Scotland Development Conference

Abrdn – David Scott, Head of UK Investment

Responsible for billions of pounds investment into UK living sectors, Abrdn are working across the BtR, student accommodation and retirement living sector in Scotland to unlock a plethora of schemes in major cities. Based in Edinburgh, David understands the challenges facing Scottish cities as they grapple with the challenge of increasing volume, quality and types of homes that its diverse population want to live in. He joins the session to outline some of Abdrn’s thoughts while also detailing their role in Scotland’s placemaking strategy.

City of Edinburgh Council – David Cooper, Commercial Development and Investment Director

Amidst the mass regeneration of Scotland, City of Edinburgh Council is pioneering a city that is on root to being sustainable and net zero by 2030. The council are investing in major redevelopments which include £1.3 billion in the regeneration of Granton Waterfront, an additional £207 million in the Newhaven tramline, and £100 million in the redevelopment of Edinburgh Ocean Terminal. David will be joining us to share intel on development and regeneration plans, views on sustainable building and how to support industrial and mixed-use generation.

Scottish Empty Homes Partnership – Shaheena Din, National Project Manager

At a time of a housing emergency in Scotland, we know that every home matters. Yet there are an estimated 43,000 long-term empty private-sector homes in Scotland. The impact of empty homes on housing indirectly affects Scotland’s ability to attract and retain talent in both urban and rural areas. SEHP’s National Project Director Shaheena Din will speak about the challenges and opportunities for bringing Scotland’s empty homes back into use.

Scottish Land Commission – David Stewart, Senior Policy Advisor

Scottish Land Commission is driving a programme of land reform spanning both urban and rural land, to improve the productivity, diversity and accountability of the way Scotland’s land is owned and used. Their most recent reports highlighted a major reform is needed to hit housing targets across Scotland. David of the Scottish Land Commission will join this session to share their perspectives on sustainability and supporting the decarbonisation strategies in Scotland.

City of Edinburgh Council – Patrick Brown, Head of Sustainable Construction Delivery

Edinburgh the capital and economic centre of Scotland, with ambitious targets for a sustainable future. City of Edinburgh council are well on their way to NetZero by 2030, with the City Centre Transformation Plan and Granton Waterfront’s – 3500 sustainable homes. Patrick will be joining the session to discuss sustainable regeneration in Scotland, the challenges and ways to support the industry.

Moda – Amanda Rennie, General Manager

Moda Living is a pioneer in private rental developments, with projects across the UK. Recently launching their first Built-to-Rent (BtR) development in Scotland the £215 million -The McEwan consisting of 476 homes and co-working spaces. Also proposing to build 730 build-to-rent homes, costing £205 million in Lancefield Quay and £125 million Holland Park BtR schemes. Amanda Rennie – General Manager at The McEwan will be joining the session to discuss to current developments, the BtR sector and the creation of innovative places to live.

HUB – Damien Sharkey, Managing Director

HUB is an award-winning residential developer that offers better living, good design and real communities. Recently announcing the development of the Beaverhall House over 1.25-acre site due for completion in 2025 – named the 4th coolest neighbourhood in the world. Damien Sharkey will be joining us on the session to discuss, development plans, meeting the demand of BtR and how to accelerate the delivery of housing stock.

Crosswind Developments – Caroline Cuthbertson, Operations Director

Scotland is undergoing one of the largest regenerations, amidst the drive to provide affordable and sustainable living and reach ‘net zero’.  Crosswind Development Limited announced plans to develop the ‘Digital Quarter’ creating 6600 jobs, 1,020,000 sq. ft of commercial space and 2500 homes. This mixed-use development would potentially generate £460 million benefit to the Scottish economy. Caroline will be joining us on this session to share intel in development plans, sustainable industrial regeneration and what can be done to support the industry.

Glasgow City Council – Councillor Angus Millar, Convener for Climate, Glasgow Green Deal, Transport and City Centre Recovery

As we head towards the drive to ‘NetZero’ – Glasgow city council is leading the way in regeneration and carbon neural developments. In previous years Glasgow City has launched a £30 billion fund for the ‘Greenprint Investment’ to boost the drive Net-Zero Economy and Climate Resilience. With one of the largest regenerations outside of London – Angus Millar will be joining the session to provide insight into carbon neural developments, sustainability and what can be done to support the industry in the drive to zero carbon development.

Cala Group – Kathryn Dapre, Head of Sustainability

CALA are a top 10 UK housebuilder with a significant presence in Scotland, the Midlands and South East of England. They are one of the only major home builders to have returned to pre-pandemic levels of delivery and are targeting the building of over 3,200 new homes in 2022. Kathryn will discuss their sustainability strategy to achieve the building of homes that are operationally net zero carbon from 2030, and reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Scottish Government’s 2045 target and ahead of UK Government’s 2050 target.

Transport Scotland – Lawrence Shackman, Director of Major Projects

As Scotland pushes on with their pioneering regeneration- Transport Scotland continues to provide safe cost-effective and sustainable transport, building multi-million-pound infrastructure to drive economic growth. Current projects include £320m investment in active travel, £3 billion on the A9 Perth to Inverness, £10 million on the A58 schemes and £55 million plan to electrify the Fife route, with the aim to invest £30 million in decarbonising all passenger services in Scotland by 2035.  Lawrence Shackman – Director of major projects will be joining us to discuss major transport projects, development of inclusive and drive to decarbonise transport.

Edinburgh BioQuarter – Anna Stamp, Interim Programme Director

Edinburgh BioQuarter is leading in urban regeneration, future neighbourhoods and creating global destinations. Recently developing a £1bn mixed-use health innovation district project, which aims to support 20,000 people and bring in £140 million a year to the Scottish economy. Anna Stamp will be joining the session to share intel on future developments, perspective on development of urban centres and evolution of placemaking.

Goodstone Living – Martin Bellinger, Co-Founder – Principle

Goodstone Living are innovators in the sustainable residential market, providing specialised Built-to-Rent properties. They have recently announced their first foray into the West Midlands market which will see 550 BtR homes built across 22,000 sq ft in Birmingham. With other schemes nationwide, Martin will join the event to talk about their national expansion and other future ideas for cities within the Midlands.

Scottish City Centre Task Force – Stuart Patrick CBE, Co-Chair

The Scottish city centre task force play a key role in reopening the Scottish economy after the pandemic. With £195 million to regenerate the high street in Glasgow -Stuart Patrick CBE, Co-Chair will be joining us on the session to explore the challenges and opportunities of regeneration, placemaking on the high street and the future of urban centres.

Scottish Renewables – Helen Melone, Senior Policy Manager for Heat, Hydrogen & Solar

As we drive to carbon neutral places and infrastructure, Scottish Renewables are visionaries in the world of renewable energy. Helen Melone – Senior Policy Manager for Heat, Hydrogen & Solar will be joining the session to discuss the subject of heat networks, green energy, and the challenges of decarbonisation.

Renfrewshire Council – Alasdair Morrison, Head of Economy and Development

Renfrewshire council is heading towards one of the largest revamps in Scotland though the innovative regeneration of Paisley town centre , which costs £110 million and focuses on keeping culture and heritage at the heart of the transformation. Previous projects include £1.13 billion GAIA (Glasgow Airport Investment Area) & the £65 million AMID (Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland). Alasdair from the Renfrewshire Council will be joining us on this session to discuss the key challenges facing traditional town centres in the post-covid world, the opportunities in Renfrewshire and the future of urban centres.

Scottish Property Federation – David Melhuish, Director

The Scottish Property Federation is the voice of real estate, assisting the industry to thrive and grow – David Melhuish – Director at the Scottish Property Federation has 25 years’ experience in government, policy and public relation and will be joining us to share thought leadership, policies and Scottish regeneration priorities.

Scottish Futures Trust – Mhairi Donaghy, Associate Director

The Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) are experts in the infrastructure centre, collaborating with the public and private sector, innovating and plan future infrastructure investment and deliver their own programmes. SFT has been tasked with supporting the expansion of town centre living, with the aim of delivering more housing in the heart of our communities. Mhairi – associate director of the SFT will be joining the session to discuss the opportunities and constraints on town centre living in Scotland.

Peter D Stirling – Andrew Stirling, Director

Peter D Stirling are the largest integrated logistics company in Scotland for over 151 years. Currently developing the Mossend International Rail freight Park, providing 2.2 million sq. ft of low carbon, distribution, logistics and manufacturing space. Joining forces with North Lanarkshire and other private and public sectors to develop Clyde Green Freeport bid, to become one of two green freeports in Scotland.  Which is forecasted to bring in 30,000 jobs and £2.5 billion capital investment. Andrew will be joining the session to discuss the Mossend development, future of commercial regeneration and how we can support industry and place.

Sustrans – Rachel Toms, Director of Urbanism

Sustrans are engineers, educators and experts working on creating healthier places, funding active travel and developing better places to live for thousands of people. Cycling tourism is projected to bring as much as £30 million in tourism, the development of £19.4 million Edinburgh cycling route, aims to boost the economy. Rachel Toms, Director of Urbanism will be joining us on this panel to discuss the future of active travel, healthy placemaking and how travel can contribute to the Scottish regeneration strategies.

Edinburgh Airport Limited – Gordon Dewar, Chief Executive

As the importance of sustainable energy grows – Edinburgh Airport recently signed a deal to build an energy farm next to the runway on a 16-acre plot, with 9MW of solar panels and 40 EV charging ports. The Scottish Government Funded £2 million to the project, which is due to provide 30% of the airport’s energy needs. Edinburgh airport is to reach carbon neutrality by 2040. Gordon will be joining us on this session to discuss the aviation sustainability strategy, future development and what needs to be done to support the industry.

IMPACT Scotland – Jenny Mungall, Development Director

IMPACT Scotland is the charity behind the Dunard Centre project – Edinburgh’s first dedicated new space for music in 100 years. The £75 million scheme is being funded by Dunard Fund and Edinburgh and Southeast Scotland City Region Deal and is supported by Royal Bank of Scotland. It will house a 1,000-capacity auditorium with capacity for live streaming, digital capture and broadcasting and further space for conferencing and hospitality. The project is set to get underway in mid-2022 with an estimated build length of three years. Jenny will be joining the session discuss how the project will contribute to the transform the region, support cultural provision, assist in mass regeneration and placemaking.

Vattenfall – Ben Carter, Account Director

Ben takes a leading role in delivering  the vision of a city scale heat network in Edinburgh. He works with a broad range of public, corporate and community stakeholders to understand their journey to zero carbon and how Vattenfall can be their number one decarbonisation partner. He has been in the renewable heating sector since 2010, moving into energy from waste in 2015 and focussing on building decarbonisation and district heating since 2016.

Architype – Ann-Marie Fallon, Associate Director

Architype’s Associate Director and Passivhaus Designer Ann-Marie Fallon is one of the UK’s leading experts on zero carbon and Passivhaus design and was named as one of the Architects’ Journal’s 40 under 40. She has led some of Architype’s most innovative and landmark projects and is deeply involved in a wide range of Scottish projects including the delivery of Riverside Primary School for Perth & Kinross Council, the first Passivhaus primary school in Scotland, as well as Scotland’s first Passivhaus high school, Currie Community Campus. Ann-Marie also oversees Architype’s extensive retrofit programme for the City of Edinburgh’s learning estate and worked with the Scottish Futures Trust to establish demanding new low energy performance targets for Scotland’s education sector linking capital funding to operational energy performance.

Mott MacDonald – Alan Hendry, Director of Sustainability

We’re a global engineering, management and development consultancy focused on guiding our clients through many of the planet’s most intricate challenges. Being employee-owned frees us to choose the work we take on and focus on the issues that are important to our clients – and us. Our purpose is to improve society by considering social outcomes in everything we do; relentlessly focusing on excellence and digital innovation, transforming our clients’ businesses, our communities and employee opportunities. From our offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness and Lerwick we work with a range of clients in the private and public sectors. We support clients on sustainability and net zero policy and delivery; these include Scottish Government, Scottish Futures Trust and Transport Scotland. Key recent projects include supporting the Glasgow City Region with its Green Freeport application and delivering for ICE Scotland an Insights Report on Accelerating to Net Zero.

Built Environment Networking – Amanda Griffiths, Director

Amanda is one of the Co-Founder’s of Built Environment Networking – formed almost 10 years ago.

She’ll be hosting throughout the day, running the days proceedings and managing the interaction between our delegates and the speakers.

VU.CITY – Andrew Bullmore, Business Development Manager

Andrew Bullmore is a Business Development Manager at VU.CITY and is focussed on adoption in the Scottish public and private sector. VU.CITY is a game-changing solution for urban development teams, speeding up all aspects of the planning process from design concept stage right through to planning application submissions. VU.CITY’s accurate 3D city platform allows for collaborative and virtual feasibility and impact studies for proposed developments across 30+ cities in the UK and internationally.

Hydrock – Marc Pawson, Regional Director

Marc is responsible for deepening relationships with our local clients and expanding our integrated engineering, energy and sustainability offer in Glasgow and the wider Scottish region. He joins the session to talk about the extraordinary opportunity for the investment community to re-imagine retail in a new world. How we can push boundaries to reach a better place. We believe this convergence of the retail and leisure sector will boost local communities and economies, creating long-term asset value.