14 September - 14 September 2023

Alan McAulay and James Whiteford, Building Standards Hub (BSH) Directors

Alan McAulay, previously Team Leader at South Lanarkshire Council Building Standards, and James Whiteford, Lead Building Standards Surveyor at Scottish Borders Council, have been appointed as the Building Standards Hub (BSH) Directors from Monday 23 May 2022 for 18 months which has subsequently been extended by a further 6 months. The Directors have been working closely with Local Authority Building Standards Scotland (LABSS), Building Standards Division (BSD) and Fife Council during the commencement of the project and have set out the aims of the BSH Pilot and the long terms objectives and deliverables during the Pilot’s 24-month period. The BSH Pilot was officially launched at the Futures Board Meeting on the 15 June. The role of the Directors is to shape and guide the work of the Hub to best support Local Authority verifiers and inform how local authority building standards joint regional working could be strengthened. Over the 24 month period the BSH Pilot will assist in providing a central administration, coordination and guidance resource available to all local authority building standards teams in Scotland to support consistency between local authority verifiers. It will also aim to formalise and develop current LABSS building standards services and explore the provision and sharing of specialist verification skills in areas such as fire and structural engineering. Partnerships at a national level are also planned, for example the facilitation of workload sharing between local authority verifiers to support customer service delivery during localised workload surges or temporary staff shortages.

Caroline Gumble, Chief Executive Officer, Chartered Institute of Building

Caroline joined CIOB as CEO in 2019. She is responsible for the leadership of the Institute, supported by the Leadership Team of operational directors.

Caroline has extensive business leadership experience gained in the UK and overseas, within the automotive and capital goods sectors gained with Lucas Industries, Ransomes Sims & Jefferies, Textron Inc and membership organisation leadership within EEF Ltd / Make UK. She is also a Director of the Board of Trustees for the Institute of Export & International Trade and a Trustee of the CIOB's Benevolent Fund (now known as CIOB Assist).

Creating diverse, high-performing business environments is a passion for Caroline with a focus on skills development and lifelong learning.

Caroline is leading a member-focussed global transformation of the Institute, with the support and guidance of CIOB’s Trustee Board. She is passionate about highlighting the importance and significance of professionalism within the built environment.

Caroline is particularly interested in the potential of construction to be a force for positive societal change. Under Caroline’s leadership, CIOB is focussed on driving the cultural shift in EDI, social mobility, worker welfare, and in promoting quality, safety and sustainability in construction.

In her tenure at CIOB, Caroline has demonstrated that members of the Institute are central to our activities and plans, with the public interest at the heart of everything CIOB is active in.

Frank Doherty, Building Standards Division

Frank Doherty has been a practicing building standards surveyor since 1995 working in Midlothian, Fife and now the Highland Council as a Team Leader. Since March 2021 he has been seconded to the Building Standards Division of the Scottish Government to lead on Digital Strategy, one of the workstreams governed by the Building Standards Futures Board. Prior to this he was a member of the LABSS Digital Transformation Group, and led Highland Councils award winning implementation of eDevelopment and wider digital transformation of Planning and Building Standards services. Frank is an experienced surveyor, with a keen interest in technology, not just for the sake of it, but where it can make a positive difference to surveyors and customers alike.

Steven Scott, Building Standards Division

An Architect working within the Building Standards Division, Steven joined The Scottish Government in 2003 after 15 years in private practice.  Initially responsible for Section 4 (Safety) of the Technical Handbooks, including access and disability issues, he led the team responsible for energy and sustainability standards within Scottish building regulations and the implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). He is now head of the Technical Unit with overall responsibility for the review and publication of the Building Standards Technical Handbooks.

Darren Whitehouse, Head of Strategy and Partnerships, SGSA

Darren Whitehouse joined the SGSA in 2017.  Since joining, he has been involved in developing the international work of the organisation and the sales management of the Green Guide.

Darren was previously a Client Director at Huthwaite International  Senior Business Development and Key Account Management at Health and Safety Executive.  He has been involved in projects including developing training courses and the growth of safety related services across industry sectors but particularly construction, nuclear and healthcare.