Senior Advisors

Most recently Nicola was Chief Executive and main board director of industry body, Homes for Scotland. In that role Nicola represented the industry on the NHBC Scotland Committee and the Scottish Government Building Standards Futures Board, and played a leading role in supporting its members to deliver high-quality, energy-efficient and sustainable homes.

Nicola is a qualified planner with 30 years’ professional experience in the Scottish housebuilding sector, holding senior positions within several house builders, as well as the Scottish Futures Trust.

Helen has over 25 years of experience in sales, marketing and brand across a variety of sectors. In 2005 Helen moved into housebuilding and regeneration with Crest Nicholson Plc. Helen spent 13 years with the company in various senior marketing roles, with over 6 years as Group Sales and Marketing Director. Whilst at Crest Nicholson, Helen held a number of additional advisory positions at the NHBC, the Construction Leadership Council, Housebuilders Federation and Zero Carbon Hub. In 2019 Helen was appointed Group Sales and Marketing Director at Countryside Partnerships and Vistry Group. More recently Helen supports a number of smaller housebuilders in an advisory and NED capacity.

Jim has worked for a range of national and regional housebuilders during his 40+ years in the industry. Jim joined Wimpey Homes in 1978 where he spent 14 years gaining experience in a variety of roles before taking up a regional development position at a national housing association, followed by partnership housing experience at Lovell and Bellway Urban Renewal prior to becoming Managing Director of Bellway Homes (Yorkshire). This was followed by spells as Managing Director at David Wilson Homes, Cala Homes and Redrow Homes followed by 3 years as a consultant. Jim was then brought in by investors, who already had interests in construction, to create Duchy Homes in 2011 and spent 9 years with them as Group Managing Director, establishing Duchy Homes as a multi award winning housebuilder and overseeing the company’s growth across 3 regions.

Qualified assessor in Air Leakage, Eco Homes (predecessor to the code of Sustainable Homes) and SAP, Jon has more than 30 years of experience helping housebuilders achieve their sustainability goals. In 2005, Jon founded AES Sustainability Consultants and Daltec, two technical consultancies companies focused on SAP strategy design / optimisation as well as SAP / EPC testing and certifications. Under Jon’s leadership, the business grew to become one of the leading companies in the UK serving approximately 2,000 clients including national housebuilders such as Barratt, Persimmon and Bovis as well as smaller ones such as Baker Estates, CG Fry and Son and StrongVox. In 2019, Jon sold the majority of his shares in the company to his employees but remain and the chairman of the group.

Whilst most of his experience relates to the conservation of fuel and power (Part L of Building Regulations), Jon has always promoted a “holistic approach” to sustainability putting the buildability (economical and technical) of new homes and the quality of life in them at the centre of his thought process. As a result, Jon has developed a good understanding of building technics and materials as well as ventilation strategy (Part F of Building Regulations). He and his firm have also been asked to contribute to several industry projects such the Zero Carbon Hub Design versus As Built Project and the Building Alliance Indoor Air Quality and Overheating working group in partnership with the University of Birmingham.

Andrew has had a long and varied career in property. He spent many years with Bank of Ireland as UK Group Chief Surveyor before moving to Teesland PLC as a fund manager. Andrew worked for Grainger PLC for a number of years as their UK Residential Managing Director where he was responsible for acquisitions, identifying new areas for investment and the fund and asset management of the UK operations. More recently Andrew has worked as a consultant for CBRE and Patrizia and holds a number of Non-Executive Director positions in the residential sector.

Mark has a wealth of experience having operated in the construction and development industry for over 30 years, spanning residential development, main contracting and pure housebuilding. He progressed from being an estimator / quantity surveyor to trade, to Technical Director at Persimmon and then Regional / Managing Director level at Jones Homes, Hollinwood Homes and Hollins Homes. Mark was also a founding Director of Hollins Homes and contributed significantly to the direction and growth of the business.

David worked for a number of national housebuilders throughout his 40+ year career in the industry. David started life as a surveyor in a small housebuilder in the 1970s before moving to Bellway as a Technical Director. From there David moved to Persimmon Homes (Anglia) as Managing Director and spent 20 years on the board of Persimmon from 1990. David now acts as Chairman on a number of housebuilding forums including the House Building Federation SME Forum and has been on the judging panel of the Sunday Times Housing Awards for a number of years. Since leaving Persimmon, David has been actively involved in a number of smaller housebuilders in both advisory and management positions.

Ronnie began his career as a quantity surveyor working for a number of professional surveying practices before joining Barratt Developments where he worked as Chief Surveyor for 10 years. From there, Ronnie moved to Persimmon Homes to take up a position of Technical Director before becoming the Managing Director in Scotland in 1999. Ronnie subsequently moved to Miller Homes as Regional Managing Director before becoming the Regional Chairman in 2002. Ronnie was the first Chairman of Lowther Homes and still sits on the Lowther Board having relinquished the role of Chairman in September 2019. Ronnie has held various positions on advisory committees including Homes for Scotland, NHBC and CBI, was a member of the Scottish Government Housing Task Force for 3 years and was also a director of Transforming Communities Glasgow.

Sarah has worked in sales and marketing in the residential property industry for over 25 years. Sarah spent 8 years at Taylor Wimpey in the Market Research and Sales Management team before moving to become a Sales and Marketing Director at Cruden Homes. More recently Sarah was Sales and Marketing Director at Cala Homes (East) for 8 years before setting up her own sales and marketing consultancy business in 2017.

Mike started his career as a quantity surveyor working at a number of smaller construction firms before moving to David Wilson Homes in 1986 where he was Chief Executive from 1997 to 2015, and also a Director of Wilson Bowden PLC. Mike set up his own residential consultancy firm in 2005, is a non-executive director of Vistry Group PLC, and has worked with a number of smaller housing companies and housing associations. Mike has held positions on a number of advisory panels and was a board member of the Housing Forum from 2002 to 2011 where, amongst other roles, he chaired the National Customer Satisfaction Survey Committee.

Bruce is a qualified accountant who started his career in industry before moving into banking in senior roles at Bank of Scotland, HBoS and Lloyds Banking Group within Structured Finance, Syndicated Lending and Joint Ventures. . Bruce has a wealth of experience of the real estate sector holding board positions at a number of companies including Green Property, Crest Nicholson, Macdonald Hotels and Chelsfield Partners and has worked as an advisor to HGP partner Allanwater Homes.

Gareth has worked within the construction and housing development sectors for more than 40 years predominantly within Wales and the West Country.

Starting in quantity surveying Gareth progressed to technical director at Barratt South Wales before becoming managing director at Beazer Homes Wales and then Bellway Homes Wales. More recently Gareth has undertaken various roles including non executive directorships for smaller developers and agents.

Neil is a qualified accountant who has working in the property industry for over 30 years. Neil moved to Redrow in 1997 to take up the role as Chief Finance Officer before spending the last of his 12 years with Redrow as CEO. Neil then moved to Avant Homes in Scotland as CEO for 4 years and now acts as a Non-Executive Director at The Home Builders Federation.

Brian is a Chartered Surveyor and has over 50 years’ experience property in Scotland working for national housebuilders Barratt Homes and Miller Homes whilst also delivering success with housebuilders such as Morrison Homes, Manor Kingdom and Tulloch Homes. Brian worked as a Technical, Development, and Land Director during his career and spent 6 years as the Managing Director of Morrison Homes, transforming the company from a Regional to a National Housebuilder. Brian served on the Boards of The Greater Easterhouse Partnership, and The Leith Enterprise Trust as a representative of Scottish Business in the Community.

Greg has worked for over 40 years in housebuilding, working for a number of national and SME housebuilders.  Greg started life as a quantity surveyor and rose through the ranks to become the Regional Managing Director and then Regional Chairman at Redrow Group before moving to David Wilson Homes as Chief Executive in 2003.  Since leaving David Wilson Homes in 2007 Greg has worked for a number of smaller regional housebuilders and is currently the Executive Chairman at Mastre Properties

Chris founded SME housebuilder igloo Regeneration at the turn of the century and sold it to PfP Capital in 2023. He was co-founder, with Aviva, of the ‘world’s first responsible real estate fund’ (United Nations), the igloo Regeneration Fund. Chris advises the board of Nationwide Building Society on Climate Change and the built environment and was a Built Environment Climate Ambassador to COP26.

Colin has over 35 years’ experience working in the Development and Construction industry, from Chartered Quantity Surveying through to Development Management. Colin joined Places for People in 2002 and latterly was Executive member of the Group Board with responsibility for managing Places for Peoples Development, Construction and Housebuilding teams in England and Scotland. With a particular interest in sustainable development, high quality design in placemaking and offsite construction, Colin delivered a variety of mixed tenure projects within Places for People. A Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Colin now acts as “critical friend” with organisations active in the residential sector through his Development Solutions business. In addition, he is a Non-Executive Director with Springfield Properties plc and retained as an advisor with Hunter REIM. He is also an Academician of The Academy of Urbanism and Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Guy is Chief Investment Officer at The Hyde Group with responsibility for a £1bn development programme, sourcing of partnership capital and management of institutional mandates. He spent 20 years in real estate consultancy in the City as Head of City Investment at Nelson Bakewell and as a Partner at Drivers Jonas where he oversaw European investment mandates. He was CEO of private equity backed real estate investment business Clarenco and fund manager of Westminster Council’s real investment fund. Guy is a Chartered Surveyor and has a MSc in Real Estate Investment.

Mary-Anne is founder of The Ringley Group who are UK wide Asset Managers, BTR Operators and Property Managers and provide a range of Professional Services and have circa £10Bn AUM.  She is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Surveyor, and Strategic Adviser to the Housing Growth Partnership and advises full development lifecycle: underwriting, unit mix, efficiency, layout, mobilisation, lease-up, stabilisation and exit.  She is a regular industry commentator and panellist on all things residential real estate including the building safety agenda.