Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) has announced the appointment of 11 new members to their governance board following an open recruitment process.

Addressing diversity head on, six women were among the 11 new board additions, with a seventh, Margaret Watson, Sector Lead, Construction, Forestry and Timber Technologies at Scottish Enterprise, joining as a Stakeholder observer, this trebles the number of women members now involved with the CSIC board.

The CSIC board provides strategic, industry driven guidance and direction to the Innovation Centre and when looking to expand the board this year, made a conscious effort to seek out new and diverse voices from across industry and its client base, and has chosen representatives with a variety of skills, experience and specialisms to support this – from Anne Johnstone, with over 18 years' experience in environment, energy and corporate sustainability across the construction industry to Alexander Holt, who is passionate about the benefits of digital transformation within the sector and Lynne Sullivan OBE, Architect, Government advisor and low and zero carbon building champion.

The board has chosen specialists from across the industry to help CSIC achieve their mission to drive innovation and cultural change across the Scottish construction industry and to support the delivery of CSIC's industry led phase two strategy over the next five years, which will address four key areas: Culture Change, Digital Transformation, Accelerating Industrialisation and Building Sustainably, all of which integrate around the need to support the construction sectors transition to net zero carbon emissions by 2045.


The new board members are, Anne Johnstone, Partner and Head of Environment, Energy and Sustainability at Hollis, Emma Marriott, Director of Emma Marriott Consulting, Jo Green, Chief Officer, Performance and Innovation at SEPA, Lynne Sullivan (OBE), Founder of LSA Studio, Madeline Smith, Head of Strategy, the Innovation School at Glasgow School of Art and Mandy Mair, Performance Team Lead at Scottish Water, Alexander Holt, Founder of CivTech, Andrew Mallice, Managing Director of Hart Builders, Paul Dodd, Head of InfrastructureTechnology at Scottish Futures Trust, Stewart Dalgarno, Director of Product Development at Stewart Milne Group and Stewart Brown, Assistant Director of Property & Capital Planning at NHS Health Facilities Scotland.

The 11 new board members join Chair John Forster, CSIC Chief Executive Stephen Good and renowned industry experts Mark Farmer, Alison Watson, David Philp, Jeanette McIntyre, Sara Thiam and Steve Petrie, bringing the number serving on the board up to 19, with Margaret Watson joining Gary Bannon, Scottish Funding Council,  Steven Hutcheon, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Andy McGoff from Edinburgh Napier University as CSIC's funding partner observers and host institution.

John Forster, CSIC board chair said: "As a board we have a collective wealth of experience and are increasingly well equipped and motivated to deliver CSIC's aims for our industry. We have big ambitions for the future, focusing on the cultural barriers across the industry and will aim to address issues like new innovative procurement models, diversity and inclusion, internationalisation, collaboration, productivity and investment in R&D and innovation.

"We have a unique opportunity at CSIC to harness Scotland's innovation capacity. The 11 new board appointments represent some of the finest expertise available across the industry and will be instrumental in building a sustainable, dynamic and opportunity-focused Scottish construction industry fit for the 21st century and capable of leading the world in tackling climate change."

Building on a successful Phase One, where CSIC supported over 300 collaborative projects delivering over £750 million of additional turnover to the businesses involved and creating and retaining over 4,000 jobs, it is expected that CSIC's Phase Two strategy will build on this delivering almost £1 billion of additional turnover for businesses and create and retain over 6,000 jobs across the sector.

(MH/JG)