Wednesday, 20 Aug 2008, 10:18 BST

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Central Scotland Branch

We are now five months into our Women In Property year and I hope that you have had the opportunity to attend a number of our events. Some of the highlights so far have been the “Make yourself heard” seminar in Edinburgh, Shirlaws’ business coaching sessions, the site visit to the National Park Headquarters in Balloch and the announcement of Joanne Bell as our Central Scotland Student Award Winner.

I would like to personally thank all six students for taking part in our regional finals as each displayed real potential. Our judges and local awards event sponsors remarked on the very high standards set by our young professionals. The National “Best of the Best” Dinner is being held on the 23rd September 2008, in Claridges, London and Central Scotland Branch are hoping to take a table.

The Student Awards are a fantastic opportunity for Women In Property to strengthen links with our Universities and establish connections with future talent. We were delighted when Dunfermline Building Society and Knight Frank agreed to sponsor our Awards Reception at 29 Glasgow. The event showcased the finalists’ work and gave our members, guests and students a chance to meet and network. My thanks to all those who attended and organised this event as it was a huge success.

We will continue to offer varied events through out the rest of the year ranging from site visits to the cocktail party in September. Please keep your eyes open for e-mail flyers and visit the news and events pages on the website for more details.

Our focus is already turning to the Annual Dinner in February 2009 when we will be hosting what we hope will be our biggest dinner so far. The dinner will be held at the Hilton on Friday 27th February 2009 so please reserve this date in your diary. We are actively looking for sponsorship for the Cocktail Party and the Annual Dinner so if your company would consider getting involved, please contact me and I can offer further details.

I am really pleased that we are getting feedback from our existing and new members. We are trialling a new evening networking event on the 20th August in Glasgow to accompany our already established lunches.

A few members have been asking about corporate membership. I can confirm that this matter continues to be discussed at National Level as it has been raised by a number of branches. There are obvious benefits of corporate membership to large companies but at the moment we need to fully understand the implications this would have on how we currently manage the membership system. As yet, no decision has been made and we continue with individual memberships. If this position changes, we will certainly keep our local branch members fully updated. Membership is still a very individual and has huge range of Benefits.

Members’ benefits

• UKRC led mentoring programme with full training and matching with cross disciplined colleagues.
• Access to members only events.
• Access to online directory with search functions thus enabling contacts to be made across the country.
• Access to news bulletins/flashes from branch highlighting opportunities to members only.
• Invitations to joint events held at branch and national level where listings are not placed on website.
• Through the membership database, press opportunities for members to write editorial or comment on newsworthy items at a regional and national level.
• Opportunities for members to write a piece in our bi-annual newsletter.
• Opportunity for promotion or change of job with optional photo to appear in the new faces column of the newsletter twice a year.
• Opportunities for members to join roadshow initiatives at a branch level and thus involve their employers in the educational programme.
• Employers gain profile by members joining a branch committee and thus details are in the public domain of the website.
• Employers are approached by members to host events both at a branch and national level.
• Companies can assist career development of their professional staff by encouraging membership and thus profile as an employer supporting the female workforce.
• For younger members opportunities to gain networking experience in a ‘warm and welcoming atmosphere’.
• Opportunities to network with women at all levels in their careers and in all disciplines creates business winning scenarios.
• Career enhancing opportunities to participate in a wider business context eg running an event, the accounts of a branch.

(Extract from text provided by Fiona Alfred April 2008)

We are always open to suggestions in relation to aspects of the association, so please feel free to get in touch. You may have seen our new committee brochures that we are distributing at events and we hope you find them useful. It is vital that our membership can identify the committee members so you can contact us with queries or suggestions.

Central Scotland currently has over 340 members and we continue to grow and cover more disciplines. I am delighted to say that our committee have met some of our new members at recent events and I hope to see some more new faces coming along to events.

All the very best for now.

Lesley Woolfries
Chairman of Central Scotland Branch 2008/09

Central Scotland Branch Committee

Lesley Woolfries
Chair

Lesley is an Associate at the Glasgow office of the respected architectural practice, Holmes Partnership. She has seven years' experience, working closely with public and private clients on major contracts in the educational, commercial and residential sectors. Lesley has been a committee member since joining Women in Property three years ago and is honoured to serve as branch chairman for 2008/09. She hopes to support the committee through the coming year and continue to offer high quality, informative and relevant events for the members. She is looking forward to hosting the annual dinner in Glasgow and getting to know new faces locally and through the wider national association.

Tel: 0141 204 2080
E-mail: lesley.woolfries@holmespartnership.com

Anne MacKay-Reid
Vice Chair

Anne has over 25 years' experience in the construction industry. She is a qualified Interior Designer employed by HBOSplc Group Property where she is currently focused on all aspects of Workplace Design. Anne has been an active member of WiP for five years, joining the Committee in 2004 where she held the posts of treasurer and secretary before becoming this year's vice chair.

Tel: 0131 529 1246/07721 756022
E-mail: annemackay-reid@hbosplc.com

Karen Adamson
Treasurer

Karen is a Finance Manager with The Premier Property Group Limited based in their Edinburgh Office. She is a Chartered Accountant with five years' experience in the property industry specialising in finance for Commercial and Residential development.

Tel: 0131 624 9624
E-mail: karen_adamson@ppg.co.uk

Ainslie Pettie
Secretary

Ainslie is a senior solicitor in the commercial property department of Morton Fraser. She has experience in dealing with a broad scope of commercial property work including leasing, sales and acquisitions and development work with a particular focus on the hotel and leisure sector. Ainslie has been a member of WiP for two years and recently joined the committee as Secretary.

Tel: 0131 247 1000
E-mail: ainslie.pettie@morton-fraser.com

Andrea Nolan
Membership Secretary

Andrea has been in the landscaping industry for over twenty years. She is a Senior Sales Consultant with GP Plantscape, specialising in the interior side of the business, developing growth throughout Scotland and the north of England. She is based in GP Plantscape's Head Office at Lanark and has been with the company for ten years. She has been an active member of WiP for several years and finds the networking beneficial both in personal and business development.

Tel: 01555 663 234
E-mail: andrea.nolan@gpplantscape.com

Liz Calderwood
New Member Co-ordinator

Liz Calderwood is a senior business development manager for eastlake commercial interiors (eci). Liz joined the eastlake group in 2004 and brings over twenty years' experience working within the commercial interiors sector in the Central Scotland region. It is no surprise that she strongly believes that WiP, and in particular the Central Scotland Branch, provides the perfect platform to meet and share knowledge with all the professional and business service sectors involved in the acquisition, design and fit-out of new and existing commercial property. Liz has enjoyed both personal and professional development as a member of WIP and strongly encourages others to do so too - by attending the frequent events and also making the most of any training and mentoring sessions that are available.

Tel: 01355 593 200
E-mail: liz.calderwood@eastlakegroup.com

Helen Jackson
Website/Events Co-ordinator

Helen set up visualisation consultancy Coevolution in 1999 and works with a wide range of property industry clients. She’s just finished an MBA in Construction and Real Estate. Before specialising in architectural illustration and animation she worked as a project architect in Edinburgh and London. Helen has been a member of Women in Property for five years.

Tel: 0131 247 6769
E-mail: helen@coevolution.com

Elaine Troup
PR

Elaine is a Senior Urban Designer with Turley Associates in Glasgow. A qualified architect, Elaine specialises in masterplanning, sustainable developments, Eco-homes and community consultation.

Tel: 0141 248 9233
E-mail: etroup@turleyassociates.co.uk

Caroline Court
Mentoring Co-ordinator

Caroline is a partner with Davidson Chalmers LLP which she joined 11 years ago as a partner in their Commercial Property Department. She is head of their Residential and Planning Team and acts for property developers and housebuilders in all aspects of development including land options, joint venture contracts and related planning issues and planning agreements.

Tel: 0131 625 9191
E-mail: caroline.court@davidsonchalmers.com

Barbara Armstrong
Schools Liaison

From a degree in Zoology, Barbara's career has been an enjoyable and eventful one, culminating in an association with the property world. She established a property business in Edinburgh for a firm of lawyers and now combines her ongoing property interest with legal recruitment.

Tel: 0131 552 9199
E-mail: barbara@cuthbertltd.com

Candice Sammeroff
Student Awards Co-ordinator

Candice is a Commercial Property Solicitor and has been practising Law for 8 years. She now focuses heavily on business development, building visibility, credibility and profitablity of MacRoberts. She has found Women in Property to be a highly rewarding and effective networking forum.

Tel: 0141 332 9988
E-mail: candice.sammeroff@macroberts.com

Nicola Barclay
Committee Member

Nicola is Land Director for Macfarlane Homes. She has over thirteen years' experience of land acquisition across the Scottish central belt and has secured both short and long term land opportunities for a variety of house builders in that time. She has been a member of Women in Property for four years and has found the support network invaluable in assisting her to progress her career.

Tel: 0131 660 2200
E-mail: nicola@macfarlanehomes.com

Kathryn Bilbrough
Committee Member

Kate is an Associate with Thomas & Adamson, based in their Edinburgh office. She is a Chartered Building Surveyor with fifteen years' experience in servicing a variety of professional instructions and framework agreements for both private and public sector clients. She originally joined Women in Property in the early 1990s, and rejoined three years ago following a career break.

Tel: 0131 260 2655
E-mail: kate.bilbrough@thomasandadamson.com

Fiona Forrest
Committee Member

Fiona was the national winner of the Women in Property Student Awards 2007. She is a graduate of Glasgow Caledonian University where she studied Property Management & Valuation and will take up a Graduate Surveyor position with Knight Frank in September 2008.

Tel: 07821 444403
E-mail: fiona@mainholmnursery.plus.com

Jennifer Harvie
Committee Member

Jenny is the Marketing Co-ordinator for the house builder Mactaggart & Mickel, based in their head office in Glasgow's city centre. She has worked for the company since 2004 and has over five years' experience in marketing. Jenny has been a member of WIP since 2006 and is a returning member to the committee.

Tel: 0141 242 7543
E-mail: jenny.harvie@macmic.co.uk

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