According to Don’t Waste Buildings’ Emerging Policies Lead, Tania Jennings, who was on site yesterday at the annual Futurebuild event:

“Futurebuild is what you would get if a wedding, Glastonbury, and the LETI guide had a baby.”

Very colourful image, indeed!

Yesterday afternoon's great talk with DWB member and Founder of BakerBrown Studio, Duncan Baker-Brown, and our very own Co-Founder, Will Hurst, is one of the reasons why.

Thank you to Duncan for inviting Will to join him on stage to discuss the DWB campaign during his presentation entitled ‘How designers can deliver the circular economy’.

*Will Hurst, DWB Co-Founder, speaking at Futurebuild*

Duncan gave real-world examples of projects bringing the circular economy to life, examples from countries that are miles ahead of the UK in their efforts to reuse materials, and how we can learn from those projects to “mine the anthroposphere”, instead of the ground, which resonates with our Don’t Waste Buildings ethos.

Will put the challenge to the audience to picture that building in their area that annoys them every time they pass. Maybe it's derelict and abandoned, or maybe just underused or unfit for purpose. If we all start talking to our councils, MPs, and other like-minded building enthusiasts, we will bring momentum to the retrofit movement.

And to underline the momentum we have built to date, within one minute of walking out of the pavilion, in her very stylish DWB t-shirt (visit our merch shop to get your very own!), Tania had someone stop and ask how they can get involved. Our mission resonates with people across the country!

(All Photos courtesy of Tania Jennings)