Judges

Colin became a member of the RICS in 1975 and following a couple of years abroad working as a Quantity Surveyor, returned in 1979 to co found the residential developer Applecross Properties.  During that time Applecross delivered many award-winning developments and was the first, and perhaps the only, house builder to introduce Lean Thinking and 5D design processes into their business.

Colin was Chairman of Homes for Scotland in 2006 and in 2012 formed Eskgrove Homes to design and build sustainable homes incorporating the very latest building techniques and materials to deliver zero carbon housing.

He is currently developing a low carbon bungalow model for the retirement homes market and continues to believe that constant innovation is the only way forward for the housebuilding industry.  

John is a property economist and chartered surveyor. He leads the Rettie & Co Research Team, which provides research and consultancy advice that informs clients on sales, lettings, investment and development opportunities as well as analysing where property markets are at and likely to be going. Over the last 20 years, he has built-up a wealth of experience from involvement at all stages of property projects, from small-scale developments through to major masterplans of new towns and suburbs. He has worked for all of the major house builders in Scotland, the Scottish Government, many local authorities and investors. He sits on Homes for Scotland’s Policy Advisory Group and is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Society of Property Researchers.

Faisal has been working for Savills since 2004 and is the head of residential research in Scotland.

He has a built a significant media profile and is often invited to speak at seminars and conferences. Housebuilders, developers and lenders regularly seek his advice due to his housing market knowledge and insight.

Faisal enjoys visiting towns and cities and studying local neighbourhoods and residential developments. His field-based research gives him an advantage when advising housebuilders on their future sites.

Andrew originally joined Ross & Liddell, as a Graduate Commercial Surveyor in 1996, having obtained a BSc in Land Economics from the University of Paisley in May 1995.

Following his qualification as a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, in November 1997, his career led him to pastures new, where he gained extensive experience in all property sectors and disciplines, while working in various client side and private practice surveying roles, before setting up his own property consultancy business in 2003.

Having re-joined Ross & Liddell in June 2006, initially to expand the Commercial Management and Surveying Services offered by the firm, Andrew was appointed as a Director in 2008 and is now responsible for all of the company’s operational Residential and Commercial Management services,  provided through offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee.

Kieran has been the Editor of social housing publication Scottish Housing News for more than 13 years, providing a major daily resource for housing associations, local authorities and third-sector organisations.

He is also co-host of the Scottish Housing News Podcast, which offers further insight from senior professionals in the sector, and has presented this live on stage at the TPAS Annual Conference in 2023.

Since 2010, Kieran has also been the Editor of Scottish Construction Now, delivering comprehensive coverage of Scotland’s building sector.

Having joined a local news agency after graduating from the University of Dundee, Kieran has reported on stories for local and national press on a freelance basis, helped deliver corporate communications for a large Scottish housing association and covered Scottish and UK elections.

Elsewhere, Kieran volunteered for a Dundee children’s charity where he also worked to boost the organisation’s profile and helped establish its first fundraising committee.

Graeme joined Bank of Scotland in 1987, and in a career spanning over 35 years he has been specialising in all areas of Real Estate & Housing finance and client relationships since 2005.

He is now the Lead Director for Bank of Scotland’s Corporate & Institutional Real Estate team, covering Private Group clients across Scotland in both large scale Commercial & Residential sectors, including Build to Sell, BTR & PBSA, overseeing a portfolio of clients and with responsibility for growing the Bank’s balance sheet. He also oversees client engagement across a number of core Bank affiliates, including Social Housing teams, the Housing Growth Partnership, Scottish Widows, Citra Living, Cazenove, Schroders Personal Wealth and Bank of Scotland Foundation.

Everything Bank of Scotland do is designed to allow us to help Britain prosper by being a safe, successful, sustainable business that is a key part of the UK economy. His & the Group vision for housing is to enable accessible, quality & sustainable housing that meets the UK’s long-term needs, whether homes are for sale or to rent, and enabling the UK to build, retrofit and regenerate at pace. In recent times, he has been involved in some of the most noteworthy developments with Private Developers across Scotland, delivering innovative funding structures to increase housing delivery.

Passionate about ESG and Purpose led financing, he is helping clients accelerate towards a more sustainable, net zero future, including leading delivery of NextGeneration Project initiative (an industry Sustainability benchmark in conjunction with the Bank, JLL and UKGBC) where he has overseen the accreditation of the first two Gold Standard level developments undertaken in Scotland.

He is an active Policy Committee member of the Scottish Property Federation, and has recently joined the UK Green Building Council, Scotland.

Mark Dawson is an associate director at Reiach and Hall Architects and is our sustainability leader. He is a certified Passive House designer and holds an MSc in Advanced Sustainable Design. He is design orientated, fusing creative solutions with sustainable strategies to enhance our portfolio and address global as well as local issues. As part of this role Mark reviews our current projects and advises our teams on how to interrogate site, programme and context in relation to the production of sustainable construction, engineering and architectural strategies.

Mark has worked across our portfolio and has delivered a number of our award winning projects, including the new Stobhill Hospital project for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, which went on to win the best small hospital in the world at the International Healthcare Awards; our housing at Waterfront Avenue for Places for People; and most recently the Falkirk Campus for Forth Valley College, which was a finalist in the 2022 RIBA Stirling Prize. 

Mairi is a licensed BREEAM Assessor and BREEAM Communities Assessor, with over 20 years’ experience in the industry in both technical and managerial positions. At BakerHicks, she takes a lead role in delivering the company sustainability strategy and in helping client’s meet and exceed their BREEAM targets, advising on project sustainability deliverables as well as longer term investment programmes.

Mairi has substantial experience in both sustainability strategies and BREEAM Assessor roles across various construction, in-use and refurbishment projects including research, development and manufacturing facilities, schools, leisure centres, offices, embassies, and multi residential buildings. She is also the past Chair of Women in Property, Central Scotland (2022/23).

Sam is a Chartered Town Planner and Director at Ferguson Planning Ltd.

Ferguson Planning are an independent planning consultant with offices in Edinburgh, Galashiels, and Northern Ireland with significant experience across all development sectors and with a UK working remit. The business prides itself on providing a professional and friendly service and always going that extra mile to deliver for our clients, big or small.

Sam leads the Edinburgh office, and has over 12 years’ experience in planning consultancy, having previously headed CBRE’s planning team in Scotland. She provides clients with planning advice through the full life cycle of their proposed developments, from detailed due diligence at site acquisition stage to achieving consent and delivery on site, and has been involved with several award winning commercial, residential, build-to-rent, retail, and renewables projects across the UK.

Fiona has been involved in the affordable housing sector since the late 1980’s and is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Housing.  She has been in her current role as Deputy Chief Executive since 2014 and is responsible for the management, direction and delivery of housing development, maintenance and housing management services.

Fiona is also the company secretary for all the Hillcrest companies.

She is a trustee on the Hillcrest Foundation and a non executive Director with Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce.

Nicola has spent the majority of her 30-year career working within the house building sector, predominantly in the land and planning arena, and was latterly Chief Executive of Homes for Scotland. She is now the owner and Managing Director of Athena Leadership Coaching and Consulting, and is a senior advisor to the Housing Growth Partnership. She is the Chair of the Board of Trustees for Habitat for Humanity GB. She also sits on the board of Edinburgh-based charity Norton Park and the Scottish Board of Women in Property.

Wendy is Director of Business Support and Transformation for Hanover Scotland, joining them in 2021. She has worked in the RSL sector for the last 15 years, working as part of Executive Leadership Teams. with a primary focus on strategic governance and digital transformation.   Wendy has over 20 years’ experience across housing, care and manufacturing, primarily in leadership, compliance, regulatory and business improvement roles.

Rachael started her career as a research fellow with interests in attitudes to ageing, disabling pain in older adults and how to assess pain in people with dementia. Later she joined the Centre for Ageing Better as Senior Programme Manager, an independent charitable foundation working to help everybody enjoy a good later life, leading on their programme on ‘Safe and Accessible Homes’.

Rachael is now Programme Manager at the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership where she leads on two programmes of work in the newly formed Transformation team, to support a rethink of how health and social care is delivered across the city. Rachael is passionate about ageing, housing and health and ensuring that more people lead longer and healthier lives, in the homes and communities they choose.