As part of Glasgow Climate Week, Austin-Smith:Lord CEO Graham Ross hosted Circular Glasgow’s Amplifying Glasgow’s Circular Economy event at SWG3, bringing together organisations, designers, makers and innovators working to shape a more circular future for the city.

The event formed part of Circular Glasgow’s wider mission to support businesses and communities in reducing waste, maximising resources and developing practical pathways toward a more resilient, low-carbon economy.

Reflecting on the event afterwards, Graham described it as “a fab way to wrap Glasgow Climate Week”, highlighting the energy, openness and shared sense of purpose across the room.

Whether attendees were “circular economy-curious or deeply expert”, the event created space to network, exchange ideas and hear from pioneers already delivering circular approaches across Glasgow’s diverse communities and economic sectors.

 

The afternoon featured a series of Pecha Kucha-style presentations from speakers working across fields including creative industries, product design, body heat recovery, cultural venues, community gardens, built heritage and material reuse. Together, the talks demonstrated the breadth of activity already happening across the city, and the growing momentum behind more circular ways of thinking about resources, buildings and everyday life.

 

For Graham, one of the strongest themes to emerge was the value of rethinking what already exists.

“We heard about creative ways to repurpose and redefine pre-loved clothes, buildings, back courts, gardens, lights, artwork and materials,” he said, “alongside innovative ways to capture and share wisdom, knowledge and expertise to get greater things done with what we already have.”

That idea resonates strongly with our own commitment to circular design, retrofit and long-term stewardship in the built environment. At A-S:L, we believe good design should solve today’s challenges without creating new problems for future generations.

Across architecture, interior design, landscape, planning and conservation, that means advocating for approaches that maximise existing value before introducing unnecessary waste or carbon-intensive replacement. Whether through adaptive reuse, low-carbon specification, retrofit-first thinking or designing for longevity, the aim is always to create places that serve people well while reducing long-term environmental impact.

 

The event also reinforced the importance of collaboration and open knowledge-sharing in accelerating meaningful change.

“The showcase demonstrated the passionate, creative and vibrant ecosystem of circularity already active across the city,” Graham reflects, noting the importance of building networks, exchanging stories and creating platforms where people can learn from one another.

This collaborative, no-ego approach to problem solving is central to how A-S:L works: bringing together disciplines, communities and expertise to help shape places that are resilient, resource-wise and built for long-term value.

 

The initiative aligns closely with the Circular Economy Leadership Programme (organised by Circular Glasgow and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, supported by Zero Waste Scotland), which aims to connect and support individuals and organisations helping drive circular change across the city.

For us, participating in and helping host conversations like these is an important part of taking a visible circular stand: contributing not only through projects, but through dialogue, advocacy and collective learning that can help shape a more sustainable future for Glasgow and beyond.

And what we heard echoed across all speakers and topics, again and again and again, was this: It’s time to make Glasgow RE-LOVED!

 

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Links to projects and resources cited at the Circular Glasgow Ambassadors event:

Rob Morrison, Agile City:  https://agile-city.com/

Alison Fullerton, SWG3 Bodyheat:  https://swg3.tv/explore/news/pioneering-bodyheat-system-switches-on/

Brian O’Reilly, EGG Lighting:  https://egglighting.com/about-egg-lighting/

Kate V Robertson, Circular Art Network – CAN:  https://www.canarts.org.uk/

Kate V Robertson, Sculpture Placement Group:   https://www.sculptureplacementgroup.org.uk/

David Cook, Glasgow Building Preservation Trust:  https://gbpt.org/

Rosemary James Beith, Creative Glasgow:   https://www.creativeglasgow.co.uk/

Izzie Eriksen, ApparelXchange:  https://apparelxchange.co.uk/

Michael Dougall, O’Donnell Brown:  https://odonnellbrown.com/

Lynne Wilson, Friends of Wilson:   https://www.friendsofwilson.com/