Scottish Renewables is opening its new Glasgow office with a celebration of the country’s history of renewable energy.
Representing around 320 members involved in all green energy technologies, the trade body has moved to new premises on St Vincent Place.
Powered entirely by renewable electricity and heated with an air source heat pump, the building housed the offices of the Glasgow Evening Citizen from 1889.
Meeting rooms and pods have been installed for exclusive member use and are named after Scottish renewable energy firsts while a specially commissioned timeline of the industry has been created for the kitchen.
Among the firsts celebrated are the the first hydro-electric scheme in Scotland, which was built at Fort Augustus in 1890; Queens Quay, the UK’s first large-scale water source heat pump development, opened in Clydebank in 2021; the Beatrice Demonstration Offshore Wind Farm, Scotland’s first, which went live off Caithness in 2007; and Scotland’s first solar farm, opened in 2013 at Edinburgh College’s Eskbank campus in Midlothian.
Scottish Renewables’ Chief Executive Claire Mack told how the new premises “provides the profile and space we need as we embark on the next phase of the transition to a clean energy system”.
She continued: “Scottish Renewables is now representing more members than ever before, up around 15% on two years ago, and our team is growing to service that increased demand, with a new energy transition and supply chain team launched last autumn (2022).
“The new office gives us the opportunity to host more of our members, who’re increasingly working flexibly and looking for accessible workspace in the city centre.
“It also gives us the opportunity to challenge those who believe renewable heat solutions can’t work in old buildings: we can now say we’re occupying the oldest red sandstone building in Glasgow and look, we’ve got a heat pump. Those are the kinds of positive stories with which this growing industry is filled and we’re delighted to be able to write a new chapter in Scottish Renewables’ history on St Vincent Place.”