Bid to become green entrepreneur - Courier Tues 15/03/2011

A MILL O'Mains resident is hoping to become a green entrepreneur, with a little help from Dundee University and the organisation behind the £45 million regeneration of the area.
Clark Bremner, who is studying for an MSc in advanced sustainability of the built environment, received sponsorship from Home Scotland to travel to the Netherlands to study examples of zero carbon and low energy housing developments.
Clark hopes to transform theory into practice and has been offered business “incubator” space at the university’s Enterprise Gym to allow him to explore possible commercial opportunities related to sustainable communities and housing.
A former Kirkton high School pupil, Clark has lived in Mill O’Mains for 11 years and is a member of the Mill O’Mains Residents’ Committee and a representative on the North East Regeneration Forum.
He said he was grateful to Home Scotland for making his research trip possible.
Clark continued, “My focus at the Enterprise Gym will be exploring how social spaces can make communities stronger by providing places for people to socialise, play sports and learn together.
“|I’m also interested in social enterprise and practical ways of encouraging entrepreneurship.”
David Zwirlein, Home Scotland’s head of development (East), said the issue of sustainability was beimg taken very seriously in the regeneration of Mill O’Mains.
The first phase of the programme is creating a more eco-friendly local environment, with landscape planting to attract wildlife and the installation of a sustainable urban drainage system.
“Sustainability is very important to our major project at Mill O’Mains and we’re pleased to nurture local talent in this area, ”Mr Zwirlein said.
The Enterprise Gym is a unit of the university’s Centre for Enterprise Management, which promotes enterprise skills and is supported by the local business community.
“We were delighted to be able to offer Clark a six-month tenancy in our Enterprise Gym Incubator,” said the unit’s director Ken Edward.
“Clark has already been attending our free work-shops designed to encourage students to be more entrepreneurial so when he approached us with an exciting business plan that he was working on we were very happy top offer him space and mentoring to help him turn his business plan into reality.”