Month: March 2024

Sponsorship helps to raise funds for charity challenge

xburo is supporting Cambuslang Rugby Coach Gavin Blackburn in his efforts to raise money for an East Kilbride girl with spina bifida. Gavin will run from Ayr to East Kilbride on Saturday, March 24, to raise money to allow Amber’s parents to convert the bottom on their home into a more accessible space.

Gavin has also arranged a rugby match at Cambuslang’s Coats Park on 11 May, which will be a great way to awareness of Amber’s journey and some money to support her and her family.

The efforts are to help five-year-old Amber to access a wetroom and living space downstairs in her home following more than 20 operations, most recently undergoing an operation posterior vault distraction to relieve the pressure on her brain.  

Already Gavin has undertook a 24-hour walking challenge raising more than £3000, and he is hoping that his latest efforts increase more money through his JustGiving campaign. This is one of a number of challenges Gavin has set himself to help the family out. xburo was delighted to lend its support to Gavin’s efforts through sports sponsorship.  

Director Michael Gribben said: “Rugby and the rugby community are a huge part of xburo and in particular how we strive to create an elite team ethos, so when Gavin and John McLaughlin shared Amber’s story, we were keen to lend what support we could to his efforts. It takes a team to help people when there is a need and getting involved in some small way is worthwhile. We wish Gavin all the best in training and run, and of course, we hope that Amber gets the home she needs.” 

Gavin will take on his latest challenge in March and has been in training six days a week. To find out more or to give, go to

https://justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Raisefundsforamber

Spotlight on Director Sarah Peterson

On International Women’s Day, we turn the spotlight on Sarah Peterson and her career as the theme of the day turns to #InspireInclusion. 

Our Director and Head of our Edinburgh operation is designing the road not only to net zero but for female engineers, today and every day.

With a career spanning more than 20 years, Sarah Peterson joined xburo last year and already in that short time, she has led our Energy and Sustainability division and been instrumental in the team winning Best Small UK Consultancy at the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) as well as being shortlisted for CIBSE’s Building Performance Awards.

Sarah has been instrumental in advocating to persuade women to join the profession throughout her career through mentorship, talks and presentations, and in her role as Chair of ACE Scotland.

Sarah said: “Marking International Women’s Day continues to be an important necessity as we inspire inclusion particularly within the world of engineering which continues to be male dominated. We know statistically that in 2022 women make up 16.5% of all engineers and although this number has continuously improved, we still have a long way to go to achieve equality of opportunity for girls and women in this country.”

“Accepting that more needs to be done is an ongoing issue and I see this in my work across industry to convince more young women that there is a place for them in what can be an exciting and rewarding career.

“We each have a role to play here whether it be getting into schools, joining industry bodies to be representative or engaging better with our universities. For me, ultimately it is showcasing the work that women are doing across the industry as part of large or small teams and speaking to young people about their contribution to net zero and what they can bring to the workplace. It is also important to recognise that inspiring inclusion is improving but the pace needs to pick up to change the statistics and the outcomes for women.”

And the pace is quickening for Sarah and her team as they have picked up a number of new projects lately with a pipeline of work focused on energy, sustainability and net zero.

As the company scales and grows following its recent success at recognised industry awards, xburo has sought to go beyond engineering and to reach out to individuals, organisations and groups to help them to reach their potential through mentorship of young female engineers, intern opportunities and sport sponsorship including amateur golfer, Megan Docherty and Jayla Kepler.

“As we scale and grow, xburo is looking to inspire inclusion. There were several people that inspired me during my career, from teachers to pioneering female engineers who forged a path in the industry and I am aiming that companies like ours will be just that for future engineers and we will continue to see an advancement in women engineers across the board where there is room for all voices and a seat at the table for the best engineers in every design team.”