Scotland’s National Retrofit Centre: Home to Retrofit Scotland

BE-ST launched Scotland’s National Retrofit Centre in January 2024 and has since been undertaking a deep retrofit of the building to create the national centre that Scotland deserves. 

Once complete, Scotland’s National Retrofit Centre will serve as the physical headquarters of Retrofit Scotland – a hub for training, collaboration, and consultancy, dedicated to supporting the retrofit community across the country. Its mission is to make retrofit achievable at scale, and to help build a future where it is more affordable, reliable, and accessible for everyone in Scotland. 

The vision of the retrofit 

The transformation of Scotland’s National Retrofit Centre, located on the BE-ST Innovation Campus, marks a significant milestone for Scotland’s built environment. With over 220,000 non-domestic buildings across the country requiring retrofit, the sector urgently needs clear, scalable examples of how deep retrofit can be delivered successfully. This project is designed not only to meet performance targets, but also to act as inspiration and a case study for industry. 

The long-term vision is to create a living, breathing demonstrator of retrofit best practice. Led by Edinburgh Napier University – administrator of BE-ST – and supported by over £1.2 million in funding from the Scottish Government’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund, the project aims to showcase innovation in both construction methods and energy systems. The building will meet the International EnerPHit and Scottish Net Zero Public Sector Building standards through a phased programme of retrofit works. 

Phase 1 retrofit 

By using a fabric-first approach, Phase 1 focuses on dramatically improving the thermal performance of the building envelope. This includes the replacement of the existing curtain wall with a new insulated panel system made from homegrown Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), manufactured on-site at the BE-ST Innovation Factory. Additional roof and floor insulation will also reduce heating demand significantly. A new hybrid zero-emissions heating system, incorporating solar PV-T, air source, and water source heat pumps, will replace the existing gas system. 

Clark Contracts is the main contractor delivering the retrofit, and organisations such as Kenoteq, John Gilbert Architects, Lùths Services, Brown + Wallace, Narro, High Six, Ecosystems Technologies, Ecological Building Systems, IndiNature, Russwood, Kenoteq, 21 Degrees, and Rockwool UK are all involved in the design, delivery and supply of the retrofit project. 

Community learning 

To support knowledge-sharing, BE-ST partnered with Clark Contracts and John Gilbert Architects to host a series of Behind the Build events during February and March 2025. These exclusive site visits attracted contractors, consultants, and clients from across the construction sector. Guests were given a close-up view of the insulated CLT panels, a key innovation at the heart of the retrofit, which have been craned into place to make up the external facade. 
 
These sessions offered not just insight into the technical details, but also honest reflections on the project’s journey and challenges encountered to date.  

Once complete, the retrofitted building in Blantyre will serve as Scotland’s home for retrofit skills and low carbon construction training – a facility for learning, experimentation, and collaboration for the retrofit community in Scotland, and a home for Retrofit Scotland. It will house training rigs, live demonstrators, and practical workshops, supporting the upskilling of the workforce needed to decarbonise buildings at scale. 

Expanding Retrofit Scotland 

This hub hopes to be one of many across the country. 

A ‘hub and spoke’ model will be used to create a network of community-led retrofit facilities across Scotland. In keeping with the ethos of retrofit, we’re not starting from scratch – we’re reimagining and repurposing existing spaces to serve new purposes. The first of these is Civic House in Glasgow, and we’re now actively looking for additional sites to join the network. 

If you know of a suitable space or are interested in becoming part of this growing movement, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch to explore how your site could help drive Scotland’s retrofit revolution.