The first of our ‘Championing The Local’ free events takes place on 7 Sept. Building Vibrant Local Economies will help community groups realise their ambitions by explaining the range of business models available, showcasing IDBMs in food, renewable energy and retrofit. 🔗 seda.scot/championing-...

Is Scotland sufficiently ambitious when it comes to housing? This was Herald editor @salmondsalmond.bsky.social's question to Scottish National Investment Bank investment director Nicola Douglas. “We should be [more] open to looking at other models across the UK and Europe,” was Douglas’s answer.

We are holding a series of three conversations on Community Wealth Building, with the focus on local value chains, on 7, 14, and 21 Sept 2026. The series is intended to help communities realise their ambitions and persuade local authorities of the part they can play in enhancing local economies.

RIAS urges ScotGov to rethink its infrastructure strategy. CEO Tamsie Thomson said: “Grenfell made clear that weak oversight, fragmented responsibility and cost-driven decision-making create systemic danger. It’s gravely worrying when building safety isn’t given strategic weight in public policy.“

“Like a woodwind solo drifting through a mountain valley these houses play a continuous melody marked by theme and variation in cedar, stone and timber beam,” says Trevor Roddy of homes by Blue Sky Architecture, the Vancouver-based practice led by Bo Helliwell and Kim Smith. LAST CHANCE TO BOOK!

Former WD & HO Wills cigarette factory to be “sensitively repurposed” as 129 homes under proposals from Turnberry Property Devts and EMA Architects. At its height, the Art Deco landmark, built 1946-53, employed 3500 and produced 260m cigarettes a week. www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/pla...

At last night’s Better Outdoors SEDA Land event, held in Augustine United Church, Edinburgh, one audience member said outdoor learning is a “a no-brainer”. She’s right. At the event, practitioners, academics and policymakers explored how to ensure it is rolled out more widely across Scotland.

In a UK first, Stirling is pioneering a combined heat and power (CHP) system that utilizes cleaned wastewater to deliver heat to public buildings and businesses. A partnership between Scottish Water Horizons, Stirling Council, and Trane, the project is expected to save 380 tonnes of carbon a year.

Join us for a celebration of the life and legacy of SEDA co-founder, architect, activist and educator Jim Johnson on Saturday, 16 May from 1pm. The event is being held in Briggait, an a-listed complex of studios in the Merchant City which owes its survival and flowering to Jim and his colleagues.

Why the Isle of Eigg hatched a plan to grow its own trees. The island’s nursery — currently running a “putting down roots” crowdfunder — is growing tens of thousands of native trees to create a sustainable supply of wood for fuel and to support natural habitats www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/eiggtreenu...

The primary energy fallacy is the false assumption that energy sources must be compared on the strength of their raw, primary energy input rather than their energy output. @janrosenow.bsky.social

Edinburgh World Heritage coming under fire over its support for plans to convert four A-listed late Georgian townhouses on Atholl Crescent into a 544-bed “capsule” hostel. Until January 2022, the building housed the head office of law firm Brodies LLP.

“The Glenbranter extension highlights how Scotland’s timber industry — from growing forests, to milling, to designing building materials — can safeguard rural jobs for local people and enhance sustainability,” says Forestry and Land Scotland's operations manager Mark Ormsby.

“We can walk on the land, but we cannot shape what happens to it.” @landworkersuk.bsky.social’s campaigns coordinator Tara Wright on the inadequacies of Scottish land reform.

On International Women’s Day, SEDA Land thanks all the inspirational women who have helped us in the past year. Here are a few of them. Clockwise from top left: Bea Nichol, Megan MacInnes, Flora Fraser, Magdalena Blazusiak, Lucy Filby, Savannah Fishel, Sophie Cooke, Lorna Dawson, and Gloria Lo

North Queensferry Community Trust wins appeal against the Scottish Government over the latter’s claim that plans for a community-buyout of historic coaching inn the Albert Hotel are unworkable and unaffordable. Dunfermline Sheriff Court ruled that ScotGov’s stance was “not based on reason or logic”.

Through community shares and collective ownership, Scots are now in a much better position to raise money and run locally-important shops and services themselves. @paulinedtas.bsky.social, chief executive of Development Trusts Association Scotland (@dtascotland.bsky.social), in @scotsman.com

💼 Looking for an exciting volunteering opportunity? ♻️ The Green Drinks team are looking for a new member! 💬 If you're interested, please contact us at [email protected] #volunteer #scotland #seda

This webinar examines design choices shaped by a young family’s priorities, including accessibility, material safety, and long-term adaptability. The session will present findings from 14 months of indoor environmental monitoring and analysis. 🕒️ - 10th March, 6-7:30pm 🔗 - seda.scot/webinar-acce...

Kyle and Lochalsh Community Trust has acquired part of a commercial forest beside Loch Duich with a view to building an eco-village offering affordable housing, woodland crofts and business units. It hopes the development will attract young families to the area and help keep the local school open.

Better Outdoors? An event on outdoor learning both at primary and secondary level, and how ScotGov and local authorities might be persuaded to get behind it. An informal discussion with some of Scotland’s top practitioners. 📌 Augustine United Church 📆 29 April, in-person and online 🤑 Free to attend

Now is the best time in decades for Scottish farmers to convert to nature-friendly practices, according to @soilassocscot.bsky.social co-director David McKay. by @scotsman.com rural affairs correspondent @katharinehay.bsky.social

Workshops, talks, celebration of member and student work, walks, storytelling, art and song—bringing people together in connection with land, place, and one another. More details coming soon!

How should the UK and Scottish Governments be working with communities and local authorities to enhance Scotland’s high streets and town centres? @rtpiplanners.bsky.social’s response to the Future of Scotland’s High Streets: Call for Evidence from House of Commons’ Scottish Affairs Committee.

Jeremy Leggett @highlandsrewilding.bsky.social has come up with a big new idea, the “nature prosperity pump,” which combines sustainable forestry, rewilding, and the work of Inverness-based Makar to address Scotland’s climate & biodiversity crises and its housing emergency @vickyallan.bsky.social

Britain’s building standards are so bad, even the super-rich face housing misery. Residents of the UK’s most expensive flats at 1 Hyde Park have won a court case over defective pipework; if their homes are shoddily built, what hope for the rest of us?

Just a friendly reminder about the screening of 'The Cost of Growth' in Edinburgh, 19th of February! 🔗 - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/screening-...

The GOV.UK Nature Security Assessment makes it clear: biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse threaten food, water, health and stability. We need nature. Protecting and restoring it is not optional, it’s a responsibility. We must redesign how we live with the natural world — urgently and together.

Thank you to all participants who took part in SEDA Land's workshops in Dunbar, Gorebridge, Huntly, and Dundee. We had some stimulating discussions and have now submitted community-led and regenerative proposals for rethinking ScotGov's draft Climate Change Plan via @royalscotgeosoc.bsky.social

Five years after it was introduced, one of Scotland’s boldest land reform powers—giving communities the power to secure land for projects that promote long-term social, environmental and economic wellbeing—has only been used twice. Why is this?

♻️ Get ready to dive deep into the world of environmental standards in our upcoming webinar 🕐 3rd February - 5:30-6:30pm🕐 🔗Book Here - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/environmen... The Webinar will provide an overview of Environmental Standards Scotland, including our core functions and statutory powers.

'Stone Stories' From the Stone Futures online seminar series with Amy Wilson and Geoff Squire! 🪨 - Monday 2nd February at 13:00 - ONLINE 🔗Booking Link - architecturaltechnology.com/more/event-c... We hope to see you there! #seda #stonefutures

Why is the sale of peat still a thing? It's pretty much the stupidest thing you can do in a climate crisis, second only to the sale of fossil fuels.

The latest nuclear renaissance is a very sinister development says ex Guardian environment writer Paul Brown. Starmer’s government has gone gung-ho on nuclear—to the utter dismay of many environmentalists, forcing the public to watch as billions of pounds of our money is poured down the drain.

“It’s about energy and time and capital and how these forces come into our lives and how we work through them.” @dominicmhinde.bsky.social was interviewed about his new book Drifting North: Finding A Sustainable Future in Scotland's Past, by @bellacaledonia.bsky.social

Looking for an interesting read? Check out this article by Colin Porteous reflecting on COP26. ♻️ 🔗 - seda.scot/cop26 #seda #cop26

Growing our homes - ♻️ upscaling biobased materials in construction webinar! Link - 🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/growing-ou... 🔗 Please reserve your spot in the webinar in the link above! #SEDA

Caochan na Creige, a self-build project on the Isle of Harris designed by Izat Arundell, has been shortlisted for RIBA’s House of the Year 2025. Jury chair David Kohn said “It isn’t a building about itself. It's a building about a way of making homes, about the island, and about craft traditions.”

It's time for our annual Show and Tell event for members! Location, Date & Time is shown on graphic, as well as on the eventbrite page linked below! Please reserve your tickets on the eventbrite website. - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/seda-show-... We look forward to seeing you there!

"My mum rang me to tell me there was water coming into the house. She sounded fine... . But when I rang her back later, the telephone was dead. When we eventually got into the house the next day, I found the phone downstairs near her body." The tragic reality of a changing climate.

Edinburgh’s balancing act between decarbonisation and the preservation of cultural identity. City-wide strategies from retrofitting and adaptive reuse to promoting circular design are bringing long-term benefits. Article by Ananya Nayak in @archdaily.bsky.social

A win for people-led rewilding, as MSPs vote to create a new hutting law. The amendment to the Land Reform (Scotland) bill was introduced by @scottishgreens.org MSP @ariane-burgess.bsky.social.

Deep retrofit of Scotland’s National Retrofit Centre has been shortlisted for the Glasgow Institute of Architects' sustainability award. The project, led by @be-stbuild.bsky.social with ScotGov support, was developed by John Gilbert Architects, Brown+Wallace, Luths Services, and Narro Associates

We need a materials revolution in the construction sector—embracing circularity, innovation and cooperation—otherwise its carbon footprint is going to double by 2050, breaching climate goals and endangering our planetary future, say the authors of new Nature paper. @lloydalter.bsky.social

Scotland's construction and built environment professionals are being urged to make the most of two new facilities — the Mass Timber Centre of Excellence and Scotland’s National Retrofit Centre — at @be-stbuild.bsky.social's innovation campus in Hamilton. projectscot.com/2025/10/new-...

#UrbanismBookClub: Some great books on key, underconsidered elements of better city-making have been coming out lately — thanks to @chrisfitchchris.bsky.social, author of “Wild Cities,” and @samkbloch.bsky.social, author of “Shade,” for sending me copies. Digging into both. Anyone finished them yet?

Thanks very much to the impressive team of volunteers who guided over 600 students around the SEDA Green Careers Fair at @uofglasgow.bsky.social ensuring it was such as success.

Join us this Sunday 5th Oct for a visit to Sustainable Thinking Scotland's Walled Garden in Bo'ness. seda.scot/seda-confere...