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Selected entries will be displayed at the Festival alongside a commissioned sculpture by Hampshire artist Darren Allsopp
Willmott Dixon is using its sponsorship of the British Science Festival to take construction’s material reuse challenge to a public audience, launching a UK-wide call for everyday examples of reuse and repair, that will be exhibited in Southampton in September.
Inspire Change, run in partnership with the British Science Association and the University of Southampton, invites individuals, schools, businesses and community groups to submit photographs and short descriptions showing how they are extending the life of materials.
Selected entries will be displayed at the Festival from 16–20 September alongside a commissioned sculpture by Hampshire artist Darren Allsopp, made entirely from reclaimed metal, and published in a digital collection.
Why reuse matters to Willmott Dixon
The campaign extends work Willmott Dixon has under way to make reuse and low-carbon construction easier to specify. The company has reduced absolute construction waste by 51% against its 2018 baseline and now diverts 97% of non-hazardous waste from landfill, reflecting a long-term focus on waste prevention, resource efficiency and circular economy principles.
The University of Southampton is deeply rooted in sustainability, home to a sustainability and research institute, tackling the most critical challenges facing our environment. This alignment between Willmott Dixon and the University builds on the long-standing partnership created when Willmott Dixon Interiors delivered the fit-out of the University of Southampton’s Chemistry building, over-cladding and replacing the windows to significantly improve thermal performance.
Richard Poulter, Managing Director of Willmott Dixon in the South:
“Reuse is one of the biggest levers our industry has on carbon, and it is also one of the least understood outside it. We wanted to take that conversation somewhere it doesn’t normally go, a public festival, in a city where we build, and start it from something everyone recognises. The person repairing a chair at home and the team retaining a building’s frame rather than demolishing it are working on the same problem at different scales.
“Practically, we are working to make reuse easier to specify. Our fire testing programme for cross-laminated timber removed a technical gap that had been slowing low-carbon timber projects across the sector, and at Queen Mary University of London we retained much of an existing building while adding two floors of new teaching space. Those are the decisions that determine a building’s embodied carbon, and they are decisions we want customers and the public to understand.”
James Brown, Head of Festivals at the British Science Association:
“The British Science Festival is all about shining a spotlight on the unseen areas of science and innovation that are making a difference to peoples’ lives and helping address global challenges. We’re very excited to be working with Willmott Dixon on this year’s Festival to showcase their amazing work and to encourage others to re-think their relationship with the materials around them.”
Darren Allsopp, artist and founder of D’Sculpted, said:
"I'm incredibly proud to have been asked to create a sculpture for the British Science Festival. Working with reclaimed metal is all about seeing the potential in something that’s no longer wanted, and I’m looking forward to bringing that idea to the Festival. I hope the sculpture encourages people to look at everyday objects differently and think about what they could become, instead of throwing them away. I’d love people to get involved by sharing the things they’ve reused, repaired or transformed in their own lives.”
How to enter
Inspire Change is looking for authentic examples rather than professional photography. Entries could include the reuse of construction materials, repair projects, upcycling, furniture restoration, community initiatives or other approaches to giving surplus items a new purpose. Entrants should email a high-resolution photograph with a description of up to 50 words to reducewaste@willmottdixon.co.uk. There is no limit on submissions.
Entries close at 12 noon on Monday 7 September 2026. Full details are at https://britishsciencefestival.org/photography-competition-with-willmott-dixon/
The British Science Festival is one of Europe’s longest-running science festivals, attracting more than 10,000 visitors a year and moving to a different host university annually. The 2026 Festival marks the event’s 195th anniversary and is the first held in Southampton since 1992. It runs from 16–20 September with a programme of more than 80 free events.
Track record in sustainable and low-carbon delivery
Willmott Dixon’s work in this area spans sectors and geographies. Recent examples include TBC.London at Tower Bridge Court, where reclaimed structural steel was incorporated into the redevelopment of an existing building. The retrofit approach saved 6,365 tonnes of CO₂ compared with a new-build alternative, while the reused steel helped avoid a further 48 tonnes of embodied carbon.
Other examples are the retrofit and extension of Queen Mary University of London’s Informatics Teaching Laboratory in Mile End, which retained much of the existing structure while adding two floors of teaching space; Hounsome Fields School, a 420-pupil primary in Hampshire targeting Passivhaus Classic certification; and the UK’s first Passivhaus Plus school, for the London Borough of Sutton. The company’s Energy Synergy® building performance service delivers average energy savings of 15% for customers after handover.