Since its arrival north of the border, success for Keepmoat Scotland has been to establish the company as a recognised and trusted housebuilder, but as regional managing director Tim Metcalfe tells SHN, this is only the beginning. Having been in Scotland for a decade, Keepmoat is now implementing a
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See all articlesElderpark Housing has made a key appointment to its senior management team with Duncan Smith set to become its new director of asset management later in the spring. Duncan joins Elderpark from River Clyde Homes in Inverclyde where he is currently head of energy and sustainability.
Caledonia Housing Association has welcomed two new non-executive directors to its management board. Amy Waite, knowledge transfer and innovation manager at Innovate UK Business Connect, joins the board bringing experience in sustainable development, innovation and marketing.
Pluto Finance, a provider of private credit for UK property developers, has appointed Jamie Drummond as lending director for Scotland. Mr Drummond will lead Pluto Finance’s entry into the Scottish housebuilding and developer market by providing access to the firm’s flexible and innovativ
The Scottish Housing Regulator welcomed the appointment by Scottish Ministers of Ewan Fraser as its new deputy chair. Mr Fraser will take over from the current Deputy Andrew Watson on 1 April 2025 for a two-year term. Andrew will remain a board member until 30 June 2025, when he will have comp
Bield Housing and Care has appointed Debbie Collins as its new chief executive. Debbie steps into the permanent position after a successful year as interim CEO, where she steered Bield through key strategic milestones and helped shape the next phase of the organisation’s development.
Opinion
See all articlesIn an exclusive for Scottish Housing News, Hans Mitchell, client relations director at fire safety engineering consultancy Harmony Fire, summarises the Scottish Government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommendations. The recent Scottish Government Response to the Grenfell Tower In
With the upcoming introduction of Awaab’s Law, social housing providers must act now to prepare for the new legal requirements aimed at safeguarding tenant health and safety, writes Tom Morton, CEO of Glasgow-based digital health innovator Archangel.
Dr Jenny Preece, from the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE), reflects on a recent event hosted by the Centre for Ageing Better, where researchers unveiled a national evaluation of home improvement services, highlighting their impact on dignity, independence, and housing cond
Shelter Scotland's Ndaye Lisa Badji-Churchill responds to statistics which reveal that Black People and People of Colour (BPoC) in Scotland are at the sharp end of the housing emergency.
Housing Champions
See all articlesSHN's Housing Champions feature returns with Lorna Cameron, chief executive of Horizon Housing, who speaks to Margaret Taylor about the inextricable link between accessible housing and social care. It is almost 35 years since Lorna Cameron started her career at what was Strathclyde Regiona
Jimmy Black relives a few housing decades with Laurie Naumann, a campaigner on single homelessness, and a founder of Kingdom Housing Association. This is a story about Laurie Naumann, who recently retired after 44 years as a board member at Kingdom Housing Association. But it’s also a step bac

Jimmy Black cycled to Stornoway to meet Calum (Barney) MacKay, chair of TPAS Scotland and long-standing tenant activist. Barney is a trade unionist, and that explains a lot. Trades unions teach their active members how to do many useful things, including basic skills, like how to run a meeting or th

Jimmy Black meets the energetic Evie Copland, multi-award-winner and housing evangelist. “The biggest problem is … how do I change the world with this?” Evie Copland is finishing her Master's in Housing Studies, and she has been a distinguished student. In 2021 she won the Malcolm

Scottish Housing News Podcast
See all articlesIn the latest episode of the Scottish Housing News Podcast, Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black catch up with Martin Wilkie McFarlane, who shares insights from his experience with Wellhouse Housing Association during a critical period of regulatory intervention. The conversation explores the challenges f
Below is a full transcript of episode 66 of the Scottish Housing News Podcast titled ‘Martin Wilkie-McFarlane on Wellhouse, regulatory intervention and more'. Listen to the episode here.
“Compulsory purchase reform is absolutely critical because we do need a backstop if landowners aren't prepared to come to the table on reasonable terms.” In this episode of the Scottish Housing News Podcast, Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black speak to two guests who have new proposals to hel
Below is a full transcript of episode 65 of the Scottish Housing News Podcast titled ‘Rural housing: Public land acquisition and the Right to Live with Hamish Trench and Ailsa Raeburn'. Listen to the episode here.
Podcast: The Prospecthill Court Retrofit Project with Richard Turnock, Duncan Smith and Ryan Ferrier
“We go into this project not looking for awards but it's good actually to recognise the contribution of our staff and it's also a good way for our suppliers and the other stakeholders in this to be recognised as well. So it's a win-win-win for customers, us and the contractors.” If you c
Black's Blog
See all articlesJimmy Black gets some sage advice from Martin Wilkie-McFarlane, and hears how regulation was ultimately a positive experience for Wellhouse Housing Association.
Jimmy Black digs into the Scottish Land Commission’s new report, Community Land Scotland’s “Right to Live” and living on Solid Ground.

A trip to Greenock to see the award-winning retrofit project at Prospecthill Court for the Scottish Housing News Podcast provides Jimmy Black with renewed vigour regarding the potential for multi-storey to play a part in Scotland's housing landscape. Take an elderly multi high above the Clyde on an

Following a conversation with Simon Fitzpatrick for the Scottish Housing News Podcast, Jimmy Black thinks about wheels and lifts, beautiful new Blackwood Homes and folks stuck up thousands of tenement stairs. Wheels. Perhaps architects should have an app which lets them push a virtual pram through e

Jimmy Black hears about some great work happening in Perth & Kinross; then thinks about people excluded from the housing market by high prices and poverty. We’re running out of words. We’ve used “housing emergency” to explain the failure of our housing markets to provide

Our Housing Heritage
See all articlesTo mark International Women’s Day, SHN revives its Our Housing Heritage feature to celebrate the enduring legacy of Margaret Blackwood. As a pioneering force in both the disability rights movement and the housing sector, Blackwood’s remarkable contributions transformed accessible housing
For the next edition of Our Housing Heritage, journalist and digital history specialist Chris Holme shares the story of how First World War servicemen came to reside in the rural village of Longniddry. Unlikely as it sounds, the Longniddry Piggery provided Britain’s first purpose-built homes f

In the latest article in the ongoing Our Housing Heritage series, Scottish Housing News discusses the Glasgow Rent Strikes of 1915. In the absence of social housing, families across the UK in 1915 were at the mercy of private landlords who could hike rents and evict tenants at will with little restr
The Springburn office of ng homes is named after Ned Donaldson. But who was Ned Donaldson? Kieran Findlay recalls the contribution of the activist and the post-war battle to stop the privatisation of council housing at Merrylee. It was a cold sleety December day in 1951. Slum landlordism and sublett

Duncan Smith, who works in the social housing sector, has contributed this piece as part of his quest for more information about housing architect George Gibson. Several years ago, just after starting my current job, I undertook some research on the properties we were refurbishing at the time. I fou
Fuel Poverty
See all articlesAlmost half of Scots are worried about being able to afford their household energy bills over the coming year, according to a poll published ahead of the latest Ofgem price cap rise. The Survation poll, conducted for Advice Direct Scotland, found that 46% of people are concerned about their ability
The Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel has issued a new evidence report reflecting on what the impending increase to the energy price cap means for rural communities and findings from its recent investigation into rural and remote fuel poverty.
The Scottish Government has called on UK Government ministers to urgently deliver a targeted energy bill discount to protect customers in greatest need and drive down high fuel poverty rates. The final report of the Social Tariff Working Group – comprising energy suppliers, consumer and fuel p
The Scottish winter fuel payment challenge is being livestreamed today. The petition for judicial review in the case of Fanning and Fanning v the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Scottish Ministers is being heard before Lady Hood in the Court of Session. Proceedings began yesterday a
The Scottish Government has announced that it will abandon its flagship plan to require homeowners to switch to greener heating systems shortly after purchasing a new home, a decision which has sparked a diverse range of reactions from political leaders, environmental groups, and industry represent

Homelessness
See all articlesShelter Scotland is demanding urgent action from every level of government after it was revealed that 10 local authority homelessness services are routinely breaking the law. Local authorities are required by law to provide housing to people experiencing homelessness. The Scottish Housing Regulator'
UK infrastructure support company Amey and recruitment firm Hays have partnered with Prince William as part of his Homewards programme. Created in collaboration with EveryYouth, the Project Flourish initiative aims to tackle youth homelessness by creating pathways to meaningful employment for some o
Families in Edinburgh who have been homeless or living in temporary accommodation are being housed as part of an innovative scheme in the city.
Scottish Labour has lodged a motion which aims to protect children’s rights as the number of children in temporary accommodation reaches record levels. In a Parliamentary debate yesterday ahead of stage two of the Housing (Scotland) Bill being considered next month, Scottish Labour housing spo
ARK Consultancy has raised £2,000 for The Ootsider, a Livingston based Community Interest Company which provides sleeping coats for rough sleepers. The ARK team met John Keogh, founder and CEO of The Ootsider at the CIH Scotland Housing Festival last week where they heard more about the compan
PRS
See all articlesTenant advocacy groups have raised fears of unaffordable increases for tenants as Scotland’s temporary rent adjudication measures come to an end today.
Share is proud to announce the launch of a free educational resource designed exclusively for tenants in Scotland’s private rented and mid-market rented sectors. This initiative, made possible through funding from SafeDeposits Scotland Charitable Trust, aims to support both new and existing te
A landlord who was refused an eviction order against a tenant in rent arrears after a housing tribunal found that there would be significant detrimental impact on the tenant has won an appeal to the Upper Tribunal for Scotland against the decision and granted the order sought. Appellant Scott Mackel

Tenants' union Living Rent is calling on the Scottish Government to extend protections after highlighting research which shows rent increases could double after the emergency rent adjudication measures end on 31 March. Newly updated Private Residential Tenancy rent adjudication figures have found th
A new report published by the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE) aims to address the shortfall in official data regarding landlords within the Scottish Private Rented Sector (PRS). 'The changing characteristics and motivations of Scottish private rented sector landlords and their i
Welfare
See all articlesThe process of transferring over 66,000 adults in Scotland from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to the new Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance has begun. Payments will now be managed by Social Security Scotland instead of the Department for Work and Pensions.
More than 210,000 children in Scotland will be trapped in poverty by 2030 without urgent investment from the Scottish Government, new analysis from the Institute for Public Policy Research Scotland (IPPR Scotland) has warned.
A new benefit for pensioners is now open for applications in 13 more local authority areas in Scotland. Pension Age Disability Payment has been extended to Aberdeenshire, Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee City, Falkirk, Fife, Moray, Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles), Perth and Kinross and Stir
Cairn Housing Association’s chief executive Audrey Simpson has spoken out against the UK government’s planned £5 billion welfare cuts, warning they will have devastating consequences for disabled people and those already struggling to make ends meet. The government’s proposal
Concerns have been raised about how people in Scotland could be impacted by plans announced by Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall to cut £5 billion of UK government spending on welfare by the end of the decade. The measures, which the government argues are needed to “fi