College wins prestigious title at Accelerate to Zero Awards
West Lothian College has been recognised at the Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST) Accelerate to Zero Awards, for helping students and apprentices gain skills in sustainable building methods and technology.
Held at The Arches in Glasgow on 7 November, the Accelerate to Zero Awards celebrated businesses, organisations and people who are decarbonising the built environment and supporting the transition to net zero.
Faculty director Steven Morrison, manager Laurence Ferguson and lecturer Frank O’Neil, picked up the prestigious Skills Impact Award on behalf of the college.
Highlighting how the college equips students with modern construction skills through its Skills Centre for Sustainable Living (also known as the ECOHOUSE), the Skills Impact Award acknowledges organisations that demonstrate a leading approach to developing the skills necessary for advancing a net zero built environment.
The ECOHOUSE opened in 2023 to provide a hands-on learning environment that showcases a house built to low-carbon standards, and a shell house where students put into practice sustainable approaches in construction.
Steven Morrison, director of the Computing, Engineering and Built Environment faculty at the college, said: "The Skills Impact Award recognises our dedicated approach to sustainability education. Through our ECOHOUSE, integrated curriculum and industry partnerships we are not just teaching green skills - we are transforming how students learn these. What makes our approach unique is that we're embedding sustainability across our entire college ecosystem, from our facilities to our teaching methods.
“Seeing our students develop technical expertise and essential meta skills in this real-world environment has been rewarding. It is preparing them to be true leaders in Scotland's transition to a net-zero economy."
Principal of the college, Jackie Galbraith added: “We built our ECOHOUSE last year with funding from West Lothian Council, and well over 500 students and apprentices have already benefited from developing their skills in this leading edge facility. I am very proud of our outstanding lecturers, assessors and instructors, and delighted that they have gained this level of industry recognition.”