RICS Scotland Conference 2026

Justin Young

Justin is the CEO at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the professional body that promotes and enforces standards across the land, real estate, construction and infrastructure sectors. He was previously a Chief Operating Officer (COO) for thirteen years with particular expertise in the legal and property sectors. He was Knight Frank’s first Chief Operating Officer and before that was the Global COO at HFW and the South East Asia COO for Clifford Chance, based in Singapore for six years. Before moving to Asia, Justin specialised in offshoring and outsourcing both at Clifford Chance and Hewlett Packard (HP) and delivered projects in India, Eastern Europe and North Africa. He has also spent time in marketing and PR agencies working as a Client Account Director on a range of consumer brands. Justin started his career as a tank commander, with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, serving in the UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Dr Gary Gillespie FAcSS

Gary was appointed Director and Scottish Government Chief Economic Adviser in 2011. He joined the civil service in 2000 from the Fraser of Allander Institute (University of Strathclyde) where his research interests included Scottish economy, regional economic modelling and foreign direct investment. He provides economic advice to the First Minister and Ministers across a range of strategic economic issues. He publishes regular assessments of the State of the Economy and analysis of key impacts (EU Exit, Covid, Supply chain disruption, inflation etc.) on changes in the Scottish and UK economies. He is a regular participant in economic discussion across Scotland, UK and internationally. He leads engagement on the Wellbeing Economy Government (WEGo) network which was instigated in 2018 and seeks to share best practise in delivering international change. He was made an Honorary Professor at Glasgow Caledonian University in January 2011 and was appointed to the role of Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde in 2015. He was also appointed a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2017.

Joanne Allday

Joanne Allday is Head of Strategy and Business Development at the Port of Cromarty Firth, and a member of the four-person executive leadership team.  Port of Cromarty Firth is a Trust Port in Invergordon which is a critical component of the North Sea’s offshore energy sector. The Port turns over ~£12M p.a. and was awarded a £55M UK Government grant to construct a £100M expansion and create a strategic national offshore wind hub to facilitate the offshore wind industry. Joanne has led the due diligence process with the Dept for Energy Security and Net Zero, alongside commercial contract negotiations with renewable energy developers. Port of Cromarty Firth was the founder of the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport, and between 2020 and 2023 Joanne led the successful bid to Scottish and UK Governments, managing a consortium of over 40 international partners.  The Freeport is forecast to deliver 10,000 jobs and £3bn private investment to Scotland.

Professor Sir John Curtice

Professor Sir John Curtice is Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, and Senior Research Fellow, National/Scottish Centre for Social Research and the ESRC’s ‘The UK in a Changing Europe’ initiative. He has written extensively about voting behaviour in elections and referendums in the UK, as well as on Scottish and British political and social attitudes more generally. He has been a co-editor of the National Centre’s annual British Social Attitudes reports series for over thirty years, a co-director of the Scottish Social Attitudes series since 1999, and is a regular contributor to Scottish, British and international media coverage of politics in the UK. Curtice is Chief Commentator at two websites, whatscotlandthinks.org and whatukthinks.org/eu, that provide a comprehensive collection of materials on public attitudes towards (i) how Scotland should be governed, and (ii) the UK’s relationship with the EU. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Academy of the Social Sciences, and the Political Studies Association. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and the Market Research Society.

John Hillis

John is the Founder and Managing Director of Blackhall & Powis Ltd, providing specialist land, property and consenting advice to energy, utilities and infrastructure providers across the UK and internationally. Blackhall & Powis is one of the fastest growing firms of Chartered Surveyors in the country which, since 2017, has grown to have in excess of one hundred staff operating across nine offices in the UK and the Middle East. John is a past Chairperson of the Joint Rural & Geomatics Professional Group Board of RICS Scotland and has played a key role in establishing and lecturing on SRUC’s RICS-accredited BA (Hons) Rural Business Management degree programme. Prior to establishing Blackhall & Powis, John was Head of Land, Communities and Marine Planning at Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission plc.

Nick Rowan

Managing Director (Scotland), Balfour Beatty

Nick Rowan is Managing Director at Balfour Beatty, where he leads their Scottish business. He has overall responsibility for strategic direction, operational performance, governance and stakeholder engagement across Balfour Beatty’s Scottish portfolio. Nick was appointed Managing Director in August 2025, following a 30 year career at Balfour Beatty. He joined the company as a Graduate Surveyor, spending the first two decades of his career in senior operational and commercial roles across the Scottish business. Nick played a key role in securing major nationally significant infrastructure programmes, including the A9 Dualling Scheme for Transport Scotland and the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) offshore programme for SSEN Transmission, materially expanding Balfour Beatty’s Scottish portfolio. In addition to his executive role, Nick is a Non Executive Director at Scottish Futures Trust, where he contributes expertise in procurement, commercial strategy, contract management, and public sector infrastructure investment. Nick is a Chartered Surveyor and holds an MBA, combining deep sector knowledge with strong commercial, financial and strategic leadership capability.

Professor Norman K McLenann, FRICS, FCICES, FCIPS

Norman is a Chartered Surveyor by profession (FRICS) and he is the current Chair of the RICS Scotland Board. Norman’s professional experience spans over 30 years split between the traditional construction, engineering, renewable energy, oil & gas and offshore power wind sectors. He has held senior management positions and worked for top FTSE, NYSE and JSE listed companies in the UK, Europe, America, Canada, Sub-Saharan, South Africa, China and the Middle East. In addition to his ongoing industry commitments, he is also a Visiting Professor for the School of Architecture & Built Environment at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen which he supports on a pro-bono basis. He is passionate about developing and upskilling others and has authored several widely acclaimed books and publications with Kogan Page Publishing (London & New York). Norman is also a member of the Cross-Party Scottish Parliament Renewable Energy Group at Holyrood where he advises on Energy & Sustainability matters for the benefit of the membership and public. Last year he also joined the Board of the Dundee Heritage Trust as a non-executive Director and Trustee ensuring guardianship of the iconic Royal Research Ship RRS Discovery which took Shakleton & Scott to the Antarctic to embark upon early Polar Exploration.

Richard Laing

Professor of Urban Collaboration, Northumbria University

Richard Laing is Professor of Urban Collaboration at Northumbria University, UK. He has particular expertise in the areas of collaboration (between parties, groups and individuals) and participation (of stakeholders and the wide community) in research. This has often drawn on his knowledge of emerging digital technologies, where the associated research methods are driven by a desire to identify and make use of innovative ways to communicate with target groups, and often in the context of sustainable cities and the built heritage. He is a member of the pool of experts for both URBACT and the European Urban Initiative, and has been an evaluator for Horizon Europe proposals. More broadly, he is a Chartered Surveyor and a trained chairperson and assessor for the RICS Assessment of Professional Competence.

Sandy Mactaggart

Director of Offshore Delivery, SSEN Transmission

Sandy Mactaggart is Director of Offshore Delivery and is responsible for the design, construction and delivery of offshore inter connector projects for SSEN Transmission. Sandy's team is delivering an expansive programme of complex transmission infrastructure projects which are at the core of the UK's net zero plans, which include Orkney, Western Isles, Peterhead-Spittal and the Eastern Green Link Programme with National Grid. Sandy was previously the Executive Director for Development and Infrastructure at Argyll & Bute Council and Director of Large Capital Projects for SSE Group plc.