Last month, Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) Scotland’s director of corporate services, Elaine Scoular, marked 25 years with the organisation. Elaine, who has worked in the social housing sector for 35 years, started her career working in administrative roles in housing associations, including Whiteinch and Scotstoun and Trafalgar as well as the former Gap Housing Association, which merged with Link Housing in 2000.

When Elaine first saw the job advert for office manager at TPAS Scotland, she admits she hadn’t heard of the organisation and wasn’t sure whether or not to apply as she didn’t have experience of working with financial management software Sage, a desired skill for the role. However, she decided not to let this stop her.

Elaine said: “I thought, I can do everything else, and, if I get an interview, I’ll just be honest and say I’ll learn it, which I did. I got the job and that’s been me ever since.”

Over the years, Elaine has worked her way up from office manager to her current position. She acted as Interim CEO for nine months, after longstanding TPAS Scotland chief executive Lesley Baird retired in 2022, but had to stand down due to family commitments. Elaine also worked for TPAS Cymru in Cardiff for six months in 2001 to help the organisation through a period of change. During this period, she was also studying for a CIPD qualification in human resources management/personnel administration, which she passed with distinction.

Elaine said she has seen many changes over her 25 years with TPAS Scotland, including regarding technology and digital working.

She said: “When I first started working for TPAS, we only had one email and one mobile phone which were accessed only by the CEO.”

While Elaine’s job title may have changed over the years, her areas of responsibility have largely not, with her wide remit covering membership, events, HR, finance and governance. However, her big passion, and what she is most proud of over the course of her career, is organising TPAS Scotland’s events, namely its annual conference. Elaine describes it as ‘my baby’. What is it that about organising this conference that she enjoys so much?

“From my point of view,” said Elaine. “I love seeing everything coming together. There’s so much planning that goes into the conference, and then I just love seeing it all coming together. I love seeing the delegates getting together, laughing and talking to each other.”

However, such passion can come at a cost at times, and Elaine admits she used to get “really upset” if delegates complained about something. Her first TPAS Scotland conference took place at the Marine Hotel in North Berwick, three weeks after she began her role with the organisation. It was at this event that she got her first complaint, with one delegate complaining that their toast had only been toasted on one side. Thankfully, over the years, she has learned to relax and take complaints – bread-related or otherwise – in her stride.

Events and travel have often provided humorous and memorable moments for Elaine, including colleagues running out of clean clothes after getting stuck in the North of Scotland at an event due to the weather, and, on a separate occasion, accidentally booking the wrong flights for a trip to Shetland.

“I got a call from colleagues, who were at the airport, asking where I was,” said Elaine, “I was at home, having booked the flights for the wrong day.”

However, her real standout moment, “a big highlight”, was meeting her husband, John, in 2003 when he was driving a coach to take delegates to the ‘Hopes and Realities Conference’, a joint TPAS Scotland and TPAS Cymru event at Dunblane Hydro.

Elaine said she appreciates the relationships she has built during her career, particularly with longstanding TPAS Scotland members. “We know we can rely on each other”, she said.

To this day, many of Elaine’s circle of friends include people that she has met and kept in touch with as a result of her 35-year career.

Commenting on the social housing sector, she describes it as “a big world but not a big world”, and this was demonstrated when she, once again, started working with current TPAS Scotland Executive Director Jacqueline Norwood, having first worked together in 1995 at Gap Housing Association. “It’s been fantastic to work with Jacqueline again, and she’s made some excellent changes to TPAS Scotland, including to our structure and ways of working,” Elaine said.

Reflecting on her 25 years with TPAS Scotland, Elaine said she really valued the relationship she had with Lesley Baird, who was CEO for 23 out of Elaine’s 25 years. She has also “loved” working with the organisation’s boards over the years.

She said: “I have to recognise the support, guidance, learning and advice from Lesley and the boards over the years. The boards have been absolutely amazing. I have met, and worked with, some amazing people.”