Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) sustainable construction expert, Professor Robert Hairstans, has been recognised with a prestigious industry award.

Professor Hairstans was named Pioneer of the Year at the 2024 Offsite Awards, which were held in Coventry yesterday.

Hosted by UK construction industry publication Offsite Hub, the accolades aim to recognise significant figures, organisations, and projects in the sector. They focus on projects where parts of the construction process have been designed, planned, and built away from their final location.

There were more than 200 entries for this year’s awards, with Professor Hairstans emerging successful from a final shortlist of five in the Offsite Pioneer of the Year category.

As well as his role as Professor of offsite and industrialised construction at ENU’s School of Computing, Engineering & the Built Environment (SCEBE), he is the founding Director of the Centre for Advanced Timber Technologies at the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE). The partnership between ENU and NMITE has drawn particular praise from industry and government for its part in developing innovation in timber construction.

The winning entry included some of Professor Hairstans' work to develop collaborations across the sustainable construction trade, while also driving the innovation of new construction technologies.

Reacting to the win, Professor Hairstans said:

“I’m truly delighted to have this industry endorsement for the collaborative effort of Edinburgh Napier and NMITE in timber offsite and modern methods of construction research and education.

“The recent government announcement to deliver 1.5m homes will only be achieved by these technologies.

“We are working hard collectively to ensure the next generation of built environment professionals are equipped with latest knowledge to achieve this in the most sustainable way using timber.”

This award is the latest accolade in an accomplished career for Professor Hairstans, who has been involved in leading research into industrialised timber and offsite construction solutions, while also developing several innovative products.

Professor Hairstans also contributed to a new strategy for the future of timber construction, which was published by the UK government in December.

ENU is internationally recognised for research in timber construction and wood science research, with the award of the Queens Anniversary Prize in 2015, and is host to the UK’s only Trimble Technology Lab for digital built environment research and education, led by Professor Hairstans.

Timber track record

Edinburgh Napier continues to lead pioneering research into industrialised timber and offsite construction solutions as host to BE-ST. You can find out more about the work in the video below.