Securing Scottish Water’s first verified Net Zero Construction site for a greener future
In the heart of Renfrewshire, a simple utility upgrade, a sample tap installation, has become a landmark achievement for sustainable infrastructure in Scotland.
Led by Mackenzie Construction in partnership with Scottish Water, the Stanley Hollowhouse site near Paisley is now officially Scottish Water’s first verified Net Zero construction project.
The project demonstrates how climate-conscious design, innovation, and collaboration can come together to drive real change. Emissions from the site were reduced by an impressive 83%, thanks to a suite of thoughtful interventions: tools powered by electric batteries, plant and vehicles running on HVO fuel, and a site setup that reused all excavated materials. Even the kiosk itself was constructed from recycled PET plastics and glass matting, mounted on a cement-free concrete base reinforced with basalt.
We’re proud to announce that we’ve already exceeded Scottish Water’s current target of a 75% reduction
in carbon emissions on this site.
To bridge the final carbon gap, Mackenzie Construction will plant
21 semi-mature trees on site, twelve Scots Pine and nine Birch, ensuring the project achieves Net Zero within 15 years. This ties directly into Scottish Water’s broader woodland creation programme, which is on track to plant over 500,000 native trees by 2025.
Crucially, the site isn’t just a one-off. It serves as the prototype for over 100 future installations, as Scottish Water looks to embed sustainable construction as standard practice. Mackenzie Construction’s tailored carbon calculator has also paved the way for data-led, repeatable decarbonisation, offering a new model for measuring, reducing, and offsetting emissions on infrastructure projects across the country.
“This isn’t about ticking boxes, it’s about transforming how we build,” said Ian Watt, Delivery Manager at Scottish Water. “Collaborations like this are essential to achieving our 2040 Net Zero goal. It proves that sustainable construction isn’t a future ambition, it’s a present reality.”
As Scotland accelerates toward its environmental targets, the Stanley Hollowhouse project is proof that small- scale civil engineering, done right, can have a transformative impact. This project doesn’t just meet environmental goals—it inspires a new standard in how infrastructure is designed, delivered, and sustained in Scotland.