70 jobs for south-west Scotland as building panel pioneer tackles housing crisis

Vaso by Eco said it was investing in a 60,000-square-foot manufacturing site in Dumfries where it will produce its pioneering recycled glass panels for the housing and general construction markets.

The firm is behind a range of building products based on panels manufactured from recycled glass, which can help with the rapid construction of thermally efficient, low carbon homes.

The manufacturing plant, which also has 1.8 acres of yard space at the Dumfries site, will immediately create 12 jobs rising to a total of 70 new posts within the next five years.

Eco founder and managing director Eddie Black said: “Manufacturing Vaso by Eco panels in Dumfries and Galloway will allow Scotland to be at the forefront of a building solution which will help solve the housing crisis in Scotland, the rest of the UK and in other places around the world.”

The company’s innovation is also said to tackle the construction skills shortage issue as it requires less labour to build a Vaso by Eco home.

Black added: “There is now a golden opportunity to embrace industrialised construction which takes the stress away from traditional supply chains and creates a housing solution through circular and advanced manufacturing.”

The plant will manufacture panels for the company to demonstrate its first Vaso by Eco showhome. It will also manufacture products for a construction project in Scotland already in the planning process, and be used to build commercial battery energy storage system (BESS) container units and heat pump base panels.

Eco plans to launch a second line at the factory in October 2026, and a third by October 2027, by which time it will have created 70 jobs.

Garry Legg at South of Scotland Enterprise said earlier this year: “There is a unanimous consensus that we must do things differently to address the housing challenge, with partners in the south of Scotland already coming together to take the action they know is required.”