Driving delivery defines BE-ST Fest 2026, and in the East of Scotland, this is driven through the lens of retrofit.
Now in its fourth year, the International Retrofit Conference has established itself as a leading platform for industry leaders, community organisations, policymakers, and innovators to tackle one of the most pressing challenges of our time: retrofiting our existing buildings.
The ambition is clear: reduce energy demand, enhance building performance, decarbonise heating systems, and reimagine how we can use and reuse buildings, so that people can live in more comfortable, more affordable homes.
While the challenge is complex, momentum is growing across the sector. New approaches to funding, policy, skills development and delivery are helping to unlock progress, while collaboration across industry continues to build confidence and capability at scale.
The International Retrofit Conference will focus on what is currently happening and how we can do more. It asks not whether we need to retrofit, but how we do it, at scale, at speed, and in a way that is affordable and accessible. By aligning policy, finance and delivery, retrofit can become a cornerstone of net-zero progress.
Date: 2nd September 2026
Location: Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh
Speakers include:
Richard Nelson, Co-founder, Don’t Waste Buildings
Richard Nelson co-founded Don’t Waste Buildings in December 2022, alongside Will Hurst and Leanne Tritton. The group is advocating for policy clarity and financial incentives to make the reuse of existing buildings the first choice, rather than the last resort, for property owners and developers. By reducing wasteful demolition and reconstruction, we can act now to help reduce the carbon impact of the built environment in the UK and internationally.
The group has over 2,500 members served by chapters throughout the UK, as well as internationally in Australia and the United Arab Emirates. Several workstream teams progress the group's efforts in Policy, Financial & Tax Incentives, Engagement, Case Studies, Profile Building, and leveraging their private AI platform, ChatDWB, powered by OmniChat.uk
Jenny Danson, CEO, Healthy Homes Hub
Jenny Danson is Founder and CEO of Healthy Homes Hub, working with housing providers to put health outcomes at the centre of social housing decisions.
As Founder and CEO of Healthy Homes Hub, she brings together housing, health, data and lived experience to shift the sector from reactive responses to prevention. Her work focuses on damp and mould, building performance, retrofit impacts and the long-term value of healthier homes.
Jenny is known for translating complex housing and health challenges into practical, strategic conversations that support better decisions and better outcomes.
Jennifer Phin, Managing Director of AC Whyte
Jennifer leads a team of experts, including a dedicated management team and a fully trained, directly employed workforce, all committed to advancing energy efficient solutions in construction. Jennifer is responsible for driving AC Whyte's strategic and organisational objectives, ensuring the company’s long term success and positive impact.
Driven by her passion for sustainability and innovation, Jennifer spearheads the company’s approach to delivering high-quality, energy-efficient projects that align with net-zero goals. Her leadership has positioned AC Whyte as an industry leader, with a strong commitment to developing opportunities for underrepresented groups and fostering a more diverse and inclusive construction industry. Presently, Jennifer holds key positions on the governance board at the Council of Directors at Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, and the Construction Leadership Forum, where she actively contributes to shaping regulatory change and driving progress in the sector.
Parag Cameron-Rastogi, Director of Real Asset Analytics, GRESB
Parag is a building scientist with a background in civil engineering and 10+ years of experience in product development, innovation, research, and business development. His expertise and experience include decarbonisation planning and benchmarking of the built environment, analysis of energy use and production in and around buildings, health and wellbeing in building operation, integrating climate risk analysis into performance evaluation and planning, and the use of machine learning and data science in software and hardware for buildings.
He is Director of Real Asset Analytics at GRESB, the leading global provider of ESG benchmarking for real assets. Reporting to the Chief Innovation Officer, he supports the product and customer-facing teams as a subject matter expert on the energy and environmental performance of real estate and infrastructure assets. He also volunteers with several industry bodies to develop standards and technical guides, including CIBSE (Chartered Institution of Building Service Engineers), ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers), and IBPSA (International Building Performance Simulation Association).
James York, Architect, Collective Architecture
As Principal Energy Consultant at Collective Energy, James leads the performance-driven design of projects across the UK, combining his building physics expertise with a people-centred approach to low-energy and low-carbon retrofit and new build. James brings his experience as an Architect and Passivhaus designer to shape places and spaces with a focus on resilience, comfort, performance, affordability, and the people they serve.