Scotland's Housing Festival 2024

Paul McLennan served as a local councillor for the Dunbar and East Linton multi-member ward of East Lothian Council since 2007, and was leader of the Council from 2009 to 2012. He has been a board member of NHS Lothian, the regional offices of Scottish Enterprise and the Commission on School Reform. He was elected as MSP for East Lothian in 2021.

Miles Briggs MSP for Lothian, was born in 1983 and elected to the Scottish Parliament as a Member for Lothian Region in May 2016. Miles is the Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Local Government, Housing & Social Justice. He was previously the party Chief Whip and before then the Shadow Minister for Health. Miles is Co-Convenor of the Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on Cancer and Convenor of the Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on Scottish Horseracing & Bloodstock Industries. He is actively involved in numerous other Cross-Party Groups. Miles attended Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen where he studied Management & Politics. Following graduation, Miles worked for The Executive Council of the Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada. He then spent 10 years working as a Political Adviser to MSPs Dr Nanette Milne and Liz Smith. Outside of politics Miles is a keen hill walker, having completed 83 Munros to dates, and is also interested in rugby, countryside issues, photography, Scottish history & music.

Cllr Martha Wardrop is Chair of the Economy, Housing, Transport and Regeneration City Policy Committee at Glasgow City Council. Martha has been the Scottish Green Party Councillor for the Hillhead Ward since May 2007.

Soryia has lectured science based courses in further education colleges for over 14 years. This is her 3rd term serving as a councillor in the most diverse ward in Scotland. She campaigned successfully for the Govanhill Aquisition Programme, which resulted in hundreds of substandard private lets brought to tolerable standard and become part of the local housing associations Social Housing stock. She is currently working in Higher Education and serving as a councillor.

Paul is the Housing Spokesperson for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, he is also the Vice Convenor of the party and leads their Central Scotland list for the Scottish Elections. Paul has been a leading voice within the party on housing policy for nearly a decade, he was one of few politicians with a lived experience of homelessness. Paul has a special interest in homelessness policy and the work of Housing associations

Pennie Taylor specialises in health, care and housing issues. Based in Glasgow, she was BBC Scotland’s first Health Correspondent and has also worked on the news desks of national newspapers. A former Head of Communications for the Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust in Edinburgh, Pennie has inside knowledge of how public services work. This gives her a uniquely informed perspective from which to approach and stimulate debate.

Gavin Smart CIHCM is chief executive at the Chartered Institute of Housing. Prior to joining CIH, Gavin was assistant director of research and futures at the National Housing Federation from 2004 to 2012. Born in Cardiff, Gavin studied public administration at the Polytechnic of Wales and then gained an MSc in sociology at the University of Bristol, where he worked as a research associate on projects for the Department of the Environment, Housing Corporation, Scottish Office and local authorities.

Jill is an accomplished chief executive and housing professional with extensive leadership skills, knowledge and experience. Having spent the majority of her 42yr housing career in social housing, her experience has included a path of continuous learning in organisations of varying structures, size and capacity, which has afforded her a diverse range of skills and knowledge across housing association, local authority and the private sector. Throughout her career, her enthusiasm for excellence in leadership has inspired her to develop further and to develop others. Jill’s work on leading and empowering staff and regenerating communities has attracted both regional and national recognition, including various personal and organisational awards. The story surrounding the success of her leadership approach in Byker, Newcastle, has been included as a chapter in a book titled ‘Hope Under Neoliberal Austerity’ published in April 2021. Jill’s role as the chief executive of a housing association for over nine years, provided her with in-depth and specialist knowledge of strategic leadership, culture, planning, good governance, assurance, risk management, community regeneration and co-creation. Jill is President of the Chartered Institute of Housing and a NED in a large NHS Mental Health Foundation Trust, where she also chairs the People, Culture and Diversity Committee.

Paul McLennan served as a local councillor for the Dunbar and East Linton multi-member ward of East Lothian Council since 2007, and was leader of the Council from 2009 to 2012. He has been a board member of NHS Lothian, the regional offices of Scottish Enterprise and the Commission on School Reform. He was elected as MSP for East Lothian in 2021.

Duncan is Emeritus Professor in Urban Economics at the University of Glasgow, is a visiting Professors in the City Futures Research Centre at UNSW (Sydney) and an Adjunct Professor in Housing Economics at The Canadian Housing Evidence Centre at McMaster University (Ontario). Duncan is an applied economist with interests in the economic functioning of and policies for housing systems, neighbourhoods, and cities. He has spent most of his career in different research leadership roles at the University of Glasgow (where he led the ESRC UK Centre for Housing Research from 1982-1999) and the University of St Andrews (2008-2016). He has held visiting Chair appointments at the Wharton Business School (Sussman Chair) and the Economics Department at the University of California at Berkeley (Regent’s Professor). Whilst in these posts he was the economic adviser to the Rowntree Foundation (1989-2003), part-time adviser to the Minister of Housing and Planning in Warsaw (1990-94) and was principal adviser to OECD on urban affairs 1983-97 and served on the Board of Scottish Homes from 1989-1999. Duncan then spent a decade in senior posts in government (as Special Adviser to the First Ministers of Scotland, Chief Economist in the Canadian Federal Department for Infrastructure and Cities and Chief Economist and Deputy-Secretary for Strategy and Policy in the Government of Victoria in Australia) before returning to academic research and writing. Over the last decade his work has focused on the connections between housing outcomes and the economy. A series of research projects, undertaken in Australia, Canada, and the UK on the effects of housing outcomes on productivity, stability and wealth redistribution are summarised in ‘Housing: Tackling the Elephant in the Economy’ (the second most cited housing report in Australia in 2022), ‘Housing and the Metropolitan Economy’’ for CMHC (Ottawa, 2023) and on short papers on housing in the economy for the ESRC Economics Observatory in February 2023. He currently has academic papers under review that focus on ‘Productivity: a missing perspective in housing economics’, ‘Restoring the housing sector to regional and metropolitan economics and policies’ and ‘A systems approach to remaking housing policy governance’.

Pennie Taylor specialises in health, care and housing issues. Based in Glasgow, she was BBC Scotland’s first Health Correspondent and has also worked on the news desks of national newspapers. A former Head of Communications for the Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust in Edinburgh, Pennie has inside knowledge of how public services work. This gives her a uniquely informed perspective from which to approach and stimulate debate.

Jenyfer has been a financial Adviser for 27 years, specialising in educating and empowering other women to become more financially resilient. She provides a comprehensive financial Planning and Wealth Management service to businesses, individuals and families, to help them achieve their financial goals irrespective of their resources or stage of life.

Kirsty has a career spanning over 25 years in the social housing sector. Based in Scotland, she joined Housemark in 2012 and is currently the Director of Consultancy, leading our team of staff and associates to deliver data and housing assignments to our customers in the sector. She is passionate about tenant and resident engagement having spent 13 years as a Development Manager with the Tenants Information Service, supporting landlords and tenants in Scotland. Previously, Kirsty worked as a Housing Officer in two local authorities. She served as a CIH Scotland board member for eight years from 2010 to 2018 and in April 2022, Kirsty became the inaugural Chair of the Board of Women in Social Housing (WISH) Scotland.

Dr Vikki McCall’s work includes leading projects focusing on housing, ageing, stigma, co-production the role of front-line workers, service users, volunteers and the policy process. Professor McCall is the principal investigator on UK-wide projects including the Intersectional Stigma of Place-based Ageing (ISPA) project funded by the ESRC (2022-2027) and the Inclusive Living Support for Older People in Residential Care (INVITE) project funded by the Longleigh Foundation (2020-2023). She is also Co-I on the UKRI-funded Designing Homes for Healthy Cognitive Ageing: co-production for Impact and Scale (DesHCA) project (2020-2024).

Speaker information coming soon.

Alison is a past president of CIH and a board member of Saffron Housing Trust, Tpas England, and Housing Diversity Network.

Jo is known for her passion for service excellence and hearing the customer's voice. She has worked in the social housing sector for more than 30 years, 17 of which have been in senior operational and leadership roles in both the UK and Australia. She has a broad and contemporary knowledge of the social housing sector.

Like many others, I fell into housing without really knowing what a vital industry I was getting into. Starting as a naïve Skillseeker almost 27 years ago, I now feel privileged to be a Service Manager for one of the biggest landlords in the country with responsibility for homelessness, housing access and service commissioning arrangements. My time at the University of Stirling helped confirm that good quality housing is central to life opportunities. I am the current Chair of the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland Board as well as the former Chair of Ore Valley Housing Group.

Michael is the Chief Executive of the Scottish Housing Regulator, the regulator of Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) and local authority housing services in Scotland. His career has centred on the provision of social housing, public health and welfare services, with the last twenty three years in the inspection and regulation service of the Scottish Housing Regulator and its predecessor organisations. Michael was educated at the University of Glasgow.

Speaker information coming soon.

Gareth leads on the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence's EDI work and is co-host of the Equality in Housing podcast, a partnership with Housing Options Scotland.

Pedro leads engagement, communication and volunteering for Housing Options Scotland, which provides housing advice and information to disabled people, older people and members of the armed forces community. He is co-producer and co-host of the Equality in Housing podcast, which won the inaugural Marion Gibbs Award for Equality in Housing in 2023 at the CIH Scotland Awards.

Speaker information coming soon.

Kerry is the current Vice-chair of CIH Scotland and works as a Governance and Compliance Manager for Elderpark Housing with 20 years experience working across housing management, maintenance and corporate services, providing her a broad range of expertise and understanding of how professionalism impacts the standards of service provided to customers. Extremely passionate about the work of CIH and being professional, Kerry has also lectured on the CIH level 4 certificate and delivers training to help support continuous professional development. Kerry also recently led on the award winning submission from Elderpark Housing at the CIH Scotland awards on Excellence in Learning and Development which showcased Elderpark’s commitment to ensuring professionalism throughout the organisation.

Amanda chairs CIH Scotland’s Housing Education and Professionalism group. The Group’s aim is to enhance the housing education and professionalism of those working in the housing sector in Scotland. A past Chair of CIH Scotland and a career long member of the CIH, Amanda has worked in housing at both national and local levels, held positions in further education, and been an expert specialist and adviser to the Scottish Government. She has a particular interest in the contribution that housing makes to people’s overall wellbeing, contributing across Scotland’s National Performance Framework. Most recently, Amanda’s focus has been on the communications sector and digital transformation – during Covid, she led national programmes providing iPads to care home residents, developing digital solutions for people who use drugs and supporting the Housing & TEC initiative. Amanda is Scotland Member of the Communications Consumer Panel, a committee of Ofcom, and a Capability Scotland board member.

Alison is a past president of CIH and a board member of Saffron Housing Trust, Tpas England, and Housing Diversity Network.

Speaker information coming soon.

Siân is an experienced leader who has worked for both social housing providers and contractors. She brings together her experience of the public and private sector, as well as her knowledge of lean processes, to help support organisations deliver great services. Siân specialises in repairs and maintenance, delivering a great customer experience and empowering operatives and planners to do the right thing for customers. Siân has a degree in housing studies and qualifications in Lean six sigma, training, coaching, and mentoring.

Jo is known for her passion for service excellence and hearing the customer's voice. She has worked in the social housing sector for more than 30 years, 17 of which have been in senior operational and leadership roles in both the UK and Australia. She has a broad and contemporary knowledge of the social housing sector.

Speaker information coming soon.

Speaker information coming soon.

John McMorrow is the Chief Executive of Melville Housing Association with almost 40 years experience in housing. He is responsible for supporting the Board in setting and then delivering Melville's strategic goals, ensuring strong governance, and maintaining the highest levels of service possible for tenants and other stakeholders. John will discuss how Melville Housing Association has adopted a 4-day working week since 1 January 2023.

Kirsty has a career spanning over 25 years in the social housing sector. Based in Scotland, she joined Housemark in 2012 and is currently the Director of Consultancy, leading our team of staff and associates to deliver data and housing assignments to our customers in the sector. She is passionate about tenant and resident engagement having spent 13 years as a Development Manager with the Tenants Information Service, supporting landlords and tenants in Scotland. Previously, Kirsty worked as a Housing Officer in two local authorities. She served as a CIH Scotland board member for eight years from 2010 to 2018 and in April 2022, Kirsty became the inaugural Chair of the Board of Women in Social Housing (WISH) Scotland.

Chief Executive at Hanover Scotland, focusing on developing a strong housing with care model that will combine high quality accessible housing for older people with a flexible care and support service that utilises digital technology.

Sally Thomas is Chief Executive at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), the national representative body for Scotland’s housing associations and co-operatives.  She has worked for several housing associations in London and the North East of England.  Her career has also included roles at the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), on regeneration at an urban development corporation, and as director of a consultancy specialising in community-based development. She has co-authored several publications for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Chartered Institute of Housing, the Housing Associations Charitable Trust, think tanks and government departments.  She is currently a member of the Scottish Government’s Homelessness Prevention Strategy Group and the Housing to 2040 Strategic Board.  In 2021, she co-chaired the Social Renewal Advisory Board, convened by government ministers to make recommendations for delivering transformational economic and social change in a post-pandemic Scotland, and the Zero Emissions Social Housing Taskforce (ZEST) which reported on achieving net zero in social housing. She was also on the Stewarding Group of Scotland’s Climate Assembly

Now working as the Policy Manager for the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO) Tony’s career includes work in both central and local government and the Scottish Housing Regulator. His previous post as Head of Housing and Customer Service with Stirling Council included strategic control of customer service, equalities, internet communications and advice. He has also worked on secondment to the Scottish Government developing policy in relation to private sector housing. Tony is also a former member of Shelter’s Scotland Committee and a member of the First Tier Tribunal Housing and Property Chamber. Most recently he spent a year on secondment to Clackmannanshire Council as their head of housing.

Pennie Taylor specialises in health, care and housing issues. Based in Glasgow, she was BBC Scotland’s first Health Correspondent and has also worked on the news desks of national newspapers. A former Head of Communications for the Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust in Edinburgh, Pennie has inside knowledge of how public services work. This gives her a uniquely informed perspective from which to approach and stimulate debate.

Like many others, I fell into housing without really knowing what a vital industry I was getting into. Starting as a naïve Skillseeker almost 27 years ago, I now feel privileged to be a Service Manager for one of the biggest landlords in the country with responsibility for homelessness, housing access and service commissioning arrangements. My time at the University of Stirling helped confirm that good quality housing is central to life opportunities. I am the current Chair of the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland Board as well as the former Chair of Ore Valley Housing Group.