Dr Marie Macklin inspires urban regeneration students

​Entrepreneur Dr Marie Macklin CBE returned to GCU this week to deliver a masterclass on urban regeneration and the race to create a carbon-neutral world. 

The GCU honorary graduate, who is the driving force behind HALO, which strives to regenerate areas by providing young people with the opportunity to access employment and mentoring, held a workshop with students ahead of the public lecture. 

The first HALO project, in Kilmarnock, a £65m regeneration of the former Diageo bottling plant in the town, is aiming to become the first town centre net-zero carbon energy project in Scotland. 

Dr Macklin said: "Live, Work, Learn & Play is a community of 250 houses in Kilmarnock, designed to create new job opportunities, at the forefront of the digital skills' revolution, and inspire new-start businesses to be the best they can be. 

"Today is all about realigning how urban regeneration is going to be achieved. "With the excellent work Glasgow Caledonian University is doing with our young people, the gatekeepers of tomorrow's world, I'm confident we will achieve net-zero by 2050."