Description
March to October 2027
An eight-month, part-time Regenerative Design Lab programme for people across the built environment who want to put regenerative thinking into practice.
Cohort 8 returns to Hazel Hill Wood, the off-grid woodland near Salisbury that has been home to the Regenerative Design Lab since its early days.
Over eight months, a cohort of up to 20 participants will develop their own enquiries into regenerative practice, experiment with taking action and learn together through residential gatherings, online workshops and peer-led enquiry.
New to the lab? Find out more about the Regenerative Design Lab.
At a glance
- Dates: March–October 2027
- Format: Part-time — three residential gatherings and five online workshops
- Location: Online and Hazel Hill Wood, near Salisbury
- Cohort: Approx 20 participants
- Time commitment: Around one hour a week between sessions, ideally integrated into your existing work
- Fees: £3000/£2000/£1000 + VAT, depending on how your place is funded
RDL at Hazel Hill Wood
Hazel Hill Wood has played an important part in the development of the Regenerative Design Lab.
It is a 70-acre, off-grid woodland near Salisbury where we can step outside the normal rhythms of professional life and encounter living systems directly.
Across three residential gatherings, we’ll return to the wood at different points in the year. It becomes somewhere to experiment, reflect, build relationships and explore what regenerative practice might ask of us.
The residentials are not simply a change of venue. Place, the living world and our relationship with it are part of the enquiry.
About the facilitators
Oliver Broadbent is founder of the Regenerative Design Lab, and author of the Pattern Book for Regenerative Design and the Regenerative Structural Engineer. Oliver trains engineers (and other humans) in regenerative thinking. He is looking forward to be the guest in a new landscape for facilitating the RDL.
Ellie Osborne Ellie is a facilitator, designer, researcher, coach and collaborator who works at the intersection of innovation, systems thinking, future trends and learning design. Since 2022 she has been co-leading the Regenerative Design Lab with Oliver.
The journey
RDL Hazel combines three residential gatherings with four online workshops over eight months.
The programme begins with more input and facilitated exploration: regenerative thinking, systems practice and the patterns and tools we use in the Lab.
As the journey develops, the emphasis increasingly shifts towards participants’ own enquiries, experiments and peer support.
Beyond the Lab, our aim is to develop your capacity to continue experimenting, learning and making change long after the programme has finished.
Session Dates – subject to change
- Wed 16th Mar 10h00 to 12h00 | Online kick Off | Via Zoom
- Tue 19th Apr 11h00 to Wed 20th Apr 14h00 | Spring Residential | Hazel Hill Wood
- Wed 19th May 09h30 to 12h30 | First Online Session | Via Zoom
- Tue 15th June 09h30 to 12h30 | Second Online Session | Via Zoom
- TBC Mon 12th July 11h00 to Wed 14th July 14h00 Summer Residential | Hazel Hill Wood
- Wed 15th Sept 09h30 to 12h30 | Third Online Session | Via Zoom
- Tue 5th Oct 09h30 to 12h30 | Fourth Online Session | Via Zoom
- Wed 20th Oct 11xh00 to Thu 21st Oct 13h00 | Autumn Residential | Hazel Hill Wood
Fees
- £3000+ VAT – organisation rate
- £2000 + VAT – purpose rate (public sector, charity, small organisations)
- £1000 + VAT – self-funded / micro-organisation rat
Each cohort also includes up to two equity places at £600 + VAT. These are designed for applicants who would not otherwise be able to attend, due to financial barriers or underrepresented perspectives.
Equity places are an intentional part of how we design the Lab. They exist to help ensure financial barriers don’t prevent diverse perspectives being present in the cohort.
Many participants are supported by their employer through professional development, leadership, sustainability or innovation budgets. Need some help getting your organisation on board? We can help – get in touch.
Applying for RDL Hazel Cohort 8
We are looking for people with the curiosity and commitment to explore regenerative practice deeply, and the capacity to take their learning into projects, organisations, communities and wider networks.
We don’t select on seniority. We also consider the balance of the cohort as a whole, bringing together different disciplines, levels of experience, perspectives and areas of enquiry.
Applications will open in November and will be reviewed and shortlisted on a rolling basis from early December, so we encourage you to apply early.
If shortlisted, join a short informal interview with one of the facilitators in mid January to learn more about you, your work, and your hopes for the Lab and to answer any questions you may have.
Final application deadline: 8 January 2027
Shortlisting: from early December, with final shortlisting around 12 January
Interviews: week commencing 25 January
Places confirmed: early February
RDL Hazel or RDL Beeches?
In 2027 we’re running two parallel RDL cohorts: RDL Beeches and RDL Hazel.
Apply to your preferred cohort. On the application form, we’ll also ask whether you would be happy to be considered for the other cohort.
Because we carefully balance each group and each cohort is limited to 20 people, there may be occasions when we can’t offer a place at your first-choice location but can offer one in the other cohort.
Selection criteria
We aim to bring together a cohort that is ambitious, thoughtful and diverse — in interests, in lived experience and practice. When reviewing the applications we will consider the following criteria:
Engagement with regenerative design and adjacent fields
This is not a beginner course. You don’t need to have a detailed understanding of regenerative design, but we are looking for applicants who are already engaging with the ideas—whether through circular economy, systems thinking, sustainability, nature-based solutions, or other adjacent fields.
We want to work with people who are ready to go deeper and apply these ideas in real contexts.
Potential for impact and influence
This Lab is designed for leaders and future leaders — people with the intent and ambition to bring others with them. We’re looking for participants who are positioned to stimulate change, whether in their teams, organisations, networks or communities. That doesn’t always mean formal authority — it could mean influence through credibility, storytelling, practice or convening power.
We’ll ask about your leadership experience and the ways you might be able to share your learning with others.
Balance across the cohort
We design each cohort to bring together a rich mix of sectors, roles, and types of professional experience—from engineering and architecture to policymaking, consultancy, finance, and grassroots practice. We also pay attention to lived experience and underrepresented identities.
Together these factors help us build a well-balanced cohort, where different experiences, needs and strengths can shape the conversation, deepen understanding and make space for mutual thriving.
Equity & accessibility
We seek to create safe and brave spaces for participants from diverse backgrounds and lived experience. We are committed to embedding equity, inclusion, and anti-oppression at the heart of our programmes.
If you have additional support or access needs, please let us know in the application form. We are happy to arrange a call to discuss how we can support your learning.
Participant agreement
We ask all participants to sign up to our participant agreement.
