Philip Cooper takes over the reins as land and planning director and Pauline Mills is confirmed as the new technical director – both are based in its regional office in Dunfermline.

These appointments have further strengthened the Land, Planning and Technical departments within Taylor Wimpey East Scotland, and both directors settled into their new respective roles a few months ago.

Pauline Mills joined Taylor Wimpey East Scotland in February 2008 as land and planning director, leading 15 years of land acquisition projects and planning consents for the business before taking over her new appointment as technical director. Before rejoining the team in 2018 she worked with Miller Homes, George Wimpey, and held a variety of local authority roles.

As a chartered town planner and a non-executive director of Scottish Futures Trust, her breadth and depth of experience will continue to provide valuable and strategic leadership to the Technical team at Taylor Wimpey East Scotland as she explains: “I am part of an established and talented technical team based in our Dunfermline regional office. Working closely with our in-house design team allows me to contribute towards our progress of planning and designing developments where people want to call home.

“It’s an exciting time for the housebuilding industry and I’m also looking forward to playing my part in attracting and retaining our in-house design talent to future-proof our business for many years to come.”

Ahead of his promotion to land and planning director, Philip Cooper was formerly senior land and planning manager for Taylor Wimpey East Scotland – a role that he held from August 2019. Securing a BSC (Hons) in Construction Management followed by an MSc at Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh, his professional career in housebuilding started in September 2014 as part of Taylor Wimpey’s graduate scheme.

He gained experience across several of its regional business units including East Midlands, East and West Scotland, as well as Manchester and the North-West. His first Taylor Wimpey appointment was as assistant strategic land manager.

Commenting on his new role, he said: “My role is to continue to build on our land and planning achievements to date, and to strive for continuous improvement to secure land and complete each planning and pre-development process efficiently and successfully to help deliver on our ambitious plans for the future.

“Taylor Wimpey continues to go from strength to strength and we are very much focused on delivering quality new homes that are sustainable, energy efficient and suited to modern lifestyles. Housebuilding is a cornerstone of economic and social growth, so as an industry we need to ensure that steps are being taken at local and national level to provide a generous supply of new land for development. It is more important than ever that we are leading the conversation around the importance of housebuilding and the benefits that it can bring to our communities.”

Gavin Hamilton, managing director for Taylor Wimpey East Scotland, added: “Pauline and Phil have already played significant roles within our business and contributed to the success of our team in Dunfermline.

“Together they bring a wealth of experience in their respective areas of expertise, and I am delighted that with their appointment I have completed the selection of my senior board of directors as we look forward to 2024 and both the challenges and opportunities it is likely to present.”