Interviews

Professor Mark Stephens speaks to SHN editor Kieran Findlay about compiling the 2025 UK Housing Review, policy process, and his suggested new role for the Bank of England. As lead editor of the UK Housing Review 2025, Professor Mark Stephens of the University of Glasgow's Urban & Social Policy d

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

Elaine Scoular, TPAS Scotland’s director of corporate services, reflects on her 25 years with the organisation. Last month, Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) Scotland’s director of corporate services, Elaine Scoular, marked 25 years with the organisation. Elaine, who has worke

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

In the lead-up to Scottish Housing Day on Wednesday, September 13, Larkfield’s maintenance assistant Rebecca Turner shares why her job motivates her and what attracted her to the housing sector. What motivates you about your job?

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

Ahead of the SFHA Development Conference on Wednesday, we spoke with Scotland Excel’s housing services manager Colin Taylor. What will you be discussing at the conference? 

Jimmy Black meets Bill Banks, retiring CEO of the multi award-winning Kingdom Group. Bill Banks looks relaxed, calm and entirely at home in his relatively modest office at Kingdom Housing Association. He’s a man at the height of his powers with a very solid track record of achievement. But Bil

Fanchea Kelly has been at the centre of events in Scottish housing since the 1980s, and will soon leave Blackwood after a stellar career. Jimmy Black asked her to share some memories with Scottish Housing News. Over 9,000 miles from Scotland, Fanchea Kelly was sitting in an Australian radio studio i

In the second instalment of his Housing Champion interviews, Jimmy Black speaks to housing veteran Tony Cain. You would think Tony Cain would understand how housing works. He’s been head of housing in a council, an inspection manager with Communities Scotland and a policy officer working in go

Launching our new monthly feature of Housing Champion interviews, Jimmy Black profiles Kirsty Wells, director of consultancy and partnership at Housemark and the newly appointed chair of WISH Scotland. Kirsty Wells began plunging into the chilly waters of reservoirs and the North Sea during COV

The recent procurement award season went extremely well for Scotland Excel’s New Build Framework - winning Scottish and national awards for ‘Best Procurement Delivery’, but also winning the ‘GO Excellence Award’ at the national final. We caught up with Graeme Sutherland

When Dundee City East MSP Shona Robison was handed the housing mandate following May’s Holyrood election part of her remit was to oversee the delivery of 100,000 new affordable homes over the next decade. Within weeks she had announced that local authorities would be helped to achieve this wit

To celebrate International Women’s Day today, Abbeyfield Scotland CEO Karen Barr talks about what this year’s theme #ChooseToChallange means to her. What does this year's International Women’s Day slogan #ChooseToChallenge mean for you in the workplace?