{"id":7659,"date":"2026-09-25T00:03:37","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T23:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/scotland\/?p=7659"},"modified":"2026-09-25T08:04:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T07:04:55","slug":"hardest-thing-ive-ever-done-eco-entrepreneur-proves-a-point-with-panel-production-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/scotland\/news\/7659-hardest-thing-ive-ever-done-eco-entrepreneur-proves-a-point-with-panel-production-launch","title":{"rendered":"‘Hardest thing I’ve ever done’ – ECO entrepreneur proves a point with panel production launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week Eddie Black switched on the production line for the first time at his new factory in Dumfries, turning almost four years of hard work into reality.<\/p>\n

The managing director of VASO Global reckons this project might be the hardest thing he’s ever done – and he’s done a lot of things.<\/p>\n

Starting out with an Annan-based dry ice business in 2009, Black built ECO into a multi-solution group, with products and services including smart furniture, design and build, communications and carbon mitigation.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got into methane, graphene, hydrogen – eventually we did a sort of triage exercise and realised we can’t do everything – all the tech is there, so when the time’s right, we’ll tie them all together,” he revealed. “We realised we were looking at 23 technologies at one point, but eventually figured the top one was that nobody was tackling the overarching problem: inefficient buildings.<\/p>\n

It became clear that the key to this problem was a structural composite construction panel made from recycled glass, developed by a man named Simon Parrish – who is now chief technology officer at VASO.<\/p>\n

“I used to be a vendor of the product,” explained Black. “I’d got sick of using wood, so was looking for alternative and came across these panels, we used them to build a yoga studio, gym and offices for a wealthy gentleman in London; and thought we should be building everything with it.<\/p>\n

“Simon, who was behind the invention, is a product person, so wanted some help with commercialisation – that was about three and half years ago,” he continued. “Since then we’ve worked to build market confidence – that took two years – and once enough seemed willing to put money into the product, we looked to raise investment.”<\/p>\n

\"New

New recruits at VASO\u2019s site at Irongray Park; from left: Brandon Homer, Callum MacLean, Broghan Johnston, Kris McKie and Roy Campbell<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

At the end of June, VASO Global secured \u00a31.4m in seed money<\/a> from PXN Ventures, along with \u00a3621,000 from Scottish Enterprise, a \u00a32m loan from Innovate UK and a \u00a3330,000 grant from South of Scotland Enterprise.<\/p>\n

There was also \u00a3800,000 from ECO, which act as an arms-length delivery partner, as well as backing the build of a 60,000 sq ft manufacturing site that has already started creating around 70 jobs during the next five years.<\/p>\n

So far, 15 staff are already on-site ahead of the full production launch today (25 September), with one of the first uses for the panels being the construction of a demonstration building next month.<\/p>\n

In August, the company got approval<\/a> for its product to be used in an affordable housing project on a brownfield site at Closeburn, consisting of four homes. Black said that the panels can be cut to suit where they’re going, then assembled on-site, saving money and time.<\/p>\n

“Material costs are still rising for traditional construction methods, plus our component can go into a range of different use cases – we’ve had conversations about things like battery boxes, conservatories, temporary accommodation, as well as housing; which really helps de-risk the investment,” he stated.<\/p>\n

The composite panels are designed for thermally comfortable conditions in all weathers, developed with input from the Scottish Government’s building standards unit to make sure they can be adopted by industry.<\/p>\n

“I genuinely believe this is one of the biggest opportunities in Scottish construction history – the market’s enormous and we only need a small percentage of that,” commented Black. “The new production line gives us huge capacity and demand is currently outstripping supply for building materials.<\/p>\n

“It also helps smaller builders, many of whom have full order books, but can’t employ the people needed to scale – crucially, our product doesn’t involve all the wet trades to build with it.”<\/p>\n

\"Plans

Plans for the new housing – built with VASO panels – for Nith Valley Leaf Trust<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

He added that in terms of the recycled glass used to build the panels, there’s an “enormous amount” available, which means to more stable pricing than things like wood, concrete and brick.<\/p>\n

“Modular construction is big in places like Asia, but nobody seems to be really tackling the materials side of it, despite this being a proven technology – composites have already transformed the aerospace and maritime sectors and have been used for years in things like F1 racing,” said Black.<\/p>\n

“It’s been hard trying to get new products accepted by the construction industry – the vested interest is off the charts – but people are now believing it’s a potential solution,” he continued. “We’re only going where we’re invited, rather than knocking on the doors of the big boys, but there’s enough diversified demand for products in year one, before we scale in year two – investors don’t like it but we’ve got to be patient.”<\/p>\n

Over and above the commercial opportunity, Black is also pleased to be bringing manufacturing innovation and skills back to the south of Scotland.<\/p>\n

“This feels increasingly unusual in the UK now, as manufacturing does seem to be overshadowed by high-tech and life sciences stuff,” he opined. “We really want to get young people back into the construction industry, but ultimately you’ve got to make it relevant and interesting.<\/p>\n

“We had 70 school kids in here a while ago did a Dragons’ Den pitching activity – loads of great ideas – but then asked about whether anyone was thinking about a job in construction and not many hands went up,” said Black. “So we showed them the panels and explained that it’s basically building Lego in real life – and that got lots of excitement.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dumfries-based business is looking to roll-out the new building material across multiple sectors in the coming years<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278857,"featured_media":967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120821,7,127720,120780],"coauthors":[137126],"class_list":["post-7659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-construction","category-manufacturing","category-skills","category-sustainability","tag-featured-story","tag-south-of-scotland","tag-top-story"],"yoast_head":"\n'Hardest thing I've ever done' - ECO entrepreneur proves a point with panel production launch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Dumfries-based business is looking to roll-out the new building material across multiple sectors in the coming years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/scotland\/news\/7659-hardest-thing-ive-ever-done-eco-entrepreneur-proves-a-point-with-panel-production-launch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Hardest thing I've ever done' - 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