A Year of Peatland Restoration: Scaling Impact Across the UK in 2025

As we embark on a new season of live projects in 2026, it’s the perfect moment to reflect on the milestones and lessons from the past year - a year that marked a significant step forward in our mission to restore peatlands and protect the ecosystems they support.

Nearly 900 Hectares Restored!

In 2024/25, Zulu Ecosystems delivered nearly 900 hectares of peatland restoration across the UK. This milestone marks a significant step forward in our mission to restore degraded landscapes, support biodiversity, and deliver measurable climate impact at scale.

Peatlands are among the UK's most valuable natural assets, yet many remain damaged and degraded. Restoring them requires not only ecological expertise, but careful coordination, resilient delivery models, and strong partnerships on the ground. This year's work reflects how those elements can come together to deliver high-quality restoration across diverse and often challenging landscapes. Here's what made the difference this year:

Meticulous planning for quality and scale

Every successful restoration project begins long before machinery reaches site. From initial surveys through to design and delivery planning, our team focused on getting the details right from the outset. This meticulous approach helped ensure projects stayed on track, on time, and aligned with both ecological objectives and land management needs.

Careful planning also allowed us to adapt designs to local conditions, reducing friction during delivery and supporting long-term restoration outcomes.

Skilled delivery in challenging conditions

High-quality delivery relies on the people doing the work. Throughout the year, we partnered with experienced contractors and skilled operatives who delivered restoration to a consistently high standard, often in difficult terrain and variable weather conditions.

Extending delivery through the winter months enabled us to maximise the restoration window while maintaining continuity for contractor teams. This approach supported long-term employment, reduced disruption between projects, and contributed to a more efficient and well-paced delivery programme.

Powerful partnerships and collaboration

Strong partnerships have been central to the success of this year’s projects. Collaboration between funders, landowners, land managers, contractors, and project teams enabled challenges to be addressed early and solutions to be developed collectively.

These partnerships ensured restoration efforts were not only technically robust, but also grounded in local knowledge and long-term land management objectives.

Building for the future with data and technology

Alongside on-the-ground delivery, we continued to invest in scalable systems to support future growth. Over the past year, this has included developing digital and cloud-based data capture, client portals offering real-time visibility of site progress, and industry-leading workflows for design and monitoring.

These tools allow us to scale restoration responsibly, maintaining quality, transparency, and efficiency as project sizes and ambitions grow.

Looking ahead

Across nearly 900 hectares, degraded peatland has been reshaped into landscapes better able to store carbon, support biodiversity, and regulate water. Each hectare restored reflects a balance between operational efficiency and ecological integrity, ensuring restoration works with the landscape, not against it.

This would not have been possible without the commitment and collaboration of everyone involved. We’re grateful to our partners, contractors, landowners, and funders for the trust placed in us and the shared ambition to restore the UK’s peatlands.

As we move into the next delivery season, we’re carrying forward the lessons learned, the tools built, and the relationships strengthened, ready to deliver even greater impact in the years ahead.