monitor any changes, and we hope to see you there if you can.

So, save your place, get in touch if you are a Member who wants to present, and see you soon!

Following our first event, ‘Carbon Finance – Community Benefits’., this event will address the different types of investment in nature-based solutions to climate change – private, public and hybrid – as well as taxation, such as the John Muir Trust’s proposed Carbon Emissions Land Tax. 

There are growing concerns about the impact of private investment on land prices, tenant farmers and local communities, and the potential for greenwashing. Some, including Lorna Slater, minister for the circular economy and biodiversity in the Scottish Government, argue that the scale and speed of change needed to meet net zero targets in the land sector necessitates private investment. Others argue that private investment is only necessary because of government’s failure to prioritise climate action, and that the focus should be on progressive taxation to fund nature-based solutions.

Some of the themes in the event are:

• Who are the greatest winners and losers likely to be, and how might those with least power shape and benefit from these markets, as part of a just transition to net zero? 

• If there is to be a role for private finance in this transition, how can high-integrity markets and regulation be designed to protect tenants, communities and the public interest? 

• Should rural communities be actively engaging in these markets, passively sharing profits from local schemes, or would they be better off without these markets at all? 

• Could a carbon emissions land tax fill the gap in public finances that markets are trying to plug? 

• Might a combination of new taxes and new markets be the only way to reach the tree planting and peatland restoration targets recommended by the UK Committee on Climate Change?

Full details and speakers here

Most people agree that communities should be better engaged and benefit more from ecosystem markets, but it is not clear how this should be done, or how local residents and communities might be compensated under a public funding model. We will discuss this in the event, ‘Carbon Finance – Community Benefits’.

Some of the themes in the event are:

• Who are the greatest winners and losers likely to be, and how might those with least power shape and benefit from these markets, as part of a just transition to net zero? 

• If there is to be a role for private finance in this transition, how can high-integrity markets and regulation be designed to protect tenants, communities and the public interest? 

• Should rural communities be actively engaging in these markets, passively sharing profits from local schemes, or would they be better off without these markets at all? 

• Could a carbon emissions land tax fill the gap in public finances that markets are trying to plug? 

• Might a combination of new taxes and new markets be the only way to reach the tree planting and peatland restoration targets recommended by the UK Committee on Climate Change?

Full details and speakers here

Monday 30th October 2023. 4-6pm.

This is the third in the series of SEDA Land Conversations building on its successful Building Futures Conversation held on 18 April 2023.

The overall aim of the series is to stimulate more sustainable place making in rural Scotland and explore ways to reverse depopulation in these areas. We will primarily focus on housing, communal spaces and workplaces using existing buildings and new build. We will also consider the infrastructure needed to make sustainable communities such as good broadband connections and care for the elderly and young.

The aim of this Conversation will be to delve deeper into the obstacles facing communities that are seeking to develop alternative housing schemes. Solutions might include the need for more support for facilitators to help the building process flow more smoothly and quickly.

We will look at inspirational models such as John Gilbert Architects’ East Whins Ecovillage at Findhorn in Morayshire and the Balcaskie Estate in Fife.

Full details and speakers for Building Futures 2 and 3

Monday 9th October 2023. 4-6pm.

This is the second in the series of SEDA Land Conversations building on its successful Building Futures Conversation held on 18 April 2023.

The overall aim of the series is to stimulate more sustainable place making in rural Scotland and explore ways to reverse depopulation in these areas. We will primarily focus on housing, communal spaces and workplaces using existing buildings and new build. We will also consider the infrastructure needed to make sustainable communities such as good broadband connections and care for the elderly and young.

The aim of this Conversation is to stimulate local government into more proactive engagement with communities, housing associations, housing cooperatives and self builders to promote more public interest-led developments and investigate alternative funding models. We will also explore a one stop shop to support communities and consider ways of rewarding sustainable place making.

We will look at inspirational models such as Architype’s Springhill Co-housing in Gloucestershire – the first new build co-housing scheme in the UK.

Full details and speakers for Building Futures 2 and 3

SEDA Members are invited to join in our annual meeting which will take place online on the Wednesday evening before the SEDA Conference.

This’ll be your chance to find out about SEDA’s current activities, propose ideas for the future direction, examine the accounts, speak to the proposed new Directors, and more. We hope to see many of you there, and hear what your views and ideas on what SEDA should do how you could be involved.

As ever this is a free MEMBERS ONLY EVENT, so please flag this up to your fellow members, to get them along and to get a good range of views on where SEDA is headed and to have a say on want we should do from here.

Don’t forget to book up for the SEDA Conference as well, for one or both days, at the special Members rates, just click on the Conference event below!

Bio-Caledonia will be the key note event of GO Falkland, being held at Falkland Estate, Fife. GO (Groundswell Outreach) Falkland is a one-day event featuring talks and sessions on regenerative farming, sharing knowledge from leading practitioners, soil health specialists, and farmers.

For more information go to the SEDA Land Events page, where you can read about who the guests panellists will be and more about what the day will entail!

This is the 50th  anniversary of the publication of Small is Beautiful – Economics as if People Mattered. It provides opportunity to investigate the legacy of its author the radical economist and eco-pioneer Fritz Schumacher. 

The Schumacher legacy embraces the now well understood critique of GDP and the less well explored discussion of the role of ‘appropriate’ technology in meeting human needs. We will ask what economic system and what technologies are appropriate to a planet in climate and biodiversity crisis. 

Our context for this event is that Scotland is one of only four countries in the world that has committed to a well-being economy and we hope to generate better understanding of what this means for us as individuals, our communities, technologies and policies.

 The Keynote address The Legacy of E. F. Schumacher: Buddhist Economics and Economics of Wellbeing; In the Context of Small is Beautiful will be delivered by Satish Kumar founder and Director of Programmes of the Schumacher College international centre for ecological studies and Editor Emeritus of Resurgence and Ecologist magazine.  There will also be contributions from the Doughnut Economics Action Lab, the Well Being Alliance and others.

There will be ample time for Q&A and for those attending in person there will be networking with food and drinks offered from around 6pm.

Venue: Augustine United Church, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh

Food & Networking until 8pm

Venue Capacity is limited to 140 and early booking is recommended.

Online on Tuesday 18th April 4-6pm 2023

Join our inspiring panel to discuss how we might build more sustainable rural communities and encourage the repopulation of the Scottish countryside.

People’s work-life balances have changed since the pandemic. More people are appreciating the health and wellbeing benefits of rural life and flexi-working. However, this can be isolating and difficult without appropriate infrastructure in place -- including digital connectivity, availability of land, good transport links, healthcare and child care. We need more affordable, multi-generational homes, alongside places in which to work.

At this event, we will hear about a range of innovative placemaking ideas some of which repurpose existing buildings and some of which are attractive new developments. We will discuss the potential of rural enterprise hubs and hear from planners about the new National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) and how this can be translated down to the grassroots level. All these issues will be addressed alongside infrastructure, availability of land, and flexi-working.

Ninety-eight percent of land in Scotland is rural so why aren't rural communities providing more sustainable homes and more employment?

To find out more about the panel and when to buy tickets, click here.

Art by Eleanor Fraser

Online on Monday February 13th 4-6pm 2023 

For more information click here

Could the future of Scotland's rural communities be transformed by considering health and tourism together?

Rural tourism makes a massive contribution to Scotland’s economy, including generating £1.2 billion from walking tourism alone, as well as improving the country’s social capital in terms of health and wellbeing. But many who live in rural communitie are not getting their fair share of the benefits. 

Rural communities are suffering the downsides - congestion (with settlements on the NC500 particularly badly affected), litter, housing pressures - on top of more longstanding problems including business closures and rural depopulation. Decades of under-investment in rural infrastructure have seen the deterioration or removal of ranger services, public toilets and rural roads. The Scottish Government recently stepped in with dedicated funding for visitor management but this was on an annual, one-off, basis whereas long-term investment is needed. 

SEDA Land is running a conversation on how more of the fiscal and other benefits generated by visitors to the countryside - tourists, day-trippers, dog-walkers, mountain-bikers and other extreme sports enthusiasts - might be channelled back into the affected areas.  

Recreation and enjoyment of the outdoors is also crucial for our health and wellbeing, with these benefits increasingly recognised in the growth of preventative medicine and the growing use of “green prescriptions”. Given the contribution that outdoor pursuits make to our health, should we be looking at alternative sources of investment in their infrastructure and management, rather than simply seeing them as part of rural tourism? Given the potential savings to NHS Scotland's £18bn-a-year budget we will also be looking at how some of the clawed-back funds might be redistributed to rural communities for investment in improving regional infrastructure and visitor management.

Join this diverse panel in the search for some innovative ways forward to tackle these overlapping problems.

Aims

• To develop a model for local distribution of funding for the infrastructure necessary for rural tourism and  supporting better health

• To give communities the skills and responsibilities to enable/empower them to respond to the growing needs of tourism and supporting better health

A chance to informally discuss the policy for the future of heating in our buildings with the Scottish Government's Jamie Gregory

Thursday 26 January from 6pm

Architecture and Design Scotland, 146 Canongate, Edinburgh. EH8 8DD

We invite you for a night to discuss one of the key current issues, how to heat our buildings. The discussion will be over a drink with one of the team members who are tasked in Government to deliver it. PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT IS IN PERSON ONLY, and has limited numbers of places, so book up early!

Scotland has ambitious plans to transform its buildings. The Scottish Government's Heat in Buildings Strategy (2021) makes clear the need to ensure that, by 2045, our homes and buildings no longer contribute to climate change, while also tackling fuel poverty. Come and hear Jamie Gregory, from the Scottish Government, outline the changes we will need to make to our building stock both in terms of improving energy efficiency and installing zero emissions heating.

Delivering this transformation will require concerted effort across national and local government, as well as the wider public and private sectors. Locally-led planning will be key to ensuring that the decarbonisation of heat in buildings is delivered in a way that is relevant to local contexts and tailored to the specific needs of communities. It will also need a strategic approach to allow delivery on a large scale.

As part of this Strategy, Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES) will set out the long-term plan for decarbonising heat in buildings and improving energy efficiency across an entire local authority area. LHEES are at the heart of a place based, locally-led and tailored approach to the heat transition. These local strategies will underpin an area-based approach to heat and energy efficiency planning and delivery.

Jamie will provide an overview of the Heat in Buildings Strategy followed by a more in depth look into LHEES. You can read it yourself here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/heat-buildings-strategy-achieving-net-zero-emissions-scotlands-buildings/

We hope we'll see you there, and bring cash for refreshments!

RSA Fellows’ event based in part on SEDA Land’s 6 Conversations report. Panel members include SEDA  Land members Gail Halvorsen, Davy McCracken (SRUC) and David Miller, (James Hutton Institute).

About this event

All are welcome to this event, where the discussion will be centred around the Scottish Government “Vision for Agriculture” document, other related policy consultations, and SEDA’s report of “A New Vision for Land Use in Scotland: 6 Conversations”, all as part of a wider conversation about issues relating to the environment and land use. 

This event will be one of two that will precede a full day conference in March, details of which will be released soon. 

The context for this event is both historic and topical. The RSA’s long-standing interest in environmental and rural issues dates back to the excellent Countryside Conferences initiated by our late President, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. The environment is also a prominent topic in the RSA's recently published 'Design for Life' , which you can learn more about here.

https://www.thersa.org/fellowship/festival/design-for-life

You can reserve your places for this event here.

6pm, Friday 09 December
Augustine United Church, 41 George IV, Edinburgh. EH1 1EL

SEDA’s annual social night to share what we are working on and want to talk about returns, and we're hoping to bring as many of members together again, to show off your work to one another and to catch up over some food and drinks. We would love as many Members as possible to come down to the Augustine United Church in Edinburgh to meet up, and discuss what you've been up to, and what SEDA does next. The night is open to interested non Members as well, but only Members can present. It will also be possible to view and present online, if you can't make it into town or are still playing cautious on social events, but ideally we'd like to see you there in person, for an informal evening with the eco-designers of Scotland.

The work will be presented ‘Pecha-Kucha’ style as short slide presentations on screen: as said, only SEDA Members are allowed to present (if you are a member and want to present, you should have received an email with instructions on how to send your work in). We will put together a buffet of veggie / vegan hot and cold food and drinks for those in the room, for which we will ask a donation on the night (typically this has been no more than £10 with drinks but at your discretion, if you eat or drink less). Anyone buying a virtual place will be sent a Zoom link in the confirmation email on reserving a place and will have this sent as a reminder in the run up to the event.

You can buy your tickets here:

This is a friendly and informal event, and we hope non-members can come along to meet the membership and maybe join us, share a beer and discuss what we will be doing next. The event is no longer strictly socially distanced, but we have lots of room so that you can sit at a distance you are comfortable with. Please do not attend if you have any Covid-like symptoms, or if you have been told to isolate, of course you can then just watch online, but we hope to see you there if you can!

From 1.30pm 18 November 2022.

Site entrance off Porters Walk, Edinburgh. EH3 9GJ

SEDA Building visits return! Join us for a rare chance to see inside the large scale refurbishment and extension of the landmark Royal Infirmary, to the new Edinburgh Futures Institute for Edinburgh University converting the old Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and designed by Bennetts Associates with Consarc.

You may have seen the presentation on the project at a SEDA Greensdrinks by Rab and Denise Bennetts a few years back, so come down and see how those ambitions are being realised, while it's ongoing. You can see how the old fabric is being upgraded for modern, low energy standards, and new elements are being slotted in between, and can ask contractors and designers your questions about how this is happening and how it is all going to work in detail.

There will be two tours, with limited numbers on each, with the tours (at 1.30pm and 3.00pm) being lead by Iain Tinsdale, project architects for Bennett's Associates. Tickets are free, with only 15 places on each, set get in quick and choose which you wish to join. These are expected to be in high demand so if you have to then drop out, please cancel your place! 

As this is a live construction site and the contractors will provide safe access, with protective gear. But do note that access, while it will be fine for the majority of people, it may not be suitable for some people with limited mobility, so please contact us if you aren’t sure if it will be possible.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Project Info:

Edinburgh Futures Institute , University of Edinburgh

Edinburgh’s Old Royal Infirmary, a Grade A listed building at the heart of the City, is to be the setting for a major new facility for Edinburgh University.

With the medical facilities now gone, the historic surgical building is to be restored, extended and upgraded to form a wide range of teaching and learning spaces, function areas and workspace for academics, all linked together by broad circulation routes and dynamic spatial volumes. Having remained empty and disused for thirteen years, the revitalised building will transform its local environment, with a major new public space and several points of access from Lauriston Place, Middle Meadow Walk and the Quartermile development.

For both the University and the City of Edinburgh it is a project of the greatest significance, with the potential to create a sequence of physical and intellectual links with nearby educational faculties and the City beyond.

The completed project will have a stature and scale that identifies it as one of Edinburgh University’s primary institutions within the City centre, alongside the Old College and the McEwan Hall.

The many additions and alterations to the building have largely been detrimental to the historic fabric and character. There is also significant decay to the building fabric, due partly to the passage of time but also as a result of water ingress, leading to wet and dry rot outbreaks. The interior finishes are largely modern, with successive layers of interventions, and mostly now in very poor condition.

The proposals provide around 21,000 sqm of floor space, of which 5,800 sqm is new construction. The main construction period started in 2018 and will be ready for occupation by the University in late 2023.

Architect: Bennetts Associates, Conservation Architect: Consarc