The Recap: A weekly update from Architecture and Design Scotland

Welcome to the Recap - a short regular update blog from Architecture and Design Scotland. This is based on our internal blog that is shared with staff and board members on Fridays. This blog covers weeks ending March 14–March 28 2025.

On Tuesday 11 March, we co-hosted with SFT the first Shared Learning Event for 2025, focusing on energy reporting and monitoring.  

Energy efficiency is one of many categories in the Learning Estate Strategy guiding principle(s). The banding is a key funding requirement of the Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) and is determined at the end of the second year of a building's occupancy. This proved to be our most well attended Shared Learning Event ever, with a peak audience of 162 from Local Authorities across Scotland, as well as representatives from Scottish Government’s Learning Estate Directorate.  

First to present were Alan Skea from Rybka, Matt Hegarty and Soo Darcy from Ryder Architecture, and Allan Smith from Morrison Construction presenting on the ‘Challenges and lessons learned from LEIP projects’. Next up was David Thornton from South Ayrshire Council who presented on ‘Building Energy Management System IQVision implementation in South Ayrshire’. And finally, Paul Dodd from SFT presented on ‘LEIP project monitoring and opportunities – Smart Buildings for the Learning Estate’. 

Our next steps will be to produce a summary report to be circulated amongst the attendees and hosted on our website, and then plan our next event for the end of May which will focus on Additional Support for Learning (ASL) where we plan to launch our Inclusive Toolkit. 

As Scotland faces a housing emergency, Peter Barber’s approach to architecture offers a powerful model for delivering homes that support people and places, without breaking the bank. Our Chief Executive Jim MacDonald reflects on Barber’s recent lecture at the 2025 RSA Izi Metzstein Discourse in Edinburgh.

2024 was a year of impactful collaboration and forward-thinking initiatives. We worked alongside incredible partners and stakeholders to demonstrate the value of design in creating better places for communities across the country.

Published last week, our Annual Review 2024 highlights that work, showcasing key activities and our commitment to design excellence across six areas of work:

• Digital world and place
• Changing climate
• Local living
• Learning
• Health and wellbeing
• Showcasing innovation